Page 94 of Once Kissed

“About my father?”

“Yeah.”

“Part of me wants to run out of here with you, but then I worry that it may be for the wrong reasons.” She lifts her head. “I want us to be together because of us. Not because my father drove me into your arms, or because you feel this need to save me.”

“What if I want you with me? Even if this shit had never gone down with your father?”

“But it did. I think you would have asked me to move in with you before tonight if you really wanted me to.”

Maybe. Maybe not. In all honesty, I’ve thought a lot about us, and about being together for the long haul.

When it comes down to it, we haven’t known each other long, not really. The last thing I want is to rush things and screw them up. What I have with Tess is special. I’ve never felt this way about any girl. Not even close. But despite our time together, there’s a lot she’s kept from me. And I don’t like it.

“Did you tell me everything? Or is there stuff you left out?” I groan when she doesn’t answer. “Just tell me.”

“I don’t want you to get angry again.”

“I’m already pissed. But I hate these damn secrets. You’ve been quiet this whole time about shit you should have told me about. Now that I know some of what’s going on, don’t you think you owe me the rest?”

“I never meant to lie to you. But this part of my life is humiliating, and not something I ever meant to share.”

“But you have.”

“Yes. I have.” I give her a moment, and then one after that before she finally speaks. “I didn’t study abroad my senior year of college.”

I frown. “Then where the hell did you go?”

“Away where I wouldn’t cause any trouble.” Her voice grows distant, like she’s remembering. “My father was livid over a low grade I received at the end of junior year. But when he found us together, it pushed him to his breaking point. I embarrassed him. So he gave me a choice: finish my senior year at an all-women’s college two thousand miles away, or watch as he expelled you.”

I jerk to a sitting position, taking her with me.“What?”

She keeps her eyes on me. “Come on, Curran. You were caught in bed with a young woman whose father was the university’s president, in her sorority house, after curfew. Did you ever wonder why nothing happened to you?”

Yeah, about a million times—especially since the skinny bastard threatened to toss me. “You took the fall for me.”

Tears wet her cheeks, but she grins anyway. “I couldn’t let him ruin you, too.”

I think she’s maybe going to say more, but I silence her with a long kiss. Back in college, school, my friends, my frat—they meant everything to me. Good times, plus the opportunity to make something of myself.

“You took the fall for me,” I repeat, realizing everything it must have cost her.

Her soft smile and voice hold me in place. “And I’d do it again.”

Yeah. She would. “So why don’t I return the favor and take care of you now?”

“No.”

“Tess, don’t be so quick to say that. Take your time. Think things through.”

She kisses my chin. “I don’t want to be taken care of, Curran. I’ve had that all my life.”

“You’ve had it in a bad way. You don’t know the good part of it. Will you let me show you and get you outta here?”

She keeps her small smile, but this time, I see all that sadness buried behind it. “I wish I could. But it’s not fair to saddle you with my problems or finances.”

“Shouldn’t it be up to me to decide what’s fair?” I ask, as I pass my hand along her back.

“Not in this case, cop. You have to admit, all these details you’ve learned about me, it changes things, don’t you think?”

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