Rounding Third - Michelle Lynn Page 0,7
remains planted on her cheek as I match her back step. Her skin is as silky soft as I remember.
“I have a boyfriend. My life is more than you now, Crosby.” Her voice is etched with anger.
I’m not sure what I expected her reaction to be. It’s the reason I was hell-bent on Brax not letting her come to the party tonight. I wasn’t ready to see her yet. Not without a plan.
"I’m not sure." I clear my throat. "You having a boyfriend kind of crushed that dream."
"What did you think? That you’d show up with me curled in the fetal position, crying and waiting for your return?” She crosses her arms over her chest.
“No. All I ever want for you is to be happy, El. I’m just conceited enough to know that I’m your happy.”
She scowls.
“Don’t deflect with the humor.”
“Are you sure you aren’t a psychology major?”
She huffs, and swivels on her feet to leave.
I reach out to her, grabbing her arm. The need to have her in my life again burning too strong, I relent on the topic of us as a couple.
“Friends?”
“Friends?” she questions, knowing there’s no way for us to be just friends. Anyone within a twenty-mile radius can feel our energy.
“Get to know each other again,” I clarify.
She tilts her head to the side, raising her eyebrows. “You forget I’ve known you since you were five. Those devilish eyes still show when you have something up your sleeve.”
She points to me, and I try to taper down my smile from remembering us together. We were good.
“Nothing.” I hold up my hands. “I swear”—I make a cross on my chest—“friends.”
She stares at me for a few beats longer than normal, and I hold her eyes, hoping she sees the ache my body endures for her. If I’m correct and I can still read her like a compass, I take up a big part of her heart as well.
She blinks, and I assume our moment is over, but she rushes into my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist. Sobs begin racking her body, and it dawns on me that she’s been putting up a front. Our connection is too powerful to ever fizzle.
“Shh…” I mumble, my hand rubbing along her back.
Her body nuzzled into mine transports me back to the good times. The way her head easily fits under my chin, giving me easy access to kiss the top of her head.
“I feared I’d never see you again. I’d heard rumors, but I figured no one really knew where you were,” she says quietly.
My head lifts unconsciously, my lips about to press on the soft, citrus scented strands of her hair, but I fall short when she steps back.
Wiping the dark streaks of mascara smearing down her cheeks. “Look at you.” Her hand reaches over and touches my bicep. “You’re healthy, and strong.”
The first smile breaks her lips, and my whole body heats with want.
“You look good, too. Beautiful.”
She shakes her head, dismissing my compliment.
Stepping closer, I press on, “Gorgeous.”
She steps back, and I follow, unable to grant any distance between us.
Just when she’s within a fingertip’s grasp, she plants her hand on my chest. “No, Crosby.”
I freeze, refusing to move away. “Friends.”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have released my emotions, but seeing you after all this time…so much has happened in my life, as I’m sure, in yours, too. I’m with Liam, and just because you’ve floated back into town doesn’t mean I’m going to break up with him.”
“I’d never expect you to,” I lie because that’s exactly what I expect.
Then again, seeing her has thrown the little amount of self-esteem I had coming here, back to Millcreek. Naively, I believed we’d have a long talk and be good to go. Now, it’s evident that our rekindling won’t be that simple. She’s the only girl in my future, but if she needs to go slow, we will. As long as she knows, one day in the near future, she’ll be mine.
She narrows her eyes.
“Scout’s honor.” I hold up three fingers.
“You weren’t a Boy Scout.”
“True.” I shrug. “But I admire them and would never use their oath in vain.”
She shoves me in the shoulder, like she used to do. “You’re doing that whole humor deflecting thing again.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Bullshit.”
She starts walking back toward the house, and I want to beg her to stay outside, to talk things out. Maybe dump her boyfriend.
“I have to find Jen.”
“Jen seems like someone who can handle herself,” I remark.
She spins around,