Undenied (Unspoken #3)(34)

Wes leaned down and kissed her hard on the cheek. “Thank you, Gracie. I hope you know how much I love you.”

She gave him a fierce hug. “I do. Now go.”

Chapter Fourteen

Wes pulled up at Payton’s apartment complex and heaved a huge sigh of relief when he saw her car parked in her slot. He’d called her at least a dozen times but she’d refused to answer. After the third time, his calls went straight to voice mail so he knew she’d turned it off.

He sat for a moment collecting himself, preparing for the biggest fight of his life. Not an argument, but a fight to keep her. To make her understand.

This was important. He hadn’t been sure just how important until he’d seen the tears she’d tried so hard to hide. And listened to her tell him to get the hell out of her life.

His heart pounding relentlessly, he got out and walked down the sidewalk to her unit. Once there, he rested one arm on her door for a long moment before finally knocking. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to his arm while he waited for her to answer.

He knocked harder then stood back, thumbs shoved into his pockets. A lifetime later, the door opened to reveal a very pissed Payton. His chest tightened when he saw the red streaks around her eyes.

“Can I come in?” he asked quietly. “There’s a lot I need to say to you.”

She hesitated and her fingers gripped the edge of the door until they were bloodless. Then she shrugged and backed away before turning to walk inside, leaving him to follow.

Once inside, he shut the door behind him and looked over to where Payton stood, arms crossed defensively over her chest. She looked tired. She looked small and vulnerable. His chest ached at the hurt he’d caused her.

He moved closer to her. “First, I’m very sorry about your dad. Is he going to be okay?”

“He’s going to live,” she said shortly.

He turned away for a moment and paced across the living room, hands behind his back. Then he swiveled again and stared at her.

Payton watched as a multitude of emotions crawled across Wes’s face. He looked uncomfortable, like he had a lot to say but no way to say it.

She emitted a tired sigh. She wished he hadn’t come all this way just to end things. She’d done a perfectly satisfactory job of that at the bar. If he had anything further to say, he could have left her a voice mail.

“I’m drawn to you, Payton.”

She snorted. “You have a damn funny way of showing it.”

He continued on as if she hadn’t popped off.

“And it scares the hell out of me. I shouldn’t need you like this so soon. But when I’m not with you, I’m thinking about you, looking forward to when I see you again. I can’t explain this thing between us. God knows I’ve tried, but I do know I don’t want it to end.”

Her heart did a funny little flip-flop in her chest.

“It didn’t have to end,” she said softly. “I didn’t want it to end either. There was no reason we couldn’t have seen where it could have taken us. I wasn’t the one keeping score. I wasn’t the one hiding behind some bullshit exterior, afraid that I’d be seen as too desperate or needy.”

He crossed the distance between them and took her shoulders in his hands. He looked down at her, his gaze searing holes in her face.

“I lied to you, Payton. Not the best way to start a relationship. And I do want a relationship. With you. I told myself I didn’t. The idea scared me shitless because I liked my life just fine before you swept back in and turned my world upside down. I knew that things would change, that I’d have to make concessions, meet you halfway. And the selfish part of me wanted to have my cake and eat it too.

“But I’m here because, Payton, I don’t want to be without you. Is it too soon to feel this way? I don’t know, but I can’t change that fact. I’m as sure of that as anything in my life.”

He looked away for a moment as if grappling with the emotion she saw so clearly in his eyes just seconds before. When he looked back at her, his eyes were suspiciously wet.

“Payton…I think…I think I might just love you.”

She smiled. A watery, pitiful smile that only grew larger with every passing second. “I think I might just love you, too, Wes,” she whispered.

He framed her face with shaky hands. She could hear the harsh exhalation of his breath. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was such love and relief, and a hunger that fed her hopes and dreams.

He kissed her. Lightly, reverently. Then he slowly pulled away to stare down at her. “What do we do now?” he asked hoarsely. “I’m so tied up in knots I can’t even see straight. I’ve never…I’ve never felt this way about another woman. It’s kind of like being drawn on by a suspect and realizing I don’t have a weapon.”

She laughed, a choked, husky sound. “I scare you that badly?”

“You terrify me,” he whispered. “I’m terrified of losing you. I’m terrified of not being with you, of not being able to touch you, to make love to you. In such a short time, you’ve become so very precious to me. I don’t understand it. I don’t care.”

Tears spilled from her lids and streaked down her cheeks. She went into his arms, wrapping hers around him. She buried her cheek against his chest, feeling the erratic beat of his heart.