Page 15 of Against All Odds (Ember Falls #3)

ten

Everett

V iolet rests her head to the side, staring out the window. “Thanks for driving me home,” she says absently.

“Of course.”

She walked all the way into town, fueled by rage. There wasn’t a chance in hell she was walking down these streets at night, even if she had only one drink.

She glances over. “I had fun.”

“I did too.”

I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun. I’m not a dancer—at all—but when she started to smile and forget her piece-of-shit husband, I didn’t care. I just wanted her to be happy, to let go, to remember the girl she once was who lived without fear.

I saw her , even if it was just for a sliver of time, so she’s still in there.

“I made a cake today,” Violet says distractedly.

“Cake is always a good idea.”

“And brownies and cupcakes and lemon bars and cookies.”

“Okay, that might be a bit excessive,” I say with a laugh.

She shrugs. “I was going to make a pie, too, but I was out of sugar and I wasn’t going to show up at your house again.”

It’s probably a good thing, because then I’d have to explain about my mother. While I don’t hide her condition, it’s not something I talk about freely. There’s always a big explanation, and then pity, and honestly, I’m not ready to talk about it with Violet.

“I don’t think I have any in the house,” I confess.

We turn down her driveway, and she sighs heavily. “It’s for the best.”

Only it isn’t like she thinks it is. She sounds sad, and I fucking hate that she’s sad.

I pull up behind her car, putting my truck in park. “Are you going to be okay?”

She nods. “I think so.”

That doesn’t put me completely at ease, but it’s better than the girl I found at the end of the bar.

She looked heartbroken.

Right now, Violet just looks resigned.

“Do you need me to sing for you?” I joke. Lord knows I’m terrible, but I’m going for anything to make her smile again.

She laughs. “No, I’m good.”

I smile. “Good, I really fucking suck at it, but I’d try.”

“You know you really are a great guy.”

Only I’m not, just for her. I want to be a great guy, because I have always loved her.

“Tell Hazel that. Maybe she’ll go back to giving me free coffee,” I say with a grin, needing some levity so I don’t think about how much I still love Violet.

“I’d be happy to put in a good word. However, I make no promises. Hazel is a tough cookie.”

I reach my hand out, gently brushing her cheek with my thumb. “So are you, Vi.”

Her eyes glimmer in the moonlight, and there’s a vulnerability that makes my chest ache. It’s as though she doesn’t believe anything good about her.

Violet turns her head to look out the window. Her voice is quiet as she breaks the silence. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t I see this all coming? Why did I put blinders on?”

“Only you can answer that.”

She turns back to me. “I should’ve left years ago.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Violet twists her fingers as she sighs heavily. “It doesn’t matter, I stayed. I guess I deserve this in some ways for being so stupid. You must think this is karma at its finest.”

I jerk my head back. “I don’t think you deserve this.”

Her eyes move back to me, and there’s so much regret in them it makes my heart ache. “But I do. I hurt you, and I didn’t give you the courtesy of a conversation, and now look at me.”

“Violet, we talked about this. We were kids, and I don’t hate you or think this is some penance you owe.

Fucking hell, I’d kill him if he were here, but I don’t have to do that, karma will.

He’s going to wake up one day and know you moved on, that’s his fucking karma.

Trust me, I know how it feels to wake up one day and know you let the woman you love go.

I’ve lived it and he will regret it, just like I did. ”

Making this woman feel small and insignificant pisses me off beyond words.

He’s a coward, and I would do anything to show her what a real man would do for her.

A real man would risk his heart, his soul, his very breath to just be with her.

I would know.

I’m that man.

“Thank you for saying that.”

“I mean it,” I tell her, hoping she believes it.

She sighs and looks at the door. “I should go inside.”

I wish she’d stay.

“Yes,” I say, knowing she shouldn’t. I want her too much and she’s too vulnerable.

She doesn’t move. “It’s getting late.”

The air is thick, and each breath is a little harder than the last. If she doesn’t go now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop myself from kissing her.

I use the last threads of decency I have, keeping my voice steady amid the chaos of my mind. “It is. I have to be up early.”

Although I doubt I’m going to sleep. No, I’m going to remember her lying on that bed, smiling and looking at me like all she wanted in the world was for me to kiss her.

I wanted it more than I’ve wanted anything else, but not like that. Not when she already felt indebted to me.

“Do you want to come in? I have baked goods. Lots of them.”

I learned my lesson the last time I came over here, thinking things could be different, but I’ll go inside.

Because it’s her.

Because I’ve never been able to say no to her and even if all I get is now, I’ll take it.

“Do you want that?”

She looks to her door and back to me. “Yes.”

This is one of those times that will define a lot of things in my life. I can either let her walk out, go into that house alone, and have a chance of my heart remaining intact, or I can decide to go in, no matter the consequences.

Although it’s not really a choice.

It’s Violet, and there is nothing I won’t do to make her happy. She’s always been the girl that I’d split myself apart for.

Then her voice is small as she looks up at me. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Well, fuck me. No way I’m saying no now.

I open the car door and come around, meeting her at the front.

We walk inside, and she stops at the kitchen. “I’ll bring a plate into the living room.”

“Okay.”

I head in there, sitting on the couch and regretting all my life choices, and then my phone pings.

Lachlan

I just got an interesting text that I wanted to share with you guys.

Miles

Oh?

Killian

Anyone else have a feeling interesting is going to end up being a euphemism?

Look at you and your big words.

Killian

Bite me.

Miles

Shut up, you two, I want to see what interesting text Lachlan got.

Lachlan

It seems our lover boy was dancing at the bar and left with a very pretty woman.

I should’ve known.

Miles

Killian finally met a girl? Who knew.

Lachlan

Other loser of the group.

Miles

Everett? He just texted us ... I can’t imagine he’s with a girl and doing that.

Killian

I can vouch that he was with Violet when I left.

Miles

Now that is interesting.

Seriously, this is what you find interesting?

Lachlan

Is it true?

I’m not even dignifying that with an answer.

Miles

Well, that means he’s still with her, but it’s probably not going well if he’s texting. Did you get shot down?

I roll my eyes and put the phone away as Violet walks back in with a plate that’s heaping with all kinds of desserts.

“You weren’t kidding, were you?” I ask as she places it on the coffee table.

“I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been if I didn’t run out of supplies.”

I grin. “If you hadn’t, then you’d never have gone to the bar.”

“And that would’ve been a shame to miss your dancing.” She sits beside me.

“It would’ve.”

Violet pulls her lower lip between her teeth and then stares down at her clasped hands. “Everett?”

“Yes?”

She lifts her gaze to meet mine. “You said all I had to do was say the word.”

I swallow and nod. “Yes.”

All she has to do is ask me, and I’ll give her anything she wants.

“Kiss me.”

I want to, more than I want air, but I don’t want her to regret it. “Are you sure?”

“I was sure the other night. I was sure the day in my room. I’ve never been more sure that I want something than I do right now.”

That’s all I needed to hear. I lean forward, taking her face between my hands, holding her so that her gaze has nowhere else to land other than on me.

Violet’s cognac eyes turn heated, and I move in infinitesimal amounts, allowing her a chance to back out at any point.

Her lids slowly lower, and there’s a breath between us.

I can hear her struggling to keep her breathing even, and I linger, drawing out the anticipation.

If I only ever get this one more time, I’m going to make it count. I’m going to pour everything I have into this kiss and make it one she’ll never forget.

“Violet,” I say her name softly. “Breathe or you might miss the whole thing.”

She inhales and then closes the gap, kissing me.

It’s like fire and ice. The warmth of her lips is thawing the parts of me that have been frozen, and the other parts of me that have been burning feel as though I’m numb from the cold.

Everything inside me is at war.

I slant her head to the right, and she opens up for me. My tongue slides into her mouth, tasting her again for the first time in years. She’s the same and yet different. She tastes like a sun shower that is both humid and prickles the skin.

“Everett.” She sighs my name as her hands tangle in my hair, holding me to her.

I kiss her again, moving together in a dance not unlike the one we had at the bar. Violet scoots forward, pressing her chest to mine, and I’m on fire for her.

I pull her closer, forcing her to wrap her legs around my middle. God, I can feel the heat of her against my cock.

I’m like a virgin all over again with Violet in my arms as we’re on her couch. I groan and kiss down her neck.

“Yes,” she says quietly. She drops her head back, giving me access to kiss her wherever I please.

“Tell me what you want, Violet.”

“We shouldn’t,” she says, but at the same time she kisses me again.

“Then you have to tell me to stop,” I tell her.

I will kiss her, touch her, taste her, and fuck her if she lets me. Since the second she walked back into my life, she’s been all I want.

She hesitates as I kiss her neck, and I realize what a fucking prick I am right now. I want her, but not like this.

Not when she had a day like this.

Not when I can see the way this story ends and I’ll be the villain.

I pull back and she rests her forehead on mine. “I want you,” she says.

“You have no idea how much I want this, but ...” I have to work extremely hard to say the next words. “Not tonight. Not like this.”

She leans back. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Trust me, I don’t either.” My cock is rock hard, and the heat of her against me is too fucking much. “But tomorrow, I’m not sure you won’t regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think you will. I won’t be another guy who doesn’t think about you. Who takes what he wants and doesn’t care about the aftermath.”

Violet lets out a half laugh and half sigh and climbs off me. “I can’t even do this right.”

“Violet, it’s not that. Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, you worry about my feelings, but I want this, Everett. I want you. I want ...”

If anyone ever heard the fact that I’m turning away a woman who is literally asking for me to fuck her, they’d have me committed.

I take her hand, pulling it over my aching cock.

“Do you feel that? Do you feel how much I want you? I’m torturing myself right now because I can’t be something you’ll regret in the morning.

You tell me tomorrow that you want this, and I promise, I’ll spend however much time it takes to erase every memory you have of any other man.

I’ll make sure that the only thing you remember is how good I made you feel.

You won’t be able to walk when I’m done with you.

So I’m going to go home, and you’re going to go to bed—without me, and knowing I’m hating every word I’m saying now.

Then I’ll try to fall asleep not remembering the way you moaned when you kissed me.

And if, tomorrow, you tell me that you still want this, then buckle up, sweetheart, because I won’t have the strength to walk away. ” I stand before I lose the nerve.

Her amber eyes look up. “I never should’ve let you go.”

I grin. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be the man standing here today.”

If we hadn’t lost each other when we did, she might not have come back to Ember Falls, and I wouldn’t be who I am. All of this is a chain of events, and she’ll never know how grateful I am that it’s me in front of her.

Violet stands, her hand pressing against my face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I really fucking hope so.”