Page 10 of The One

“I’m not.”

She blinked several times. “Oh.”

“How does that make you feel?”

A smile came across her face. “Relieved.” She took a breath. “And a slew of other things.”

“Do you know what I felt when you walked into the classroom this morning—once I got past the shock of seeing you?”

“What?”

“That there’s no way I could let you out of my life a second time.”

Emotion immediately hit her eyes. “Rhett …”

“And do you know what I’m thinking about right now?” The tips of my fingers teased the strands of her hair. “That I have to fucking kiss you—something I should have done our freshman year.”

I hadn’t had the balls then.

I sure as fuck did now.

My other hand moved to her face, and I lowered my head, my mouth hovering above hers. “I’m sure there’re a lot of other things I could say and places I could take you to and moments that could lead up to this, but I don’t want to waste another second, Lainey. Somehow, someway, we’re getting another chance, and all I want to do is kiss you. But first, I need to know … do you still care about me?”

“Rhett”—her hand went to my chest, and I waited for her to push against it, but she didn’t—“I never stopped.”

The response I’d wanted.

The response I’d needed.

I fit my mouth between her parted lips, and my body instantly exploded. This was what I’d been waiting for. What I’d dreamed about. What I’d been regretting since she’d left.

This feeling.

The one that was catapulting through me, causing everything to harden and ache.

I breathed her in before my tongue slid into her mouth, and I pulled her even closer so I could feel her on me. She tasted of toothpaste and something citrus, like she’d eaten an orange on her way to school or sucked the lemon from an iced tea. And she felt exactly how I remembered—her soft skin, her smallness that got lost against my broad, wide-receiver frame.

But her taste wasn’t what stood out the most.

It was the way she wrapped her arms around my neck and melted against me. The way she showed me just how much she cared—because when I went to pull back, she wouldn’t let me. And the way this kiss solidified every question in my mind.

Lainey Taylor was once again mine.

FOUR

Lainey

Sixteen Years Ago

“You’re wearing that?” Penelope asked as she stood in the doorway of my room. “It’s a party, Lain. We’re not going to church.”

I glanced down my body at the simple boot-cut jeans and peasant-style top that I wore on the shoulders instead of off. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Everything.” She walked straight to my closet. Anything she touched came off the hanger and was thrown to the floor, followed by a snarky response. “No.”Throw. “No.” Fling. “Hell no.”Launch. “Definitely not.”Hurl. “Toss this. Ugh.” Until finally, “Okay, I can work withthisss.” She turned around. “This is what you’ll be wearing tonight.”

I eyed the pink dress that she held high in the air, shockingly still on its hanger. It wasn’t an outfit I’d bought. I had somehow ended up with it after a sleepover when we were still living inManhattan. I kept meaning to mail it back to Krissy, whose dress it was, and I’d forgotten.

“That’snotwhat I’ll be wearing.”