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“Are you?!”
“I don’t know!”
Her lips parted in shock.
He swallowed. “Was I really a mistake the other day?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said, her tone softer, the sound of the storm almost drowning out her words. “No, never.”
He felt like he could cry. “And eight years ago?”
Tea looked out toward the furious waves of the lake. “I’m so sorry, Arch. I shouldn’t have done or said any of that to you. I was angry that night. My parents told me about Dad’s cancer, then I went to Quentin’s. I thought they were being selfish for ruining my evening, because all I wanted that summer was to kiss you, and I was determined to do so that night. And then everything felt too good and after we—”
Archer wiped the wet hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. She flinched at his touch, so he dropped his hand.
“After, when it was done, my only thought was how could I possibly learn to love another person when the pain of losing them would be too great? I was going to lose my dad. I didn’t want the same to happen to you.”
“You could never lose me,” he croaked.
She finally faced him. “Have you seen what’s going on in the world? People are dying all around us. Our time together is not guaranteed.”
“So that’s going to hold you back from living your life? You’d rather live in fear than have what you want?”
“I don’t know what I want.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
Her face softened.
“Theresa Richards, you are the most stubborn, determined person I know. You spent this summer reading about loons because I know you secretly want to find that nest, and you walked into my office and told me you wanted a job and didn’t take no for an answer. If you want something, you go for it.”
He stepped closer to her, crowding her space. “Now tell me, what do you want?”
“I don’t know,” she answered.
“Liar. What do you want?”
“I-I—”
“Tea!”
“I want you!”
He grasped her waist and yanked her toward him, sealing his mouth to hers. Tea wound her arms around his neck and raked her hands in his hair. He rolled his lips against hers as he slid one hand around the small of her back, the other cradling her head. He tilted her so she was at the perfect angle to devour her mouth. She tasted even better than he remembered. Or maybe it was the fact that it felt like a tectonic shift had taken place between them. In a single moment, it felt like everything changed.
She didn’t think I was a mistake.
He knew in his heart that there was much more to that evening long ago, that her words were said in anger and in fear because of what was going on at home. But it was ignoring him for eight years that got him. After a year of giving her space and not hearing from her, then another, he wondered if she really did mean it when she said he was a mistake.
But now she was here in his arms, saying she wanted him, admitting that he wasn’t. That he never was.
The rain slowed to a sprinkle, then petered out. It felt like a natural shift to end the kiss, but Archer was greedy. He didn’t want it to stop. He grabbed her by the ass and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around him and cupped his face, the intensity of her kiss letting him know that she wasn’t done with him either.
“Hey, lovebirds! Need a lift?”
They pulled from each other at the same time and turned toward the voice shouting at them.
Rhonda was in her motorboat, swinging a hook in her hands, smirking like the Cheshire Cat.
