Page 49 of All This Time

“Exactly,” he says, reaching for my hand again. “And you can talk to me if this gets to be too much for you, okay?”

Confusion floods my mind. “Why would this be too much for me?”

“Because of what happened with your ex.”

I feel the blood drain from my face before my dread turns to anger. “What about my ex?”

Fletcher leans back in his chair, releasing my hand and blowing out a breath, hesitant to answer me. “Your brother and Henley told me what happened…with the engagement.”

Grinding my teeth together, I stand from my chair and walk into the kitchen. “Of course they did.”

“Look, don’t be upset…”

“Don’t tell me what I’m allowed to feel,” I fire back as he stands from his chair, the sincerity in his gaze being replaced with determination as he walks toward me.

“I’m not telling you what you’re allowed to feel, Laney. But if this wedding shit gets to be too much for you, given how your engagement ended—”

“I’m fine,” I say, cutting him off.

Fletcher huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s what they said you’d say.”

“Because it’s the truth!”

And I’m not lying. The sad part is that what happened with Fletcher devastated me ten times more than what happened between me and Spencer.

“Then why are you yelling?”

“I’m not yelling!”

“You’re definitely raising your voice.”

“Because this isn’t any of your business and they had no right to tell you!”

He tilts his head at me. “Well, they did. And you know what? I’m glad they did.”

“Why?”

“So I can tell you this…”

His feet carry him across the kitchen until he’s so close that I have no choice but to back up until my ass hits the counter behind me. His body closes me in as he lifts one hand to rest on the cabinets above me, and his other hand comes up to cup my jaw.

I’m frozen as my heart beats a mile a minute, his scent infiltrating my nose and transporting me back to the last time I was in this position with him, our mouths so close that all it would take is one of us throwing caution to the wind and moving forward just an inch so that our lips touch.

Fletcher lowers his voice, but his words still hit every nerve ending in my body. “Any man that puts a ring on your finger but doesn’t honor that commitment is a fucking coward, and he sure as hell doesn’t deserve you.” My breath grows shallow as his eyes dance across my face. “Any man foolish enough to cheat on you deserves to have every one of his limbs ripped from his body.” He pulls my bottom lip down with his thumb as I hold my breath. “And any man that can’t appreciate the incredible, selfless, intelligent, tenacious, and fucking gorgeous woman that you are will be kicking himself when the next guy comes along and treats you like you’re the best fucking thing that ever happened to him—becausethat’swhat you deserve, Laney Maddison Hart.”

Oh. My. God.

My voice is shaky when I finally speak. “You—you shouldn’t have said any of that, Fletcher…”

“Well I did, so what are you going to do about it?” Our eyes bounce back and forth between each other, but I don’t have a response. All I can think about right now is how close he is, how amazing he smells, and how badly I want to taste his lips. “Your ex was a fucking idiot, and if I ever run into him, he’s gonna know how badly he fucked up by not choosing you.”

“Are you—” But I don’t get a chance to finish because he keeps talking.

“But the part that kills me is, I think I understand why you’re so guarded now.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you fucking are. But I want you to remember…” His words trail off as one of his fingers slowly glides down my neck. “You don’t have to be that way with me.”