Page 45 of Meant for You

I reached for a beer. No, I wasn’t much of a drinker, but I needed something to help steady these ridiculous nerves.

Dane grabbed it before I could, opened it, and set it in front of me.

“So do you come out here much?” I asked, because the tension was starting to get unbearable. If someone sneezed, I’d jump out of my skin.

He lifted his bottle to his lips, and my gaze dropped to his strong tattooed throat, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed as he took several long pulls of his beer.

I licked my lips again, and Dane’s nostrils flared.

He put the bottle down on the table. “Not for a while. We used to, before I went to Black Stone. Cal, Bull, and me. We’d hunt, fish, hang out.” His elbows were on the table, hands out in front of him. His fingers curled tight, then released. “I came here on my own a bit after that, though.”

“After you moved away?”

His gaze was on my mouth again, then lifted to mine. “Mainly after Cal told me you moved into the ranch.”

I stilled. “He told you? You knew I was there?”

He dipped his head. “Cal thought I should know. Cassy didn’t even know he told me. Still doesn’t.”

I’d asked Cassy not to tell Dane when I first moved to Rocktown. “And you came here?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“If you think staying away from you all this time was easy, you’re so wrong, Eves. Every day I mentally fought the urge to call you, to come see you, and sometimes I lost that battle. When that happened, I came here, because I knew I was close to you.” He swallowed thickly. “And sometimes I’d make it all the way to the ranch, sit on my bike or in my truck at the end of the driveway, sometimes all night…”

“Why didn’t you come in? Why didn’t you come and see me?” I whispered, knowing what he was telling me was the truth because that’s exactly the kind of thing Dane would do. We’d meant everything to each other, and he’d been in pain, like me. Deep down I’d known it. I just tried not to think about it, wouldn’t let myself believe he could be hurting like I was because it was him who’d left me.

“I knew if I saw you once, just one glimpse, I’d stay.” His gaze dropped to his fingers and back to mine. “I wouldn’t be able to leave again.”

“And you thought you’d hurt me, that I was better off without you.”

“You know I did,” he said, voice raspy.

“And now?” I said, my own voice not much better.

“I can’t fight it anymore, Everly. I don’t want to.”

I started to tremble slightly, heart beating harder, faster. “Fight what?”

“What I want. What we were always meant to be to each other.” That steady gaze held me prisoner, going so deep I could barely breathe.

“And what’s that? What do you want?”

“Everything,” he said simply.

“That’s why you kissed me?” I whispered.

“I kissed you because I’ve wanted to kiss you for so fucking long, Eves, that I couldn’t wait another moment.”

I folded my arms, hugging myself. “So you…you want to have a…a relationship with me? You want me to be…what?”

“Mine. I want you to be mine, Everly.”

I stood. I wasn’t sure why I was freaking out so much. I’d seen this coming, hadn’t I? I wasn’t naive. I’d known as soon as we’d kissed that everything was about to change.

“I hadn’t planned to spring this on you now. I’d wanted us to spend some more time together, let you see I wasn’t the same loose cannon, the powder keg ready to blow, but here, now, it felt right.” He stood as well. “And we don’t keep shit from each other. We never have. Not starting now.”