if you’re up for it, it sounds like there’s something else we have to talk about.”
“What?” I ask, fingering the fringe on one of the blankets.
“You told people I was your boyfriend?” When I look at him, his Adam’s apple bobs. “Why does my brother think we were planning to get…married?”
My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I try again. “I-I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For having embarrassed you like that.”
Andrew’s eyes warm, and he smiles, exhaling quickly through his nose. “I’m not embarrassed.”
“But—” I don’t understand. I watch his face for some signal, something to tell me what he’s thinking, but it’s indecipherable.
“Right now I’m more interested in knowing why you lied to them.”
I push myself to the opposite end of the couch. It’s time. I had wanted to do it before; I’d been planning to do it as soon as the party was over. There’s nothing more to lose.
“Katherine. Tell me.”
“I didn’t mean to lie. It just slipped out. Maybe…subconsciously…I thought saying it out loud would make it real. After that, people just believed it. I didn’t know how to take it back.”
He doesn’t respond. Several painful seconds tick by. When I finally dare to look at him, he’s staring at me blankly. I flush.
“Oh, come on,” I say in exasperation. “All these years? You had to have known how I felt about you. How could you not know?”
And there. The words I’d kept bottled up for nearly seven years are out there, naked and on display. Andrew continues to stare at me like I am actually naked. Reflexively, I pull the blankets tighter around me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, for what feels like the millionth time, and move as if to stand up. “I—”
“No,” he says, shifting across the couch and pulling me back down. “Don’t be sorry, Katherine. Be anything but sorry. I’ve made a huge mistake.”
“No, you haven’t. It’s—”
“The underwear.”
“What?”
“You said it was your subconscious that made you say I was your boyfriend. Well, it wasn’t a conscious thought on my part when I bought you all those things. I thought it was a funny joke. But…maybe Macie’s suspicion about my motives wasn’t that far off.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying maybe…subconsciously…I was trying to keep you for myself.”
His hand glides over my shoulder and behind my neck. There’s a tremor in his fingers.
We stare into each other’s eyes. Neither of us blinks. He’s hesitant. I’m terrified. His other hand presses into my side, then he leans forward, pausing for another second before his soft lips find mine.
It’s all happening so quickly that my brain is whirling. There are multiple voices arguing in my head: This is what you want. This is what you’ve always wanted. So why the hell aren’t you kissing him back?
Instead of sinking into the kiss, I’m numb to what’s happening. All I can think of is Samson. Dead. Trying to save me. And Bennet! What will he do without that dog? How could Andrew choose this moment to kiss me?
My cheeks are wet with regret. The kiss is wrong. The lips, wrong. I want Bennet. I want to hear his voice. I want to trust in his explanation for the lies he told. I want to give him that chance. Why hasn’t he come? What is taking him so long?
Andrew’s kiss ends just as quickly as it started.
He leans back.
I drag my hand over my mouth to wipe away the evidence of what just happened. It’s the only thing about tonight I can wipe away.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his head bowed. “That was stupid and impulsive. I shouldn’t have done that. Not so soon after…”
He stands up abruptly and walks toward the door. I recognize his posture and the firm set of his jaw. His mind is like mine. Make a plan. Think it through, but make it quickly. I’m glad for his instincts because I can’t think anymore. Not tonight.
“We need to get out of here,” he says. “You need to leave this place. Tonight.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the time. “There’s still one last ferry. We’ve got twenty minutes. We could be home before morning.”
I can practically read his mind as he calculates the trip. There wouldn’t be any traffic. It would be a long night, but we could pull into a motel if he got tired, or if there were too many deer.
“I’m not going yet,” I say, my voice like stone.
Andrew shakes his head and takes two steps back in my direction. “There’s too much