Page 72 of A Forever Love
“I understand you had a lot on your plate these past four years, with becoming the CEO and Lily’s accident, but…did I ever cross your mind during that time?”
“Mere, I thought about you every second. I was so fucking furious and upset when I discovered you’d changed your number. So many things in my life were changing and you weren’t there,” I confess, rising from the couch and slowly making my way to her balcony’s wrought-iron railings.
“You had others,” she murmurs softly, still seated.
“None like you. You were my closest friend. You were supposed to be there, dammit, especially during Mom’s…” The pain of that loss washes over me once more. Memories from that fateful night three years ago resurface, vivid and haunting. The frantic call about Mom’s car accident, rushing to the hospital, the devastating news of her death, and the crushing realization that it was all my fault. I shouldn’t have canceled our dinner plans at the last moment.
She had a surprise for me. She had finally fallen in love for the right reasons, with a man who respected her, and was finding her happiness again.
“I’m here now,” Mere whispers, her fingers gently urging me to unclench my fist.
“She was pregnant,” I confess softly, a secret known only to our family. “She was on her way to share the news with me in person, but I was stuck at work.”
“Oh, Carter.” This time, when Merida tries to turn me around, I go willingly. She wraps her arms around me, and I hold her close to my chest, hoping her warm affection can begin to erase the deep trenches of guilt. “I’m so sorry, Carter. I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that. I’m so sorry for not being there.”
“It’s my turn,” I whisper, my lips brushing close to her ear. “You need to tell me, finally.”
Merida tenses up, and her tears dampen my chest through the dress shirt. “I can’t. Please.”
“Then just answer yes or no.” My frustration isn’t directed at her but at the situation, and I don’t pause for her response. “Did something happen on prom night?”
She remains still for several heartbeats before finally whispering, “Yes, and that was your last question.”
But that’s more than sufficient for me. I had a feeling that asshole Brandon had something to do with it, and this confirms it. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, and thank you for missing me, Carter.”
“You made me promise every year on your birthday that I’d love you, Mere. I never had a choice.”
“The young me didn’t understand that love is something you can’t demand. It has to be given freely.”
“You’ve always had my heart, Merida Catherine Adams. You can demand anything from me.” I tilt her face closer to mine, and everything I’ve been trying to restrain for the past four years, and even now, pours into a kiss. “You drive me so freaking mad and crazy.”
She leans into me as if she’ll die without my touch, just like me.
Emotions morph from one to another in a matter of seconds. One moment we’re missing each other and the next, I want to bottle her inside me and never let her go anywhere.
She is my magic charm. The moment she left me, nothing remained the same.
And right now, she’s clung to me as if she feels the same way about me. Like I was the cure to her curse, just as she thought at the age of six.
Merida presses herself against me, and it becomes a challenge to figure out where I end and where she begins. She takes over my senses—being surrounded by her feels as if I’m enveloped with love of the purest kind, and I want to embrace it without inhibition. But when my hands circle around her neck, resting over the chain of my mother’s necklace, a reminder hits me that she’s someone to be cherished, not rushed.
“Stop, mittens, before I forget who we are.”
“But I don’t want to.” Her soft voice is like kerosene thrown to the kindling of my excitement.
“You don’t know how much I wish to hear that, but we’re both drunk. I wouldn’t be able to live if you realize tomorrow, in a more sober state, that this wasn’t what you wanted.”
“And you won’t believe me?” she whispers, tempting me again.
“I want to believe you more than anything, but not tonight. If you still feel the same way tomorrow, we can talk.”
“So you’re leaving?” Her shiny blue eyes are like sapphires as she looks up, not knowing that even God couldn’t pull me away from her right now.
“I was hoping we could watch a movie or something.”
“Like old times?” Her tongue runs over her dry lips, beckoning something deep within me. I suppress a groan against the side of her neck.