The increase in stuttering should’ve tipped her off to what he was about to do, but she was completely unprepared for it. Kaden’s hands cupped her face and tilted it upward. He stared at her for a second, maybe giving her a chance to stop him, but she couldn’t form a thought. Then his mouth was against hers.
She lifted her palms to his thrift store Doors T-shirt, intending to push him away. But instead, as he moved his lips over hers, she found her fingers curling into the worn material and holding onto it like a life raft. Despite his grip on her, the kiss wasn’t demanding or aggressive. And it wasn’t sloppy like Doug’s. It was soft and sweet and . . . perfect.
His hands dropped to her waist and drew her closer. All thoughts fell away, her whole being suspended in the moment. There was nothing outside of this. No worries about the future or friends or temporary families. Just hands and lips and feeling. Only when his tongue moved against hers and her body went hot did reality come reeling back into place. She stepped back in a rush, his T-shirt slipping from her fingers.
“Stop,” she gasped. “We can’t.”
“Tess—” The yearning on Kaden’s face almost did her in.
But this was wrong. So wrong. She had a boyfriend. And Kaden was . . . who he was. And if anyone ever found out . . . Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. “I need you to take me home.”
“Tessa, p-p-please, wait, let’s talk.”
She grabbed her book bag with jerky movements, her hands shaking, and turned to head to the door. “I need to go.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t m-m-mean—”
She whirled around, fiery emotion bubbling over the top of the lid she was trying to keep closed. “No? What did you m-m-mean, then, huh? Jesus, what were you thinking?”
His jaw tightened, and she instantly regretted her hateful mocking.
“Kaden—”
But he didn’t wait for her apology. He yanked his bag off the couch, hauled it over his shoulder, and strode past her, saying on the way, “At least now we know you’re not just pretending to be like them.”
TWELVE
Tessa stared at the cabin she hadn’t seen in over a decade, then dragged her attention back to the man next to her. The vulnerability in Kade’s eyes was such a direct contrast to the confidence that had bled from him the moment she’d met him in his restaurant. And in that glimmer of a moment, she could see the younger version of him in the lopsided set of his mouth, the stark honesty in his eyes. Everything was more refined now. Polished. The angles
of his face had emerged from the roundness of youth and hardened into masculine edges. The stringy long hair had been cut into windswept stylishness. And any traces of his former stutter had disappeared. But when she really looked underneath all of that, she could still see the boy she used to know.
The boy she’d hurt.
And the man she’d slept with.
Her stomach did a somersault as all of that information crashed together in her head.
“You knew who I was and lied?” she asked, rewinding to the night in the restaurant. God, had this all been some revenge scheme to pay her back?
“Tess—”
Tess. He was the only one she’d ever let call her that. The car felt stifling all of a sudden, and she pushed her door open to climb out.
He followed suit, coming around the front of the car to stand in front of her. “I swear. I didn’t know, not at first. I didn’t realize it until the EMT needed your medical information and I saw your name.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I would’ve if you hadn’t left the hospital before I got there.”
“Oh, don’t give me that. You knew the other day in your office,” she said, squaring off with him. “You could’ve let me know between offering me a job I don’t deserve and signing me up to be your fuck buddy tonight.”
Displeasure clouded his features. “You’re not my fuck buddy. Don’t ever refer to yourself as that again. And I didn’t say anything because I needed you to know me as I am now. I didn’t want that loser Kaden Fowler tainting the picture.”
Her spine stiffened. “Hey, how’s about I don’t call myself your fuck buddy and you don’t call yourself a loser. Kaden Fowler was the best boy I knew back then.”
He scoffed. “Right. Which is why you walked away from him that night to be with the guy who beat up and humiliated that same boy. And why you went on to let people think the worst of me.”
Tears pricked her eyes, the horrible memories rushing in like a stampede of ugly buffalo. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “You told me to go.”