Page 110 of The Wrong Game

Zach smiled first at her, and then his eyes found mine, a hint of mischief in those dark irises.

I shrugged. “Eh, we’ll see.”

They both laughed at that, and Pamela patted Zach’s chest once before dipping inside. Zach pressed through the door and out onto the porch with me, sweeping me into his arms and pressing his lips to mine.

I felt the last of the sun sink away behind me as I melted into his arms, hearing the voices of his brother and mom loud in my head. Zach was already falling, and I knew there was no sense in denying that I was, too.

I wanted him.

But I was absolutely petrified to fall any further than I already had.

My heart rate ticked up with my realization, and as if he could sense it, Zach kissed me harder, pulling me into him with a reverent sigh. When he pulled back, he swept my hair from my face and shook his head, eyes searching mine.

“I love when you do that,” he whispered.

“Do what?”

“Exist.”

He smiled, shaking his head again before he pulled me in for another kiss. And this time, I felt that kiss in my bones, like the mark he’d been making was only skin deep, and now he was branding me for good.

And right then, in that moment, I decided I wasn’t going to let fear rule me anymore.

My anxiety stemmed from not being in control, and it was true — I couldn’t control what would happen next. I wanted an insurance policy, but that wasn’t the way life worked. Zach could wake up tomorrow and decide he didn’t want me anymore. Or, worse — he could decide two years from now that he wants someone else more than me.

But as he took my hand and led me inside his home, as we sat there with his family, eating pie and playing cards and laughing as the evening turned to night, I had an overwhelming feeling that he wouldn’t.

It was something I hadn’t felt in so long, something that filled my body with dread and warning just as much as hope and relief.

It was trust.

I trusted Zach. I trusted him to care for me, to let me care for him, to let me in on the hard days and to be there for all of mine.

I wasn’t supposed to ever fall in love again. I wasn’t ever supposed to let someone inside my damaged, charred, cold and empty heart.

But he’d somehow found a way.

I’d made that list when Carlo passed to keep myself safe, but here I was, just shy of a year later, feeling that rule bend like putty in my hand. Maybe, I wanted to trust Zach because I knew I could. Maybe not every man was like Carlo. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be stupid to let go, to let love in a little.

Maybe Zach was a man of his word.

Looking around at his family, at the people who mattered most to him, knowing he’d invited me to be a part of that world, I knew there was only one way to find out.

So, I took a breath, grabbed his hand in mine, and mentally trashed my old list.

I was going to trust Zach.

Even though it was scary as hell, even though I knew I could end up on the cold, hard floor again, I still chose to try again.

We continued laughing our way through the night with his family, and by the end of it, we were all hugging and making plans, including them asking me to join them for Thanksgiving dinner later that month. And when the evening had ended, as we climbed into Zach’s car to head back to the city, a loud clap of thunder sounded off in the distance.

I should have known then that a storm was coming.

But I didn’t.

Not until the very moment she showed up at my door.

Gemma