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Before I could decide what to say next, Tris launched herself at me. I set my guitar on the floor and wrapped my arms around her.
“Killian,” she whispered against my throat, her voice thready.
“Tink,” I struggled to speak.
I held her tight to me, afraid to move or let go in fear of shattering this tenuous moment. No matter what she said next, I wanted to treasure having her in my arms.
Even if it was for the last time.
Because surely she’d figured it out and felt so bad for me that she’d find a way to let me down gently.
The warmth of her body heated mine. I sighed at this level of contentment that I didn’t know was possible. This is exactly where I wanted to be and who I wanted to be with. I rubbed her back lightly as I concentrated on all the fine details of this moment. How her head fit perfectly just below my chin. How hercurves molded to my body like she was made for me. And how her lavender scent seeped into my lungs.
Her arms were twined around my neck and she toyed with my hair. Did she have any idea the effect she had on me? Each innocent caress would make keeping my distance that much harder. My body trembled with the need to possess her, to make her mine. And if she didn’t let go of me soon, I’d beg her to give me a chance, just once, and damn the consequences.
The tension between us built and crackled like lightning in a stormy sky. She shifted, and when I looked down, the gentle swell of her breasts between the ties of the dress had me thinking about everything I wanted to do to them. And to the rest of her.
Fuck me.Why did I have to buy herthisdress? I already knew what it did to me. But I wasn’t prepared for the jealousy spiking through me and the need to brand her asminewhen I’d seen the covert looks men tossed her way tonight.
I wasn’t a saint, but I felt like one tonight as I forced myself to look away.
Tris’s heavy-lidded blue eyes met mine. The look in them was familiar and not all at the same time. I dared to hope it was longing sparking in their depths.
Need drove me to push the line. I’d craved her for far too long. I gave in to the desire strumming through me, a symphony, simple in its beauty and grace.
One that played only for us.
I let the hand that was stroking her back take charge, daring it to go lower. When it brushed the top swell of her ass, she shivered in response.
“Killian,” she whispered, her voice low and husky and her nose almost touching mine. “That song. Was it for me?”
My heart was in every single word and note of that song. I couldn’t lie to her. Not anymore.
I dared to give it to her straight. “You know it was.”
Her hands stilled at the nape of my neck. “When?”
I knew what she was asking. When did I realize I had fallen for her? “Fourteen years ago sounds about right.”
I wasn’t sure what was different about tonight that gave me the courage to do and say things I should have done and said over a decade ago. I only knew that I was tired of lying.
Tired of pretending I didn’t feel something for her.
Tired of wonderingwhat if.
It was time to lay myself bare to her. Until now, I’d withheld my truth, and from the moment I walked away, I let fear win.
That stopped tonight.
I was done denying the feelings I had buried so deep. I thought I’d eradicated them—until I’d seen her again.
She blinked a few times and I was fairly certain she was doing the math. “You were sixteen. Why didn’t you say anything?”
I dipped my head to lay my forehead against hers. Opening up the wounds of the past was like stripping off layers of skin one-by-one.
It fucking hurt. “Because you wanted him.”
Her breath shuddered out of her. “But I,” her voice cracked. She leaned back and I realized her tears had soaked my shirt. “I wish you’d said … ”