Everett, but that wouldn’t be fair. Falling for two men might’ve been out of my control, but how I handled the love I felt for them was entirely up to me.
I released a sigh that rattled my lungs.
“I can’t lie. I’m glad.” Everett dropped to the bed, then fell back, the muscles in his arms contracting as he slid them behind his head to stare up at me. “I’m glad he’s gone, but I’m sorry he’s hurt you. More than that…” He reached for my hand, and I let him take it, let him wind our fingers together. “I’m sorry I ever left you in a position where someone else could swoop in and have you, only to end up hurting you too.”
“Swoop in?” The calluses on his fingers tickled.
“Yeah. You’re mine. I’ve already told you that.” He graced me with a sad smile. “It’s my fault you doubted me enough to forget.”
My breathing thickened, and I tugged my hand from his. It fell to the bed. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“What do you want to talk about then?” There was no anger in his voice, just curiosity.
“Nothing.” I stood, walking to the door. “I should head home.”
He sat up and grabbed his keys. “You’re not walking by yourself in the dark.”
The night air was tepid, the streets quieting down as we weaved through town to the residential streets that surrounded it.
Thoughts of Aiden were pressing in. Thoughts of how long it might be until I heard his voice again. That deep laugh. Seeing that mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. Thoughts that had me fearing if I ever even would.
Everett chased them away when he stopped by the playground and plucked a dandelion. “Come here.”
“Cheap ass,” I joked, smiling as he shifted my hair. He slid the stem behind my ear, then carefully maneuvered my blond waves around it.
“There.” He cupped my cheeks, eyes bright beneath the silver moon. “That fucking smile.”
I ducked my head, feeling sixteen all over again when my cheeks colored.
He tipped my chin up, his breaths coming fast, and the hold on my chin tightened as his eyes coasted into mine, crashing with fire. “The way I love you, I can’t even tell you. One look at you, and every muscle in my body just fucking seizes.” Letting go of my chin, his eyes still firm on mine, he collected my hand to lay it on his chest over his pounding heart. “Especially this one.”
I had no choice but to soak in every rough word and felt them soothe the ache that never seemed to fade.
When I said nothing and just stared up at him with my hand on his chest and my eyes wet, he shifted my hand to his lips, then dropped it.
We continued down the street, drifting into the next, and a myriad of complicated, conflicting emotions threatened to strangle me. “You’re not drinking.”
“I am, sometimes. Only when I need to.”
His admission flattened, disappointment curling deep.
“Clover, I won’t lie to you. You know that.”
“Maybe working and staying at a bar isn’t the best thing you should be doing right now.” That was an understatement.
He chuckled, coming to a stop once we’d hit the steps to my place. “I do better with temptation close by.” He winked, and I pinched my lips to keep from smiling. He never winked. He wasn’t a winker.
“If you say so.”
Reaching up, he brushed his fingers over my cheek, then backed down the path to the street. “I’ve got this, Clover. I swear.”
I knew it would be a mistake to believe him, but I still did.
“And Prince stays hot at the plate.” The commentator’s voice rose above the sound of Adela making a smoothie in the kitchen. “Just look at those numbers, Abe.”
“Ugh.” I clicked the TV off, rolling onto my back to stare up at the living room ceiling.
“You need to stop watching already. Torture much?” Adela set a banana smoothie down on the coffee table, then fell over my extended legs, sipping her own.
“I’m done.”
“Uh-huh,” Adela crooned into her glass.
“So done.”
“Told your mom yet?”
I shifted my legs beneath her, and she shuffled over for me to swing them off the couch. I sat up, dragging my fingers through my hair. “Last week. Dad saw a game on TV, and she called wanting to know why I’d never told them he’d been drafted.”
“Awkward.”
I snorted. “No, what was awkward was explaining the model who keeps showing up at his side.” I forced my chest to