Page 58 of The Darkest Parts of Me

“You think that’s why I came over? That I thought you needed me to rescue you?” His voice becomes harsher

“Maybe? I don’t know. We didn’t really get to finish our conversation.”

Renn’s serious face suddenly becomes softer again, stepping away from the fireplace, walking toward me.

“That’s not why I came over, but I think you already know that,” he says, giving me a knowing look. “I told you I care about you, so why are you questioning it?”

I swallow before I say, “I guess I’m just worried about what you might think of me now. Now that you know everything.”

He takes a couple more steps toward me. “So, you think I don’t like what I saw, and now you’re worried you scared me away?”

I shrug. “Yeah, in a way, I guess.” He smiles at me, biting his tongue, and I can’t help but smile back. “What?”

“You really think that’s what the problem is here?” He motions to the space between us. I inhale nervously. “The problem isn’t me liking you less the more I get to know you, Maven. It’s the fact that the more you share with me, the more things there are to like about you.” He sighs, defeated, almost like it pains him to say it.

“Why would it be a problem if you liked me?” I ask, my voice soft.

He’s still as he searches my face, close enough now that I can see the rim of light gray circling his green irises.

“Maven, I’ve told you more things about me than I’ve ever told anyone here in Solitude Ridge, but there’s so much more that I should tell you, more that I want to tell you.” He pauses for a moment before going on, his voice dropping another octave as he says, “I guess I have the same fear as you, that if you really got to know me . . . I don’t think you’d be standing here right now.”

I shake my head. “No, Renn. That’s not possible.”

“It is. There are parts of me that I don’t want you to ever know because it’s better that way. Trust me.”

I stare at him, trying to figure out what he means as the firelight dances across his face, but I can’t find anything sinister there. I can’t see or feel anything about him that would ever cause me to run from him.

“That’s not fair. How can it be true for me and not for you? After yesterday, don’t you think I would understand?”

I can see that he’s at war with himself. Clearly, it’s difficult for him to even say it, whatever it is, so I don’t want to push him. I want him to come to me when he’s ready, just like he did for me. At least now he knows that I’m here for whenever he is ready.

He never pressured me to tell him my deep, dark secrets, so I will do the same for him.

“You don’t have to tell me now, but someday?” I ask.

He smiles faintly, and a few seconds pass. “Yeah. Someday.”

We look at each other for a few more beats, and it’s Renn who breaks his gaze first, turning to look into the flames, the firelight making his already sharp jaw more defined.

And before I even know what I’m doing I ask, “Can I ask you to do one more thing for me?”

He brings his eyes back to mine, a small smile edged with kindness and curiosity.

“Kiss me.” I shock myself for being so bold. He goes very still, and after what feels like an eternity, he slowly takes a step toward me. It only makes the nerves in me build, and I start talking to try and calm myself down, but it doesn't help. If anything, it only makes me sound like a blubbering idiot.

“I just want to know,” I say.

“Know what?” His gray-green eyes look a bit wild, making my heart jump.

“What it would feel like. Just once.”

He tilts his head a little to the side, smirking before taking another step closer. My skin erupts with goosebumps, my heartbeat thrums loudly in my ears. And his eyes . . . they are almost too much the closer he moves toward me.

“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” he says, a smirk playing on his lips.

Is he really teasing me right now about how good of a kisser he is? Not that I think he would be bad at it. I mean, how could he not be good at kissing, or anything else for that matter?

“Are you really that confident in your skills?” I ask, trying to tease him back, but it just sounds stupid.

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