Page 5 of Hold Me Until Morning

Her face this perfect heart, cheeks high and full, and her jaw tapered down to an almost sharp chin, though it was softened with a dimple that sat right in the middle.

Right then, her expression roiled in a crash of turbulence. Violent and chaotic where she stood beneath the power of the storm.

Fierce.

Fiery.

Though there was no missing the way she was shaking.

My chest tightened.

She let go of a patronizing laugh. “What, you recognized me now?”

My brow pinched at the dislike she was tossing at me. “It was dark and…it’s been a lot of years.”

“Yeah, it has.” The fire inside her blazed, the woman wearing it like a shield.

I knew exactly what it looked like to barely be holding the broken pieces together. What it looked like to be holding on so tightly because your world was unraveling.

Hers trembled all around her.

My stomach twisted in a way that it shouldn’t. A swell of protectiveness rose from out of nowhere.

It took all my strength to bat it back down into nonexistence because Hailey Wagner was the last person I could care about. The last person I could get close to.

Just standing here talking to her was likely hazardous.

I’d long ago accepted my philosophy on life.

I was happy to lend a hand when I could. Keep it polite. Mind my manners the way my mother had taught me, and my father had insisted.

But other than for my friends and my family? My mother and my two sisters? It ended at that.

I didn’t form bonds or attachments. Never got too close or too deep.

I fucked a lot and made sure to please, then I left it at that.

I couldn’t take the chance of someone relying on me. Couldn’t risk the choices I’d made in my life affecting someone else. Because I didn’t know when my luck was going to fail.

It looked like right then, with Hailey staring back at me, that luck might have run out.

The problem was? I saw it written all over her. She’d been. Time and again.

Failed.

I should stay far the fuck away from her, but I couldn’t remain standing still. Couldn’t stop the slow approach of my feet as I crossed the porch and climbed down the steps.

I kept moving until I was a foot away from her.

A greedy bastard because I reached out and ran my thumb over that divot in her chin, hating that I was the reason it was trembling.

I got struck with it then. The scent of strawberries and cream so distinct that it hit me like a punch to the gut. Memories pummeled me like a landslide. That summer six years ago that had changed everything. I’d done my all to bury those memories, memories I’d do well to leave in the past.

Surprise dropped that pouty mouth open, and the air crackled around us. My voice came out hoarser than I’d intended it to. “From where I’m standing, Hailey? There isn’t a thing weak about you. Never has been, and I’m pretty sure there’s never going to be.”

Before I could contemplate what the hell I was feeling, I turned and jogged back to my house, leaving her standing in the rain.

TWO

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