Page 51 of Forever Only Once

Chapter 11

Hazel

Was I making a mistake?Perhaps. But it was my mistake to make. I could do this. I could let a man into my inner sanctum and not stress out.

My hands gripped the steering wheel even as I snorted at that thought. Talk about a double entendre when it came to the phrase inner sanctum.

Cross was behind me in his car, following me to my house. After this, he would know where I lived. I was going to let him inside.

What were we to do then? That was up to both of us once we got there. He told me more about himself. We had spent so long talking over dinner that we had closed down the restaurant.

I knew our waiter probably hadn’t been happy with us taking up the table for so long, but we had compensated him with a nice tip.

But we had been just the two of us, me and Cross. We’d spent so much of our time together tonight learning about one another. I had told him about my past, and he hadn’t run. No, he’d stayed. He’d been there for me. And he hadn’t judged. He’d been angry on my behalf. And then he’d told me about his past, his worries.

And I’d been there for him.

All over drinks and dinner.

Baring our souls the barest of inches. Yet it was the start of something.

Something new. Something for now.

As he followed behind me and I drove home, I realized he would potentially be in my house.

“There’s no potential about it,” I told myself.

It had to be intentional. I had to take this step. I needed to not be so scared. I trusted him. And the thing was, I hadn’t always trusted Thomas. Oh, I might’ve told myself that I had fallen head over heels for him, but he had been in my life because of my parents. I’d never once blamed them for what had happened, but I did blame myself for falling the way I did.

For ignoring the warning signs.

I didn’t sense any red flags when it came to Cross. I had to hope that was enough.

I had to believe. I had to jump in. I had to…be.

I parked in my garage, and he pulled into the driveway. I shut the garage door behind me, having told him this part of my routine.

That he would have to wait for me to come around.

I let out a deep breath and then went through all of my security measures, looking at him through the security camera and putting my finger on the screen.

“Let’s do this,” I whispered.

And then I made my way to the door and opened it, having checked through the peephole and the camera on my phone again just in case.

I was probably being overly cautious, but I was letting someone into my house.

I needed this to work.

Shivers slid up and down my body, but it wasn’t from fear. No, it was the look on Cross’s face.

The dark one that told me he was thinking thoughts that went along the same path as mine, things that had nothing to do with security. But rather what walking over that threshold would mean for the both of us.

“May I come in?” he asked.

I took a step back, swallowing hard, unable to speak.

“You need to use your words, Hazel. I need to make sure. Don’t be scared.”