Chapter 14 #3
Silver snapped her fingers, her eyes glimmering as though she’d unraveled the mystery. “What address did you send the letters to?”
“I don’t recall the exact address. But it was to your home in Englewood.”
“The old or new house?”
He did vaguely remember her talking about the new home her father was building near a country club. She’d anticipated moving in at the end of the summer. “Does it matter? Wouldn’t the post office forward the mail?”
“I don’t know. Everything was so chaotic that summer and fall. Both houses were in disarray. Daddy had just ended things with his girlfriend and had started traveling a lot again. I was busy with cheerleading. And then there was that break-in at the new house . . .”
Was it possible the letters had gotten lost in the shuffle?
It was unfortunate, but at least she hadn’t ignored him the way he’d believed for all these years.
“There’s no excuse, Dustin.” Her expression was etched with remorse, and she lowered herself to one knee in front of him. “I wanted to write to you or call you, but you were older, and I didn’t know if you cared about me the same way. So I didn’t do anything.”
“It isn’t your fault.”
“But I feel horrible about not getting your letters.” She grasped the hand he was resting on his knee. “Will you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive.” Really, there wasn’t. If anything, he could have called her or visited her instead of giving up so easily.
“I would have loved writing back to you. You have to know that.” Her fingers dug into his, almost as if she was trying to convince him of the truth.
He squeezed her hand back and wanted to trace the scar there. “I believe you, Silver.”
“You do?” Her dark lashes were unblinking, framing her unusually intense gaze.
“Of course. I should have realized it sooner. You’re too sweet to purposefully ignore someone’s letters. You would have written back at least once—”
“I would have written back to every letter. I probably would have written a letter to you every day, so that you would have gotten sick of me.”
“That wouldn’t have happened.” That was one thing he knew with certainty.
“I really liked you.” She was still squeezing his hand. “And I guess now I understand more why you weren’t as excited to see me when I came the next summer.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “I still had no excuse for ignoring you and being such a jerk.”
She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Just think of how differently things might have worked out if I’d gotten your letters and we’d stayed in touch. Maybe we would have started dating. Maybe you would have pursued marrying me. Maybe we would have had a child together by now.”
He didn’t want to go down that path, didn’t want to start thinking about a life that wasn’t his and would never be. “Remember I’m cursed? I would have hurt you eventually anyway, and you would have left me.”
She smiled and stood, removing her hand, which he missed the moment it was gone. “Dustin McQuaid. I thought I was influencing you to be more positive. But it looks like I need to do some more work.”
“I’m fine.” He could admit being around her had always been good for his soul. She’d been like sugar to his lemonade, like sweetener to his coffee. And here he was thinking in analogies because of her.
She didn’t move from her spot in front of him except to fist her hands on her hips and quirk her head as she studied him.
He had an overwhelming longing to bump her fists out of the way and replace them with his hands, then tug her forward and capture her between his legs before guiding her head down to his so that he could kiss her senseless.
She was near enough that he could do it, and no one would have to know. He would kiss her just once—for old time’s sake—and then never do it again.
“I have an idea.” Her face brightened. “Let’s spend the rest of the day having fun together and enjoying some of our favorite ranch activities.”
“We’re staying in the cabin.”
“You said we’re not dropping any hints about my location until tomorrow.”
“We still need to lay low.”
“We can lay low and still do a few things, can’t we?” Her voice was soft, and her eyes pleaded with him.
His family would probably love nothing more than to see him get out and spend time with Silver. Ty would find a way to rearrange schedules in order to accommodate a requirement for seclusion and privacy with Silver.
Ty would likely wink again and assume Dustin was asking for the seclusion and privacy because he wanted to get Silver alone and ravish her. But the truth was, he could ravish her here in the cabin if that’s what he really wanted to do. And it wasn’t.
“Please?” she asked again, her voice dropping even more and her eyes radiating hope.
How could he say no to her? Not when he didn’t have reason to, and not when he didn’t really want to. The truth was, he wouldn’t mind going out and experiencing some of the things they had once done together.
He heaved a sigh, not wanting to appear too eager. “Fine.”
She smiled wider. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it.” Inwardly, he was smiling now too and looking forward to spending time with her way more than he should.