Page 18 of Just Our Secret

“Yeah?”

I pursed my lips, summoning all of my bravery. If this was my shot, I wasn’t going to chicken out. “I’ve liked you for a long time.”

He clenched his jaw, letting his head fall back. “Andi.”

Taking that as something of a good sign, I stepped forward, stopping when I was within arm’s reach of him. “I’m pretty sure I’ve had feelings for you for most of my life.”

He stiffened as though I had struck him, surprise all over his face as he looked back at me. Then he shook his head, denying my claim. “I really don’t think that’s true.”

“Why not?”

Hesitating, I saw a thinly veiled layer of pain flash in his eyes before it disappeared and morphed into stubbornness. “Because of Chad.”

His tone had been compassionate, not cruel, but it still hurt a little. I looked down at my hands. “You think that means I didn’t have feelings for you?”

“Doesn’t it?”

“No. I was… young. And Chad was very clearly into me. And you weren’t.”

His fingers flexed, then he made two tight fists before shaking out his hands and jamming them into his pockets, stepping back. Looking up at him, I saw more emotion swimming in his eyes than I expected, and yet he was still holding back. Was this for real?

“Did you have feelings for me back then?” I asked in a small voice, praying to whoever was listening that he wouldn’t shut me down again.

“Yes.” He said it like he really didn’t want to, but almost couldn’t help it. Then he slowly took one hand out of his pocket and hooked a finger in my belt loop before pulling me gently against his chest. Wrapping the other arm around my waist, he stared down at me. “Are you telling me you had feelings for me, but you slept with Chad because you didn’t think I liked you back?”

It sounded so weird and twisted when he said it like that, but it was true. I’d tried to get Wade’s attention for so long, and he’d never seemed to give a damn. But Chad… well, he’d been a smooth talker. And I’d been sixteen. I hadn’t thought one night with him would change the course of my entire life.

I nodded, embarrassed to admit it. “Yeah. I guess so.”

“What would you have done if you’d known I wanted you back then? Would you have chosen differently?”

I tilted my chin up to meet his. “You know I won’t say I regret having Liam. But for the purpose of this conversation only, if I’d had a choice, it would have been you. It’s always been you.”

And then, before I could even fully register the change in his eyes from intense interest to sudden flames, his lips were on mine.

TEN

WADE

She’d set off a bundle of bottle rockets in my head. My thoughts burst from one thing to the next.“It’s always been you.”Was it even possible that was true?

But she’d said it. And she wouldn’t lie—especially not about something like that. What would it get her but awkwardness and, if I didn’t feel the same way, a real shift in our relationship to say the least.

But holy fuck, the woman I’d been more than a little in love with since I could remember hadalwaysliked me. And when our mouths met, her tongue stroked against mine like she absolutely meant it.

My hands slid up to cradle her head and tilt it to the side to deepen the kiss, my tongue delving in. She tasted sweet, and even better than she had the first time we’d kissed at the firehouse.

I wanted her closer. Our kiss morphed into something urgent and hungry. She moaned, and I practically growled in response, especially when she pressed herself into me, no turnouts between us this time to block the contact. My jeans didn’t do much to hide that I was rock hard, and she seemed to find that fact quite satisfying as she pressed herself against me.

“God, I love how you kiss,” she said on a gasp, then slipped her hands under my shirt and stroked across my back.

I groaned, the feeling of her hands on me making me wish we were stripped down and horizontal. But this was better than anything up to this point in my life as it was. I let one hand slide down from where it held her head, skate across the smooth skin of her neck, the dip of her collarbone, between her breasts, then along the lower edge of her bra.

One of her hands snaked between us and splayed flat over my lower abs, causing my stomach to clench. But fair enough, if she wanted me touching her, I’d take the cue. My hand inched up to the curve of her breast, and she nipped at my lip and pulled back, waiting.

I read the look there—heated eyes, lids drooping with desire the way mine had to be, too. Without looking away, I stroked my thumb over her breast, the tight peak of her nipple hard even through the shirt and bra underneath. Liquid heat speared through me, and I could hardly breathe, I wanted her so badly.

That touch must’ve been the right move because she yanked me back into a kiss as I palmed her, wishing we were naked. Wishing she’d slide her hand down.