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Sound drowned out as we remained secured in our flimsy bubble. He never looked away. Never faltered, never broke contact. He was with me.

Even as he released, his body tensing up and legs shaking, Reed kept our eyes locked together and offered me another part of himself that made everything so much harder.

It was harder because now I had even more to lose.

We stayed connected for a few more restless heartbeats, panting against each other’s mouth. His hand lifted to cup my cheek, his thumb dusting over my jaw.

I stared at him, awestruck, dumbstruck, lovestruck.

Stricken and skewered in every way.

Then a feeling mauled through my chest and up my windpipe, turning tangible the moment my words leaked out.

“I love you,” I whispered.

Reed tensed, slow-blinking at me, my confession seeping inside him like sludge. His gaze skimmed my face as he drank in those three destructive words, one by one, swallowing them down, until their sweetness turned sour and poisoned the moment.

I watched his features collapse, his hooded eyes losing a little of their light.

I shouldn’t have said it.

I shouldn’t have handed him my heart right here on this goddamn bathroom sink.

Reaching for him, I tried to pull him back into our magical bubble, but the bubble had popped, and he was gone.

I’d already lost him.

Reed pulled out of me and lowered his head, yanking his boxers and jeans back up and methodically relatching his belt. My eyes snapped closed, and I cursed my stupid tongue for reminding him of everything that would never come to be.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my jaw clenching through the threatening tears.

He scrubbed a hand over his face, top to bottom. “Don’t apologize. I shouldn’t have…” Releasing a long sigh, he swallowed hard and shook his head as his eyes danced away from me. “I should go.”

All I could do was nod through the heartbreak.

Reed hesitated for another beat before stalking forward and tugging my face to his with one hand curling around the nape of my neck.

He kissed me. No tongue but all fire. Our mouths lingered as his other hand fumbled for something in his back pocket then swept across my hip.

When he pulled back, he didn’t spare me another glance before plucking his hat off the floor, opening the door, and slipping out into the hall.

I sat idle on the sink.

Breathless, boneless.

A quiet hum filled the bathroom, replacing the echoes of our kisses and moans. We were running out of time while running in circles, and the air around me was thinning, the niggling of hope slowly draining away.

I hopped off the counter and splashed cool water on my face, then yanked my underwear back up and readjusted my dress, keeping the emotions at bay.

But something tugged at me.

Blinking at my reflection, I slid my hand into the pocket of my dress and sifted around inside. My heart galloped, skipped. Silken petals tickled my fingertips as I removed my hand and outstretched my fingers, peering down at my open-faced palm.

A stem of blue morning glories.

CHAPTER 28

I braved a family dinner at the house the following week, after running out of excuses to decline. We were all adults. I could pretend my kisses with Halley had never happened, and our limb-tangled rendezvous had never happened, and that her whimpers and moans weren’t an erotic soundtrack to every internal thought that swept through my mind, even though they were seared on my soul with a hot-iron brand.