“Your turn,” he softly said instead of answering her.
Everything he’d told her made her fears seem selfish, like she was only thinking of herself when he thought of everyone but himself. But he hadn’t answered the one thing he’d said he would. “You said you’d tell me your greatest fear.”
“I was hoping you’d forget that part.” He gave her a sad smile. “My greatest fear? It’s this. I gave the years that were supposed to be my greatest to raising my brothers. I don’t regret it, and I’d do it all over again, but now I want my turn. And I want it with you. My fear is that you’re not going to give us a chance.”
He was right.
Chapter Forty-One
When she shut down, Tristan didn’t know what else to say. He’d put it out there in the hope that she’d tell him what was going on in her mind, because something was. A myriad of emotions sat heavy in his chest. A sense of loss for what could be, hurt that she didn’t respect him enough to be honest with him, and a bone-deep sadness. Then there was the resentment. He’d offered her his heart only to have it stomped on.
He settled back in his seat and clipped on his seatbelt. His finger was on the start button when she put her hand on his wrist.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” He wanted to ask her what she was sorry for exactly, but what was the point?
“I’m afraid.”
There was vulnerability in her voice, and he hated it. Skylar Morgan, the Skye he knew—that he loved—was a strong, independent woman. She wasn’t a woman afraid and vulnerable. He turned his hand over, and with their hands palm to palm, he lowered them to the console between them. “What are you afraid of, Skye?”
“I lost myself in a man, and that cost me everything. I can’t do it again.” Tears pooled in her eyes, and she blinked them away. “I’m afraid it would be too easy to lose myself in you.”
She still didn’t believe he would never do anything to hurt her. He’d grown up in Marsville, knew the people, and not a one of them would turn on her simply because they broke up if it ever came to that.
Was he willing and did he have the patience to prove to her that she was safe with him, no matter how long it took? If not, then he needed to let go for both their sakes. As he roamed his gaze over her, he knew he couldn’t walk away without trying.
“Here’s the thing. I’ll never ask you to lose yourself in me. I don’t want you to change who you are. It’s never made sense to me why a man wants to change what attracted him to a woman in the first place.”
“I think I believe you. I want to.”
Because she’d been deeply hurt and betrayed by a man she thought loved her, he tried not to let her words hurt. They hurt anyway. But those were her feelings, and he had to respect that. Her fear was putting a name to what they were to each other—a couple, boyfriend, girlfriend—so for her, he’d take that off the table, even though he wanted every living soul in Horace County to know she was his girlfriend.
He’d told himself it was going to be baby steps with her, so baby steps it was. “How about this? We don’t put a name to us or any expectations. We just enjoy each other’s company, whether it’s dinner, UFO text jokes, or you in my bed...” He did a mental fist pump when she tried not to smile. “It stays our secret.”
“Okay.”
Just okay? That was all he got? Apparently, it was.
“It’s cute,” Skye said.
Tristan snorted. She was being nice. The house was a horror. Ralph Radford had lived another twelve years after Ethel had died, and looking around, it was obvious he hadn’t known how to take care of the place without her.
“It has potential,” Leigh, Skye’s Realtor, said.
With a lot of elbow grease, even more money, and vision—which he did not have—it probably did have potential. He’d pass on it, but it wasn’t his decision. If he had his way, Skye wouldn’t need to be looking at houses.
He stayed in the living room with Fuzz while the women walked through the rest of the house. He just couldn’t see Skye living here. It wasn’t her. She walked back down the hall with Leigh following behind her.
“I don’t think this is the one.” She glanced at Leigh. “Do you have anything closer to town?”
“Actually, there’s a loft on Main Street I think you might like.” Leigh took out her phone. “Let me call the owner and see if I can show it now.”
There was only one loft Tristan knew of, and he was surprised it was for sale. “The one above Sweet Tooth Bakery?”
Leigh nodded, then stepped outside as she spoke to the owner. Tristan almost told Skye who owned it but decided to wait until after she saw the loft. She might like it enough to deal with Miss Mabel.
“Have you seen it?” Skye asked.