“Bracken,” I whisper, my voice catching in my throat.
He looks at me then, really looks at me. There’s pain etched on his face, regret in his eyes. But there’s something else too, something new and vulnerable that I’ve never seen in him before.
“Rachel,” he says, his voice heavy with emotion. “I’ve made a mistake.”
My breath hitches in my throat. I can’t tear my gaze away from his.
“I told you to forget me,” he says, looking down for a moment before meeting my eyes again. “But the truth is that I don’t want you to forget. I don’t want to be forgotten.” He takes a step forward, closing the distance between us. “But most importantly”—he wipes a tear slipping down my cheek—“I don’t want to forgetyou.”
“I couldn’t forget you, no matter how hard I tried,” I say.
And then his lips come down on mine.