I shot him a warning glare. “This shit isn’t funny.”
Woods chuckled and took a sip. “I don’t know. Watching you dodge female advances is new. I was entertained.”
“I’m putting up with this for Della. But if this causes me any issues with Bethy, it ends. Charity’s nice, and I know she’s been through a shitty time. I feel bad for her. But I’m making some headway with Bethy, and nothing is standing in my way of that.”
Woods’s smirk faded. He stared out at the water for a moment, and I knew his thoughts were with Jace. This should have been a day that Jace stood by his side. It should be Jace handing him the ring and giving a toast at the reception. Today Woods would start a new journey in life, and he would do it without his best friend there to cheer him on. It was all there in his eyes. “She seems better,” he said.
After last night, I had to agree. Anger and pain were no longer boiling out of her. “Yeah. She does.”
Woods took another drink of his coffee. “Don’t push her. You weren’t here for most of it, but she loved him. They were good together.”
I already knew how much she had loved Jace. That hadn’t been hard to miss. “I’m being careful. I don’t want to take Jace’s place. He’s got that spot in her heart, and he always will. Right now, I just want to be there for her. To see her smile again. A real smile.”
“He would have wanted her happy. And he would have beaten my ass for treating her the way I did. I doubt he would’ve forgiven me for what I said to her that night on the beach.” His voice sounded pained.
I hadn’t been there, but I knew from the silent treatment he’d given her for more than a year after Jace’s death that he’d blamed her. He was right—Jace wouldn’t have been able to forgive him for that. He’d loved Bethy. But that wasn’t what Woods needed to hear right now. This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life.
“He may have been my cousin, but you were like his brother. He loved you,” I told him.
“I let him down,” Woods said.
“No, you didn’t. You saved her. That’s what he asked you to do, and you did it.”
Woods finally moved his gaze back to mine. I could see the emotion I understood so well. Jace had left an empty place in all of us.
“He died knowing that his best friend made a sacrifice for him that would mark him for the rest of his life. You were his hero.”
Woods studied me for a moment and then turned his attention back to the water.
After a few moments of silence, I stepped around him and made my way toward the huts once again.
“Thanks,” Woods called out. I glanced back at him. “I needed to hear that. Especially today.”
I managed a smile. “That’s what a best man is for,” I replied, and left him there with his thoughts.
Bethy
Tripp trailed soft kisses up and down my body while he held himself rigid above me. The pain from his entrance had taken my breath away, but he had stopped the second I cried out. He hadn’t pulled out, which was all I wanted him to do, so I could curl up in a ball and whimper.
But then he’d started kissing me gently and whispering in my ear.
“It’s OK. I won’t move. Just let me feel you. God, Bethy, nothing has ever felt like this.”
Hearing the pleasure in his voice as he kissed me, as if he couldn’t get enough of me, eased the tension. Slowly, he sank deeper, until he let out a loud groan and closed his eyes. He was beautiful, and I was completely fascinated.
“I’m going to move,” he said against my ear, and then he sucked in a sharp breath as he pulled back until he was almost out of me and then rocked his hips back.
The movement hadn’t caused me pain this time, at least not the searing kind it had the first time. Just a little discomfort. Watching Tripp made everything else fade away. The veins in his neck were standing out, and the muscles in his arms were bulging as he held himself up so that he didn’t put all his weight on me.
With each move of his hips, it got easier, and Tripp’s face became more breathtaking. His mouth opened slightly, and his pupils were so dilated the green was almost gone.
Our gazes locked.
“I love you. I won’t leave you. I can’t.”
My eyes opened, and I stared at the ceiling. I hadn’t dreamed about that night in a very long time. My heart was racing, as if I was still there underneath him, losing my virginity to the boy I loved and hearing him proclaim his love for me for the first time. He’d made a lot of promises that night that he didn’t keep.
I sat up and shook my head, not wanting that image to replay in my mind. I had pushed it away a long time ago. I had used other guys in hopes of washing it from my memory. But no one ever did. It always ended with me crying myself to sleep.