Page 48 of The I Do Over

But did that mean it was all for the best?

Unfortunately, they were never going to know.

What he did know was that they needed to forgive each other and themselves and move on. There was the potential for an amazing future together, but they’d miss out on that too if they couldn’t stop looking behind them.

Raking a hand through his hair, he paced on her front porch and cursed himself. “And I should probably learn to stay in a room even when it’s uncomfortable rather than walking out.”

Great. The time to figure that out was five minutes ago.

“Shit.”

After mentally counting to ten, Knox walked back inside and found Maddie cleaning up the dinner dishes. This so wasn’t the way he imagined their first night together going. He also hadn’t imagined having borderline animalistic sex in her entryway either, and rather than that setting the tone for the weekend, they were back to square one.

He made his way over to where she was standing at the sink and gently put his hands on her hips and kissed the back of her head. “I’m sorry. That was childish of me to storm out like that.”

“It’s okay,” she said quietly, and he heard the slight tremble in her voice. “You have every right to be mad.”

Carefully, he spun her around to face him. “No, I don’t. Don’t let me off easy, Maddie. If I’m being an asshole, tell me I’m being an asshole. After all these years, the one thing we should have learned is that we need to be honest with each other in the here and now. If we can’t do that, then this relationship isn’t going to go anywhere.”

Holy crap. Who the hell am I? Mr. No Relationships is suddenly trying to be the expert on one?

“I think we both know I have a hard time with confrontation,” she said with a mirthless laugh. “Believe me when I tell you that hasn’t changed.”

“Calling me out on my bullshit isn’t confrontational,” he countered. “It’s simply telling the truth.”

She looked up at him and laughed again. “Oh, really? So you’re telling me that you’re not going to get defensive if I tell you you’re being a jerk? Or that you’re not going to try to argue with me and tell me how I’m wrong?”

Okay, that made him laugh too. “Fine, you’ve got me. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but we still need to try!” Reaching up, he cupped her face. “What do you say? Are we worth it?”

And damn, her eyes filled with tears that started to fall as she nodded and he felt awful for making her cry.

“Come on, Mads. Don’t do that. Don’t cry,” he pled softly.

“I can’t help it,” she said, resting her forehead on his chest. “I’m still waiting for you to tell me that you changed your mind. That I’m not what you want.” Looking up at him, he’d never seen such despair. “When you admitted earlier that you wanted to get even with me, I wasn’t even surprised. I’m simply waiting for you to realize that I’m not worth the effort.”

His arms fiercely went around her and held her tight. Where did all this come from? All those years ago, she had been a quiet but confident and happy girl. Her father was a little strict, but not to the point where Maddie was afraid of him or insecure in any way.

At least, not until the day they came home from eloping.

Had that all come to the surface that day or was there more going on at home that she simply never shared with him? He gently guided her head back to his chest and knew now wasn’t the time to open that can of worms. Besides, they were adults now and her parents had absolutely no say in what she did.

Or what they did.

And what he wanted to do right now more than anything was to comfort Maddie and show her how much she meant to him—that she was worth it, worth everything.

Carefully, Knox bent and scooped her up in his arms.

“Knox! Oh my goodness. What in the world?” she said with a watery laugh. “What are you doing?”

Looking around, he realized he had no idea which bedroom was Maddie’s, but he took a chance and strode into the bedroom at the end of the hall. “I’m taking you to bed.”

“But…I’m not tired,” she whispered with a shy smile.

“That’s good, because sleep was the last thing on my mind.”

“Hmm…then what are we going to do?”

This was good, he realized. She wasn’t crying and she was even teasing with him. This, he could work with. “Well…I was thinking of going inside and getting comfortable on the bed.”

---