Page 29 of Wrecked By You

“What am I doing here, Damon?” My voice broke. “Why did I come to this town?” My mind raced with thoughts of my mother and my father’s possible parole. I moved to the front door and unlocked it, walking inside and turning on the lights.

Damon followed me inside. “Talk to me. Let me be here for you.”

I went to the kitchen and filled up two glasses, trying to get a handle on my emotions. I handed one of the glasses to Damon. “Drink,” I commanded.

I drank my water, and he took the other glass to drink his. He had always suffered from passing out when we were kids because he wouldn’t drink water all day. It was sort of funny that I was making him drink water now.

My heart rate started to slow. “I should just leave. Go somewhere else.”

Damon crossed his arms. “You can’t leave.”

I moved past him and back to the front door. “Damon, I’m going to pray about this tonight. I was thinking about it during my whole run. Maybe it would just be easier to go to another town, to put down roots there where no one really knows me. Maybe it would be better.”

He surprised me by stopping beside me and taking my hand. “I don’t want you to leave, because things were never done between us.”

I stared at our hands, feeling so many things about this man. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“I think you came back because there was unfinished business between us.”

Once again, my heart raced. There were so many things I wanted to say. My mind felt clearer regarding Damon, muchclearer than it had earlier when I had been accosted by my mother.

Damon pressed both of my hands between his. “Of course, I will respect what you decide to do. But there’s something I have to tell you that’s been on my mind since you’ve been back.”

I gazed into his beautiful green eyes and thought about how he looked so different when he didn’t have his police chief hat on. His blond curls were a little bit longer on top. His frame had filled out, and he was handsome. There was so much regret from the past and so much need and want for the present. “What is it?”

He stared at my lips, and I felt butterflies kick up. “I need you.”

Those were simple words. A simple statement with so much meaning, laced with so much need.

I felt that need too. I felt this desire to be in Refuge Falls, and even more so to be with Damon. I could see how my life could be with him. Working dispatch and then afterward going home together. Helping take care of his boys and maybe some children of our own. I cast the thought away. How did I even know he wanted more children? This was happening so fast, but it felt so right. I thought about how it had been happening my whole life. It was like the train for my life had gotten off course, and the truth was that it was my own fault. My own fears and insecurities.

“Damon?” I asked, feeling myself weaken.

He gently put his hands on my face. “Can I kiss you?”

He didn’t ask twice, because I put my hands over his and then leaned into his lips. They were soft and tender. I pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, wanting more, needing more in this moment from this man who I trusted and loved. Did I love him? Yes, I did. The truth finally came to the foreground. I hadalways loved him, but I hadn’t been with him because I’d been afraid I would lose him. And ironically, I had.

His hands went to my waist, and mine went into his hair, into those curls and the scent of soap and leather. My face pressed into the stubble on his face, and so many feelings washed over me. So many wants and desires mixing from the past and now in the present. It was like one of those romance movies when the girl’s knees go weak and he holds her tighter. I was stuck inside his strong arms. I didn’t know how long we made out for, because we hadn’t formed any muscle memory of kissing before. We’d been best friends. All the emotions and attraction from before hit in this moment.

He kissed my cheeks, my eyes, and my forehead, before leaving a trail of kisses back to my mouth. I pulled him closer, and it almost seemed like nothing else mattered in the world for these few seconds.

Suddenly, Damon pulled back. He kept his hands on my face as he grinned at me. “Wow. Just wow. That’s what we’ve been missing out on all these years.”

I nodded and then felt tears come again. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

He pulled me into him, bringing my head to rest on his shoulder. “It’s over, but it’s beginning. It’s a new beginning, if we want it.” He pulled back and stared into my eyes. “Do you want it?”

I sighed. “Do you want it?”

“Since the moment I heard you were back in town, I might’ve blamed it on my family, blamed it on trying to do the right thing, but the truth is that I need you. I’ve always needed you. Being with you feels right. I don’t care about all the things that we have to face together. I want to face them with you, if you’ll let me.”

My heart silenced, and there were no more tears, only certainty. “I want that too.”

Damon held me for a long time, and I felt my very soul quiet.

“I may not have realized it,” I said into his chest, “but you have always been in the back of my mind. When I finally figured out I could not stay where I was because of Kyle’s threats, it was like a remote setting was activated. I had no choice but to come here. Even with all the crap in my past, all I could think about was you. Of course, I didn’t want to think about you. I couldn’t expect that things would work out. I didn’t know how they would. But here I am.”

Damon pulled back and smiled at me. “I’m so grateful that you are.” His phone buzzed, and he checked it. “Shoot. This might be the worst timing, but I have to go. My kids.”