Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,146

ask under the dark sky with scattered stars you can barely see between high-rises on either side.

“Me. I’m what went wrong.”

“No, it takes two. I didn’t exactly fight for us.”

“Chels.” He stops in the middle of the sidewalk. Grover panting next to him like we just ran the Chicago marathon. “You did the right thing.”

My gaze diverts to a couple walking hand in hand, laughing as they pass us by. The man nods and the woman smiles our way. We politely do the same.

Fear that I’ll never have that pricks my chest. Dean and I always seem to be so hot we burn out or so cold we get stuck in the same spot. We can never seem to find that happy middle ground.

“Sometimes I think that if I would’ve—”

“Don’t,” he says. “Don’t second guess one thing.” We reach a black iron rod fence and Dean opens up the gate to the dog park and we step through, shutting it behind us.

“Good evening,” Dean says to a woman in her fifties with a small poodle.

She smiles down at Grover and then up to us. “Great night.”

“A perfect spring night. Summer is coming,” I say.

Dean leads us to a white stone wall and sits down, unhooking Grover. He waddles around, sniffing the trees and grass. His hand finds mine again, but this time he puts our entwined hands in his lap. “I know we have so much shit from the past to deal with, but I wish we could leave it back there and start fresh.”

“In a perfect world we could,” I say.

His gaze stays on Grover who walks as slowly as my grandma Rita.

“Do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”

This man next to me isn’t the Dean I knew. He’s not the man I married years ago. That man would’ve assumed I’d forgive him with a flippant apology.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I’m hesitant, Dean. I might’ve been the one who walked out, but I broke my own heart before you had a chance to finish the job.”

His head turns in my direction, his eyes transparent and showing me how much my words cut him just now.

“I didn’t say it to upset you.”

His head is already shaking before I can finish. “I know.”

“I’m terrified you’ll break me, but you were right.”

“I was right?” An uptick in his tone pulls a smile from me.

“Well, rare occurrences do happen every so often.” I knock his shoulder with mine. “This pull to you is just as magnetic as it was when I was eighteen. I’m not naïve enough to believe in fate, but I can’t deny this.”

His hand leaves mine and he swivels his body to face me. Everything slows. I don’t think about the fact we’re in public or the lady on the park bench. It’s just me and Dean as his hand lifts and cradles my face. The love overflowing from his eyes as his lips descend toward mine has me choking back emotion.

There’s no rush to his affection. In fact, some might think it’s our first kiss with the gentle way his lips land on mine. His tongue licks the seam of my lips and I part them for him. We kiss under the dark sky of Chicago with the quiet ripple of waves from the lake only steps away and chaotic nightlife of a big city in the other direction. Somehow, we find our happy medium and enjoy our kiss like a slow dance that could go on forever.

Grover’s front paws land on my legs and I pull back. Dean takes his time pulling away, his large palm lingering on my face. “I’m going to have to have a conversation with him.”

I smile down at a panting Grover who just wants some affection for himself, and then I lay my head on Dean’s shoulder.

“I’m not sure we’ve ever done anything like this,” I say, a quiet satisfaction in my voice.

His hand grips my knee. “I think we’re getting old.”

Grover lays down at our feet after I pet him briefly.

“I like it,” I say.

“I like anytime you’re near me.”

A new rush of flutters ignites in my stomach. I love the magnetism between Dean and I when we can’t get enough, but I love this, too.

“I’m not going to sleep with you tonight.”

He chuckles. “Okay.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to because my body is literally begging for me to strip you every time you enter a room.” He chuckles again. “But I still want to spend the night