Chapter 52
Despite a ten-and-a-half-hour flight and a six-hour time difference that gave me jetlag from hell, I was wide the fuck awake when I drove off the ferry onto Halloran Island late that afternoon and raced into Bayport.
After finding out Morgan left, I was pretty sure I was right about what I thought—hoped—her words meant.
Why do you think I stopped coming around, Wes?
I think it was because that sassy, stubborn brunette felt the same way about me as I did her. And the more I thought about it, the more everything made sense. Her behavior when she came home, her spilling our secret the way she did, and her avoidance of me ever since.
I didn’t know for sure—and I wouldn’t until I heard the words from her mouth—but I was feeling pretty confident in my assumption. I think she let her stubbornness and pride get in the way the very same way I did.
Not anymore.
I pulled into her apartment complex and whipped into a spot near the door; her car was usually parked in the spot next to where I was, but it wasn’t there, and I started to panic a little as I got out and raced inside.
I didn’t even take the elevator. I rushed up six flights of stairs and burst through the stairwell, running down the hall to her door. Blake would probably be appalled at how out of breath I was.
I leaned against the doorframe and raised my hand to knock. “Morgan?” I panted. Silence. I knocked again but was met with more silence. “Where the hell is she?” I rasped, still trying to catch my breath. She couldn’t have landed all but a few hours before me.
I turned, went back to the stairwell, and rushed back to my car. I grabbed my phone and shot off a message. The minutes ticked by with no response, so I sent another. Then I tried calling, but there was no answer.
“Goddamnit!” I grumbled as I tossed my phone onto my seat.
When I started my car and backed out, I pulled out of the complex and headed up the main road that led toward the outskirts of town.
I knew her parents lived on the same road as Callie’s old house, just down the street, so I headed in that direction.
I had no clue what house was theirs, but Morgan’s Altima was easy enough to spot.
I drove up and down that damn road three times with no luck.
There was only one other place I could think of to check, so I started back toward town, headed for Haversburg to get back on the ferry.
After a forty-five minute ride, where I sent her another group of messages, I drove off the linkspan and headed for Isle of Palms. I knew she was working on the beach house for my mom, and I knew that some things had been done while we were in Monaco that she would need to check up on.
After another twenty-five minute drive to the beach house, I pulled into the driveway…the very empty fucking driveway.
I threw my head back with a growl as I gripped my steering wheel like a vise. I let out an exasperated breath just as my eyes flickered up to the rearview mirror; a group of guys were standing around a white work truck.
I backed out and stopped as I rolled down my window. “Hi, excuse me. Have you guys been here for a bit?”
“A couple of hours,” one man answered.
“Did you see a white Altima parked here?” I pointed to the driveway.
“Yeah,” the man said with a nod. “A woman, she was there, left maybe ten or fifteen minutes ago.”
Son of a bitch.
“Thanks, man. Appreciate it.”
I took off, rolling my window back up and grumbling under my breath as I headed back to the ferry. Again.
When I was on the ferry headed back to Halloran for the second time, I sent another slew of texts to Morgan. I could only assume one of three things: she blocked me, was ignoring me, or her phone died.
Forty-five minutes later, I drove off the linkspan once again and floored it toward Bayport.
When I pulled back into Morgan’s apartment complex, my heart shot to my throat when I saw her car parked in its usual spot.
Finally.
I got out of my car and ran inside, opting not to use the elevator when I saw a couple waiting for it; I flew back up the six flights of stairs, out of the stairwell, and down the hall to Morgan’s door, once again out of damn breath.
I leaned against the doorframe as I knocked. My heart was pounding from both exertion and anxiety as I heard footsteps draw closer, and then the door opened.
Morgan went slightly wide-eyed when she met my gaze. “What are you—”
“Jesus Christ. Talk about making a guy work for it,” I panted in interruption.
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“I’ve been looking all over the damn place for you.”
“What are—why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in Monaco?”
I looked at her, my heart clenching at the sight of her amber eyes as my breathing started to slow. “Can I come in?”
She hesitated for a moment before stepping aside to let me in, and I turned to face her as she closed the door behind her. When she looked at me, I could see the flicker of apprehension in her eyes, and I hated that I caused it.
She folded her arms. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted—needed to apologize about last night. I know you were telling me the truth.”
Her brows knit. “You caught an early flight and came back just to apologize?”
“Yeah. I mean, I would have done it back in Monaco, but, ya know, you left. So, that kind of threw a wrench in my plans.”
Morgan stared at me for a moment. “What made you change your mind?”
“It wasn’t so much about changing my mind. I knew you were telling the truth. I just…I didn’t want to believe someone I considered a friend would do that.”
She dropped my gaze as she gave a soft nod. “Well…apology accepted. But you didn’t have to leave early. You could have waited until tomorrow.”
“No. I didn’t want to wait. Because there’s more…more I need to say.”
She looked at me again. “Then say it.”
“I ended things with Loralei.”
I saw her slightly stiffen at my words, but she was still clinging to her cool mask of indifference. “That’s good…for you, I mean,” she said. “At least…you seem okay with it ending.”
“I am okay with it.” I nodded with a small smile. “More than okay. It never should have happened in the first place.”
Her brow creased. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I went into it for all the wrong reasons, and it wasn’t what I wanted.
” She held my stare, and I could see her trying to dissect my words.
“Can I ask you something?” She hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“What did you mean when you asked me why I thought you stopped coming around?”
Again, she subtly stiffened as she looked away. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t believe that. If that were the case, you wouldn’t have said it at all.”
“You’re reading too much into it,” she countered.
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think that I am.”
Morgan shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re looking for me to say here.”
“I want you to cut the shit and tell me the truth,” I told her. “What did you mean?”
“It was nothing.”
“Again, you wouldn’t have said it if there wasn’t some meaning behind it.” I took a step toward her, watching her tense her jaw. “Tell me what you meant,” I said more firmly.
“What the hell do you want to hear, Wes?” Her voice rose slightly, and I could hear the soft tremble in it.
“That while I was in Miami, I actually missed you? That I was pissed at myself because when I finally got my shit together and let myself acknowledge I fell for you, I was too late because you had someone else? That I stopped coming around because it was too damn hard for me to see you and her together? Is that what you want to hear?”
My gaze never left hers as I took another step, bringing myself to stand directly in front of her. I lifted my hand, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before I let it rest against the side of her neck.
I fell for you.
I breathed in her familiar rose scent, staring at her for a long moment, drinking her in. This beautiful, sexy, stubborn, sassy-mouthed, incredible woman had me utterly intoxicated, drunk on love and a need only she could fulfill.
“I told you not to fall in love with me…” I watched her tense with unease, as if she were afraid of what I was going to say next. “But the truth is, I fell in love with you first.”
I heard her breath imperceptibly hitch as she stared up at me, her eyes shifting back and forth between mine. “I thought you didn’t believe in love…”
I shook my head. “It’s not that I didn’t believe in it, Princess.
I just didn’t want it. Not until you. You made me want it.
You make me want everything.” I watched her bite the inside of her lip as if to keep it from trembling as my thumb brushed against her jaw.
“I’ve known…for a while now, I’ve known how I felt.
But I was being a fucking coward. I convinced myself you didn’t feel the same, so I didn’t say anything and tried to force myself to forget you.
It didn’t work. I can’t…I can’t forget you. And I don’t want to.”
A shaky breath escaped her as she held my gaze. “Wes…”
“You are what I want, Morgan. Your smiles. Your laughs. Your sass. Your snark. Your wit. You’ve gotten under my skin in ways no one else ever has. And I want more. I want it all. I want you to be mine.”
My other hand curled around her hip as I leaned forward, brushing my lips against hers in a whisper of a kiss.
“Say it,” I whispered as I let my fingers slip just beneath the hem of her shirt, brushing against the soft skin of her hip, earning another quietly hitched breath from her.
“Please. I need you to say it.” My fingers continued to tease her skin.
“It’s been months, Princess, and I want to fucking ruin you in the most passionate way possible, but I need to hear you say that you’re mine. ”
“I’m yours,” she breathed.
The words were like a match to kerosene—as soon as they were spoken, my lips crushed against hers.