Thud. There went my heart, straight to my stomach.
“Truitt, you honestly don’t expect me to believe you’re talking about me. You hardly ever noticed me.”
“That’s what you think, Saryn.”
I was positive I gave him a skeptical look. He laughed and shook his head.
“In Spanish class when you couldn’t figure out an answer on the test, you would tap your nose with your pencil until you came up with it. I’m pretty sure you still do it, because I saw you in the ER tapping your nose. When you played soccer you always stopped and helped up anyone who fell, even someone on the other team. You hate to eat your tacos in a soft shell, you don’t like vanilla ice cream, and…”
His eyes met mine and locked. “And you have the most beautiful brown eyes I’ve ever seen.”
I felt a tear slip free and make a slow trail down my cheek. I was too shocked to even attempt to hide it. To hide the fact that I was desperately trying not to cry. Truitt reached over and gently brushed it away with his thumb while I attempted to form words. Any words. At least one word.
Nothing would come. I stared at him in disbelief.
“You think I didn’t notice you, sweetheart. I noticed, believe me…I noticed.”
“Truitt.”
It was the only word I could manage to say. I wanted desperately to kiss him. To pull him into my bed and beg him to make love to me. I wanted to know what having a man make love to me felt like, because suddenly every single moment I was with Tim felt like it wasn’t real. None of it was real. The only good thing I received from Tim was sleeping upstairs with Truitt’s dog guarding her like she was his greatest treasure.
“You’re looking at me like you don’t want this to go slow, and we need it to go slow.”
I shook my head. “We don’t need it to go slow.”
“We don’t?” he asked, a smirk appearing on his face.
“No,” I replied with a shake of my head as I set my wine glass down, then took his glass from his hand and placed it next to mine. I stood and reached for his hands. “I need you to kiss me, while I’m naked, in my bed, with your body over mine.”
Truitt moaned as he closed his eyes. “Saryn, you said—”
“I don’t care what I said, Truitt. No man has ever made me feel like this before. Ever. Please don’t deny me this, because I think we’ve wanted this for over ten years now.”
“Don’t deny you?” he repeated with a laugh. “You don’t have to beg me, sweetheart, I wanted you the moment I pulled over to change your tire.”
The smile on his face made my insides melt. A rush of heat sprinted through my body, making me ache everywhere, especially between my legs.
“Will you make love to me, Truitt?”
He reached down and picked me up, eliciting a small gasp followed by a giggle.
“Nothing would make me happier, sweetheart.”
My mouth crushed against his and he started to walk. When he tripped over my rug, we both laughed.
“Maybe I should walk, and you follow me to the bedroom,” I said as I looked down at the rug he’d tripped over.
“Are you saying you think I’ll drop you?”
My gaze met his, and I loved how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at me. A true smile that screamed he was happy simply to be in my presence.
“I am very much saying that,” I said. “If you drop me, we’re both going to get hurt, and then I won’t have the orgasm I am desperately needing from you.”
In that moment he let my legs fall to the ground while he still held onto me with his hand. I busted out laughing, grabbed his hand, and guided him into the master bedroom. One quick check of the front door and we were soon standing in my bedroom. I suddenly felt like that shy sixteen-year-old girl who used to admire Truitt from a distance. The girl who stood on the sidelines as he played football and cheered him on. Or watched him and my brother work the cattle on branding day, trying not to act like I’d been studying every single move Truitt made. Or the girl who laid in bed at night and wished that Truitt would notice me. Ask me out. Tell me he wanted me.
A part of me wanted to weep that we had lost so much time together, but the other part knew we had both gone on our journeys separately for a reason. I wouldn’t regret it, not when I had Liliana.
Truitt walked up to me and cupped my face within his hands. “Are you sure about this?”
I nodded and whispered, “Yes, I’m sure.”