Page 85 of Her Maine Distraction

“I don’t cheat, Ellie. I never have, and I never will. I believe in trust, and I wouldn’t break yours. Had I ever given you the impression I was going to cheat on you?” Hurt flashes through his eyes.

“I don’t know,” I whisper. “I just assumed–”

“You assumed because I was a man that I wouldn’t be able to help myself?”

Words fail me, so I just nod.

“Sugar,” he lulls, and my chest tightens. I haven’t heard him call me that in weeks. “When you truly love someone, being faithful is easy.”

“What?” I breathe. Did he just say…?

“You heard me.” The corners of his mouth turn up. “Now, what was that thing you came here to tell me?”

“What?” I breathe again, still distracted by the fact that I think he just told me he loves me.

“I need you to tell me before I can kiss you, sugar.” He cups my cheek. “I know you want me to. I can see it in your eyes. In your flushed cheeks beneath my touch.”

Tyler rubs his thumb back and forth, and I lean into him.

He’s right. I need him to kiss me, but I need to know something first.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” The words are barely above a whisper.

“I knew you’d think I was only asking you to stay so that you’d keep sleeping with me. I knew you’d think I felt trapped.”

How could he know that?

“I know you better than you may think,” he adds, seeing the questions in my eyes. “I saw more than you think you let me see.”

He did?

“I thought I was better at hiding it all.”

“Not from me. Never from me.”

Swallowing hard, I close my eyes, feeling tears forming. When one escapes, Tyler is right there to kiss it away, his soft lips brushing my cheek. I shudder, reaching out to place my hands on his waist, his muscles clenching instantaneously.

I’ve missed that. He always reacts to my touch.

To me.

Looking up at him through wet eyelashes, I see it all there. I see what’s always been there.

He’s right, we were never friends.

“I love you,” I whisper, my voice never wavering.

Tyler closes his eyes and leans his forehead against mine. Lifting my chin up, he lowers his mouth a fraction of an inch, his lips just a breath away.

“I’ve waited for what seems like forever to hear you say that, sugar.” I smooth my hands up his torso and rest them on his chest, feeling his heart beat steady and strong. “And I’m promising you this here and now, because I know you need me to say the words. I promise to always be honest with you. I promise to always be faithful. I promise to give you everything, El.”

“Tyler,” I sigh, my body melting against the truck.

“I love you.” His lips brush against mine with the sweetest words I’ve ever heard, and his heart stutters beneath my hands.

I know he means it.

Ifeelhe means it.

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