“Hattie—”
“I’m not done,” she said, holding up a hand. “You broke my heart, Weston. You shattered me into a million pieces and left me to put myself back together. But seeing you tonight, thinking I might lose you forever—it made me realize something.”
I waited, hardly daring to breathe.
“I never stopped loving you either,” she whispered. “I tried. God knows I tried. But you can’t stop loving your other half, no matter how much they hurt you.”
The words hung between us.
“What are you saying?”
She took a step toward me, closing the distance between us.
“I’m saying I forgive you,” she said simply. “I’m saying I understand why you did what you did, even if I think you’re an asshole for doing it and you better never do it again.”
Chapter Nine
Hattie
“I’m saying I forgive you.”I squeezed his hands in mine. “I’m saying that I understand why you did what you did, even if I think you’re an asshole for doing it and you better never do it again.”
The moment the words left my mouth, something shifted in Weston’s eyes.
The grief and regret that had been etched there since he found me sitting on my Granny’s porch swing completely melted away and were quickly replaced by something raw and hungry that had my breath catching in my throat.
“Hattie,” he said, my name falling from his lips like a prayer.
“Yeah?” I rasped, licking my suddenly dry lips.
Like a summer storm brewing between us, the air crackled and shifted.
Then Weston snapped, moving all at once, closing the distance between us.
“God, I fucking missed you,” he groaned as his good hand came up and cupped the back of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair as he slammed his mouth to mine.
Thank the Gods above!
He wasn’t being gentle like he was when he kissed me earlier.
Oh no. Not Weston Basham.
He’d reached his tipping point.
Years of longing, heartbreak, misery, and desperate need rolled into this one soul-freeing collision.
“Oh, god,” I moaned.
Weston kissed me deeper, swallowing up the sound as his tongue swept inside my mouth, claiming what was rightfully his.
I was gone. Lost. I surrendered completely.
Having him close to me—feeling his body against mine. All of it consumed me until all there was was him.
“Fuck,” he groaned.
Nodding against his mouth that was devouring mine, I fisted my hands in his shirt, careful of his shoulder even as every instinct screamed at me to pull him closer.
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned against my lips, walking me backward towards my papaw’s old workbench until my back hit the wooden top.
