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“I missed watching you climb.” She sat down on the bed next to me and put her hand on my thigh. “But I think I missed you more.”

“You think?”

She grinned. “Maybe a tiny, small bit more.”

With a sigh, I lay back and put my hands behind my head then let out a little gasp as the hundreds of stars twinkled down at me in all their cheap glory, right along with a picture of Maddy and me at prom.

She cleared her throat. “I didn’t… I couldn’t…”

I gripped her hand tightly. “You kept them.”

“They’re a part of me,” she whispered.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Jason?”

“Yeah.” I kept them closed, afraid if I opened them, I’d see her, see how beautiful she was, and do something insane like try to seduce her in her old bedroom with her parents sleeping across the hall.

“I know ten years is a long time. I know that you can’t possibly forgive me for what I did… But do you think maybe you can try? So we can be friends again?”

My eyes snapped open, locking on hers as I whispered, “No.”

Her face fell.

“Yes to the forgiveness, yes to moving on, yes to everything, but, Maddy, I can’t — nor will I ever be able to — be just your friend.”

She swallowed slowly as her eyes darted between my mouth and my eyes.

I leaned up on my elbow then reached for her with my free hand. I tugged her close, until our foreheads touched. “Forgive me for not chasing you with every ounce of strength I had, for not screaming your name until you came back. Forgive me for letting my anger and hurt cripple me into less of a man. Forgive me?”

Tears welled in her eyes as she nodded her head yes. Her breath fanned against my face; she smelled like coconut. Her skin felt hot and smooth. I cupped her cheek and closed my eyes. “I’m going to kiss you now, and then I’m going to go so I don’t do something I can’t take back.”

“You already did something you can’t take back,” she pointed out. “Or at least we did. What’s one more time?”

I groaned. “I’ve never had self-control when it comes to you, Maddy, and now that we’re adults and we make our own choices, my self-control is even less because I don’t give a shit if your parents walk in on me licking between the valley of your breasts while squeezing one of your nipples between my fingers, just to hear your sharp intake of breath. I really don’t. But I would hate a repeat of last time…”

She shoved me and laughed. “When my dad chased you with a shotgun?”

“I almost died that day!” I said, earning a pillow to the face. “Do you know how freaked out I was? I literally hid in the tree house for five hours while he searched for my body with a gun, flashlight, and one of his hunting dogs — all of this because I was making out with you in the basement!”

“Hey now.” She laughed harder. “You had your hands up my shirt.”

“They were cold.”

“Sticking with the same story, huh?”

“It’s ironclad. He couldn’t prove they weren’t cold, and he couldn’t prove your body was warm.” I shrugged. “Damn, I was even a good cop back then.”

She tilted her head, a wide smile forming across her lips. “You were a lot of good things, Jason. Still are.”

I leaned in and brushed a kiss across her soft lips then stood, trying like hell not to show her how hard I was for her, how much I wanted to slam that bed against the wall, pin her body against the mattress, and forget about the world.

“Maddy?” Her dad called her name.

I felt actual fear of her father even at twenty-seven.

With another quick peck, I was out the window and walking back to the tree. I was almost to the first branch when I heard his voice get louder, as if he was ready to look out through the curtains, and when he finally did, I was under the cover of multiple branches.