Tease (Cloverleigh Farms #8)(85)

But I did take the ring from the blue box and slip it on my finger.

When he pulled up, I was sitting on the porch with my arms wrapped around my knees. My pulse skittered as he came up the front walk. “Hey,” I said, getting to my feet.

“Hey.” His smile was boyish and charming. “Will you go for a drive with me?”

“Sure.”

He took my hand and led me to the passenger side of his car, where he opened the door for me and closed it after I got in. A few minutes later, we were heading toward town.

“Are we going anywhere in particular?” I asked.

“You’ll see.”

I tried to guess where he might be taking me, but we stayed in so much that there weren’t a lot of places that had a ton of memories for us besides his house. Since we weren’t going in that direction, I was completely baffled.

For a moment, I wondered if he was taking me to some airfield where a private jet was going to whisk us away to some exotic location. I hoped not—I didn’t want him to think that I needed those kinds of things to be happy.

I shouldn’t have worried. Hutton knew me better than that. Even better, he knew us.

We pulled up behind the public library, where a little old lady was waiting by the door with a set of keys. She was short and plump and had a head full of coppery curls.

“There you are,” she whispered excitedly. “I was getting nervous.”

“Sorry, Gladys. Thanks a lot for this.”

“You’re welcome, dear. I’m glad to help.” She unlocked the door and put a finger over her mouth. “Don’t turn any lights on, okay?”

Hutton nodded. “We won’t be long.”

“I’ll just wait in my car.” Gladys looked back and forth between the two of us and sighed before hurrying over to a Buick, the only other car in the lot.

“What on earth?” I whispered as Hutton took my hand and pulled me through the dark, silent library. “Why are we here?”

“I need a second chance at something.” He led me into the study room off the main section of the library, and over to the table where we’d once sat studying for our AP calculus exam.

I laughed softly as Hutton pulled out the chair for me. “Thank you.”

He sat down next to me. “I don’t know what would have happened if I’d had the nerve to kiss you that night. But I do know that I have always regretted not taking that chance when I had it.”

“Is this a do-over?” I asked, my heart pounding just as hard as it had been when I was seventeen.

“It’s a do-better.” He leaned in, his lips nearly touching mine, and paused. “You’re not chewing gum, are you?”

I shook my head.

“Good.” Taking my head in his hands, he pressed his lips to mine, sending sparks shooting every which way beneath my skin. “Everything is going to be different from now on.”

“It is?”

“Yes. That night, you told me something you’d never told anyone before. I’m going to return the favor.”

“Okay.” I tried to swallow and found it difficult.

“I love you, Felicity. I’ve always loved you. And if you’ll let me, I will love you for the rest of my life.”

I gasped. “Oh my God. Hutton, I—”

“Hold on. I want to hear every single word you want to say, but I’m afraid if I don’t get everything out all at once, I’ll lose my nerve. Or I’ll forget something important.”

“Okay,” I said, laughing softly.

“That day my family showed up at my house and I asked you to keep pretending we were engaged, it wasn’t only because I wanted my mother off my back. It was because I wanted the chance to be with you without the risk of losing you. I didn’t trust myself not to screw things up. I didn’t believe that someone like me could hold onto someone like you. I was convinced that if you got close enough, you’d see all my flaws and idiosyncrasies and know you could do better.”

“All I want is you,” I whispered. “But I understand your fear. I was scared too. I thought I could ration my feelings the way I usually did.”

“Like truffles?”

I smiled. “Like truffles. But it didn’t work. Every day we were together I just fell deeper and deeper.”

“I did too,” he said. “I was a wreck when we got home from New York.”

“Same! Even in New York—that day I tried on the dress.” I shook my head. “I knew it wasn’t just a dress, no matter what you said.”

“You were right.”

“And the ring.” I looked down at my hand, at the band circling my finger. “You gave me a real ring.”

“I wanted to buy you all the real things, because my feelings were real. But it was easier to spend money than to admit them.”

“Let’s make a promise that we’ll be honest with each other from now on.”

“Deal.”

“Is this where I can tell you I love you too?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

“I love you too—everything about you. What you see as flaws and idiosyncrasies are what make you different and special. I’m not perfect either,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll probably always cut my hair when I’m stressed, never walk right in high heels, and continue to blurt random things when I’m nervous.”