Page 35 of Crossroads

“I’ve got you.” A repeat of words, yet a new meaning. “It’s okay.”

“I know,” I said, knowing it was the truth. Because Kiera was here. And she held me, letting me break.

Finally.

Chapter 10

KIERA

Everything had changed, and yet nothing had transformed.

It was a common refrain dancing in my brain in the past forty-eight hours. Forty-eight hours in which I had slept beside Bodhi, ate breakfast with him, then each of us had gone about our days. He’d had his monthly brother time and evening the night before, and had left me with a home-cooked meal before heading out. He’d pressed a kiss to my cheek, didn’t utter a word, and left me to my own devices.

And honestly, we both needed this time.

Being with Bodhi felt like nothing before in my life. I had never connected with someone like that before. And I had no idea what I was supposed to do with this moment.

Because everything felt so different. We had connected. He had made me come multiple times. He’d held me, been gentle with me, and then slightly rough in the ways that we both had needed, and then he had broken down.

Part of me wanted to resent him for that. To fall back into my own insecurities and wonder why I wasn’t good enough for him to stay with me the entire night. Why did he need to walk off and shower?

But he wasn’t washing away what we had done. I’d understood that once I’d been able to slink my way out of the fog of what we’d done with each other. No, he needed to let it all out. To realize that this was his life now. I might not be part of it forever, but I was part of it now. And that was scary.

Scary for both of us.

I didn’t blame him for breaking down. And the fact that he had let me hold him, in that gentle way, shocked me. He was such a big man, full of strength and standoffishness. Big men did not break. That was what you were taught as a kid. And yet Bodhi had been the exact opposite. He’d shown what he was feeling in that moment in a way that he had never done before.

And it made me want him all the more.

I didn’t know if we would ever be with each other again, or if that was just in the heat of the moment because we had craved each other. So it didn’t matter. I couldn’t regret it.

Now, the last person I had been with wasn’t somebody who had tried to break me.

And that was possibly worth the heartache that would come once I left Ashford Creek. And, looking at my schedule, that would be sooner rather than later.

“Hey, are you with us?”

I smiled over at Teagan and nodded. “I’m here. Sorry. Sometimes I just get lost in thought.”

“Because you’re writing music in your head? Or you’re redoing a conversation you should have had before? Or maybe trying to figure out why T-Rexes only have those small arms.” Elizabeth winked as she said it, and I burst out laughing.

I had spent most of the morning on phone calls with my band and my team. I had plenty to do when we went back to work. We had an album to produce, songs to write, and, not to mention, I still needed to find my home base. Much of my planned road trip time was now being eaten by staying in Ashford Creek, and I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about that. No, I knew exactly how I felt about that. I didn’t want to leave. It would be a problem later, and I would deal with it, just like I dealt with everything else.

“It’s the T-Rex arms. I can’t get them out of my head.”

Our laughter intensified, and I reached for my local beer. After I’d spent the morning working, Teagan had said she had planned to pull me away so we could have dinner at the Summit Grill. One of the Ashford family friends, Rune, owned it, and it was the place to be tonight, apparently.

Rune was hot as hell, with broad shoulders and bright eyes. He also scowled more than Bodhi sometimes. Maybe it was just an Ashford Creek thing. I knew a lot of men in the business, and they were just like that too.

It had to be a genetic thing.

“I’m so glad that you were able to come out,” Elizabeth said, her smile soft. “Honestly, between grading papers, lesson plans, and constant parent-teacher meetings, I don’t get a lot of time for myself.”

“I’m glad that you are out and about.” I took another sip of my beer and nearly smacked my lips together. “This is really good.”

“I’ll make sure Callum knows,” Teagan said. “It’s his new amber beer. For Felicity.”

“Really? That is the sweetest freaking thing.”