Page 106 of Don't Burn Bridges
She listened without moving.
“You came to Hazard without knowing a soul.” His gaze drifted toward the stream. “You were carrying a secret that would change your life forever, one way or another, once Shane learned the truth. And in a town full of strangers... who could you trust? I keep asking myself what I'd have done if I were in the same situation.”
He met her gaze again. “I don't think I'd have had the courage to do what you did.”
Confusion flickered across her face. “What do you mean?”
He gave a slight shrug. “After thirty years, if I'd found out I had a brother or sister I never knew existed, I don't think I could've climbed into my truck, driven halfway across the country to some little town, knocked on a stranger's door, and said...” A faint smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “'Hi. Surprise. We're related.'”
Despite herself, she laughed softly. “That's not exactly how it happened. Once I got here, I couldn't bring myself to do that.”
“But you still got here. I'd probably have turned around halfway there... assuming I'd even made it that far.”
The smile faded from his face. “You did the hard part by showing up and taking a chance on people who could've rejected you.” He held her gaze. “I should've remembered that before I got so wrapped up in feeling sorry for myself.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Seth...”
“Shh.” He reached for her hand again. “I'm not saying it didn't hurt finding out the way I did.” His fingers closed gently around hers. “But I understand now why it happened that way.”
A lump rose in her throat. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know.”
The words were simple. They were also everything she'd been hoping to hear.
Tears blurred her vision before she could stop them. She blinked them away, but one escaped anyway, tracing a warm path down her cheek. Seth lifted his free hand and brushed it away with the pad of his thumb.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “For all of it.”
“You don't have to keep apologizing.”
“But I do.”
He gave a slow shake of his head. “No.” His thumb lingered against her cheek. “You already have. Let’s leave it all in the past and start fresh.”
The stream burbled softly beside them while birds chirped in the trees overhead and insects droned lazily in the summer heat. Time seemed to slow until the rest of the world simply faded away.
She searched his face, looking for the hurt that had haunted his eyes these past two weeks.
Instead, she found...
Understanding.
Hope.
Love.
His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes, silently asking what neither of them seemed able to put into words.
When he leaned over, she met him halfway and closed her eyes as their lips brushed together.
The kiss was tentative at first, almost hesitant, as though they were both afraid the moment might shatter if either of them moved too quickly. Then Seth's fingers tightened around hers, and the last of the distance between them melted away.
She leaned closer, her free hand rising to rest against his jaw. The rough scrape of his beard beneath her fingertips grounded her in the moment as he deepened the kiss, slow and unhurried, pouring into it everything they hadn't known how to say over the past two weeks.
Regret.
Forgiveness.
