Page 86 of You're the Reason

“But... I can’t stop thinking about you, longing for you, wanting you to be mine. I can’t stop loving you.” The words came out rough as he gripped the back of one of Ms. Margret’s antique chairs. “But it won’t work. I won’t do that to you. I know what it’s like to live in conflict with your parents?—”

“Do you think we live at peace now?” She closed the distance to him again. “My parents and I have lived in conflict since long before Gregory died.”

He rested his hands on her arms. “This would be different.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it.” She dropped her head, staring at the floor as she leaned her head into his chest.

When she toyed with the skin at his waist, his grip on her arms relaxed until he almost wasn’t touching her. His chest stopped moving for a moment, then his breaths came deeper, more labored. “Grace?”

Her skin hummed everywhere he was touching her, and all she could think about was more. More time. More contact. More Seth.

Drawing a deep breath, she finally looked up. His gaze was uncertain and questioning, but it was also laced with a dark hunger she’d never seen before. It didn’t scare her, instead, it seemed to fuel her courage as she rose on her toes and lightly brushed her lips across his. Then again.

When he didn’t respond she closed her eyes and started to lean back, but his hand slid to the back of her head, stopping her retreat. He didn’t pull her close, just waited until she met his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“You’re the only thing I’m sure about.”

When he still hesitated, she reached up and ran her thumb the length of his jaw. “Why can’t you trust that someone could love you? Trust that I won’t abandon you.”

Evidently, her confession was all he needed. His lips landed on hers, soft but strong. The last kiss had been hesitant and unsure, but this Seth was no longer questioning. He knew what he wanted, and kissed her like he’d been reliving the last one as often as she had.

His hands trailed down her back, leaving a line of fire and ice behind. It was like every cell in her body wanted him here. Needed him here. Closer. When his lips traveled from her mouth down her jawline and back, her whole mind clouded over. She melted against him as a small whimper escaped her throat.

Her response seemed to add fuel to him, and he deepened the kiss, pulling her closer with no end in sight. Which was fine by her.

A rough, abrupt noise filled the air. Then again. Was someone banging on glass?

Grace leaned back, trying to pull her mind back to reality when the front door rattled with a hard knock for a third time. Grace blinked, regaining her bearings. Right, Ms. Margret wasn’t here, and she needed to answer the door. Who could that be? They rarely got visitors and when they did, they didn’t usually sound like over-aggressive salesmen.

She pressed her forehead into his, her breath still labored. “I need to get that.”

“Yeah.” The word agreed but his eyes begged her to ignore it. “But this isn’t finished.”

“Definitely not finished.”

She stepped back, but Seth pulled her close, capturing her lips one more time before he turned toward the sink, drawing a few deep breaths as he went. “I’m going to get some water.”

She walked toward the front door, but yelled over her shoulder. “I’ll get rid of them.”

She yanked the door open, and her euphoria melted away. Her parents’ grim faces said it all. They stared at her a moment then walked in without waiting for an invitation.

“We saw Gabe.” The venom in her mother’s words made her jump.

Her dad opened his mouth to speak, but he froze, his focus on something—or she suspected someone—behind her as all color drained from his face.

Seth’s hand brushed her arm. “Everything okay?”

“Don’t touch her.” Her dad finally found his words as he took a step closer and then spoke to her. “Friends, is it?”

She didn’t have to have a mirror to know that her disheveled hair and probably red lips spoke as a testimony against that.

Before she could find her words, her mother jumped in. “Why is he here with you? We saw what he did to Gabe.”

Seth stepped up next to her. “Gabe was trying to sell drugs to a kid.”

“You want us to believe you?” Her mom narrowed her eyes at Seth then she looked back at Grace. “You’re going to trust him over your brother? The only brother you have left.”

“It’s the truth.” Seth took another step, but she blocked his path with her arm. Didn’t he realize he wasn’t helping? She needed to talk to her parents calmly, but that wasn’t going to happen as long as he was here. And she needed to talk to him, but that wasn’t going to happen as long as her parents were here.

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