Forbidden Bride - Penny Wylder Page 0,15

say. “I remember pouring my heart out to you and then you leaving. I remember waking up the next morning and finding you had left the city. I remember crying for days over you, not being able to explain to anyone what was wrong. You left me, Dash. You ran away. So don’t think that you can sweep in here and just decide that you’re ready for me without me asking what the hell happened or wanting an explanation. Fuck.”

I turn and walk a few steps away. The air is filled with deafening silence behind me. I didn’t mean to explode like that, but it’s true. Aside from all the obvious complications, he left me.

Tristan’s voice is soft behind me. “You’ll never know how much I regret that decision,” he says. “I will always regret it and I will always have to live with it. But it wasn’t easy for me either. I didn’t leave to go on a joyride to find myself.” He turns me around and presses his forehead to mine. The anguish in his voice is real. “You don’t know why I had to do it, but I had to. You don’t know what I was afraid of, but I was afraid, Nicola. I’m still afraid, but you are worth the fear. I swear it. And all I can do is beg your forgiveness for not figuring it out sooner.”

His eyes are closed, and I swear that I can feel his pain. It’s just as visceral as mine has been, waiting for him. “Is this about my father?”

“Yes, and no. Of course I’m worried about that, but I wish that were all it was. If it were, this would be so much easier.”

I lean into him, letting his arms come around me more solidly. He’s shielding me from the cold, and I want so badly to touch every part of him. What could possibly be so bad that he won’t tell me what it is? How deep does this run that it would cause this kind of agony? I don’t know. And still after everything, I trust Tristan. I trust him to tell me when he’s ready to tell me.

My lips meet his before I realize what I’m doing, and he captures my mouth, pulling me deeper. Just like yesterday, it’s like a fire has been lit inside me. Delicious and perfect and all-consuming. I can’t fight this. I’ve been waiting for him too long, and I’ve kept my promise to him. I’m all his, and that’s all I want to be.

Yes, it’s complicated. But denying what we’ve both wanted for years is only going to cause us both more pain. “I need you,” I breathe. “Please.”

Fiery green eyes stare into mine. “Tell me first. Have you changed your mind? Do you want me to stop?”

I bite my lip. “No,” I say. “I’m terrified of what might happen, but I’ve never doubted my feelings. I’ve always wanted you, Dash.”

“Fuck,” he says softly against my lips. “I love it when you call me that.”

Before I can kiss him again, he’s pulling me toward his car. “I don’t want to go back to the office,” I tell him.

“That’s not where we’re going,” he says. “My place, if that’s all right. Because this has to happen between us, and I’m not going to have your first time be in the back of my car.”

I blush. Oh my god, this is actually going to happen. Everything that I’ve been dreaming about; the fantasies that play out when I touch myself in bed, at night, alone. Tristan helps me into his car and shuts the door. He peels out of the parking lot with a screech. He holds my hand across the console, but he’s singularly focused on the road.

“Are you okay?”

He smirks. “I’m trying to concentrate on getting home and not pulling over to ravish you on the side of the road.”

“If it weren’t for the snow, I don’t think that I would mind.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for springtime.”

Springtime. When we’ll still be together. The way he talks, it’s like it’s actually going to last. And I want it to, but I’ve spent so long thinking the opposite that it’s hard for me to actually believe it. My heart is pounding, and I can’t believe that I’m going to do this.

When I woke up this morning, I had been so determined to stay away from him. To make it easier for everyone and not rock the boat. But I deserve