Page 108 of Loving Taylor

"I didn't like the way you made me feel. I felt vulnerable and I hated feeling like that. I tried to move on, I really did, but there was no getting over you."

"Did you sleep with that girl?" She blurted out the question.

"No, I couldn't do it."

She let out the breath she had been holding.

"I haven't slept with anyone else since our first night together." She hadn't been expecting that. Her eyes widened in shock. "Really?"

"Yes."

I had been convinced at first that she'd had something going on with Caleb.

"When I saw you with Caleb, I was so angry." She looked a little guilty.

"And you thought I needed a rich, preppy boy?" she asked, remembering what I had said when she had stopped me from taking her in the bathroom.

"I tried to convince myself that was the reason why you were with him. It would've hurt more to know that you were with him because you liked him." Even saying it aloud, it still had the power to make me feel raw inside.

"I was trying to fill the hole that you left in my heart and I shouldn't have used someone else to do that."

"There were more than a few times after you went missing that I thought I would never be able to hold you again." There was no disguising the fear I had felt.

"You don't have to think about that anymore." She took my hand into hers. "I'm okay now."

It was still too soon to be able to look back at the experience and not feel all the emotions it had entailed.

"Everyone was getting more and more scared that you weren't coming back, but it wasn't something I could accept. I called Jeff as soon as I found out you were missing. I told him to find you."

Giving up on her had never been an option.

"I was so scared when he found me in the street," There was a dark fear in her eyes like she was reliving the moment.

"If the cops hadn't gotten to Eric first, I'm not sure I could've let him live for what he did to you." Controlling my anger when it came to Eric was nearly impossible.

"Then I'm glad the cops got him first."

I didn't agree. "If I hadn't killed him, I definitely would've made him wish he'd never touched you."

"And you would have been up for assault. With your previous criminal record they wouldn't have been lenient," she reminded me.

It still would have been worth it, especially after what he had done.

"It's finished," she said with fierce determination.

"But I'm so thankful that you are here with me now." I held her.

"Me too."

But being so close to her, I could feel our attraction shift the mood from talking to something else entirely. I wanted her. I put my hands on her hips and leaned closer before my mouth covered hers. My tongue trailed against her bottom lip and she gasped, opening her mouth. I swept my tongue inside and deepened the kiss. Her hands gripped around my neck tightly, telling me that she wanted me too.

When the kiss ended we were both breathing hard.

"Do you want to meet me at my apartment and we can spend the day together?" she asked with an inviting smile.

"Yes." I didn't want to be anywhere else. I walked her out of the house and back to the car where Matthew was waiting for her.

"Hey," he greeted.