Page 114 of Don't Let Me Fall (Don't Let Me 1)

“We went to high school together,” he clarifies. “We started dating my junior year, and since we didn’t have our own places yet, we’d take turns hanging out at each other’s houses. That’s why I brought her home.”

“So, you didn’t love her?” I ask, still reeling from my mini-meltdown. Seriously. This boy deserves to be smacked upside the head for scaring me like he did.

Colt chuckles, the sound low and throaty. “Thought I did.”

“Thought?” I push, surprised by my jealousy, though I blame Colt and his terrible timing and cryptic word choices.

Like, for real. When my sanity returns in a few minutes, I’m gonna give him one hell of a titty twister.

“It was complicated. Brooke was the reason I didn’t make the bus on game day and drove with my dad instead. And then at his funeral, I found out she was seeing someone behind my back.”

My heart shatters. “Colt…”

“When you find out someone’s cheating on you, it’s hard not to question everything you built together. Every excuse. Every kiss. Every moment.”

“If anyone gets it, it’s me. At least when it comes to the cheating part,” I clarify. “I still can’t believe I was so blind to Logan’s lies.”

“We see what we want to see.”

He looks down at me, his eyes shining with something I can’t quite put my finger on.

Pressing a quick kiss to his bare pec, I ask, “And what do you want to see, Colt?”

“With me and you?” he questions.

I nod.

His fingers drag through my hair, pushing it over my shoulder as he studies me carefully. “I want to see you in the morning. With your hair a mess and your eyes smudged with yesterday’s makeup.” I laugh and wipe under my eyes to remove said makeup, but he stops me, his expression softening. “I want to see you in front of a class of kindergarteners, singing the ABCs and yelling at one of them for wiping boogers on their neighbor.” My chest swells, and another laugh bubbles out of me. Pushing himself up, he leans his back against the headboard, dragging me with him and tucking me into his side. “I think I might even see you in white one day, walking down an aisle toward me.”

My breath catches in my lungs. But I can imagine it. The white flowers. Our families lining both sides of a church. Mia and Kate as my bridesmaids. It’s funny. I used to picture Logan up there. Next to the preacher. But the vision was always skewed, and I never understood why it was so hard to imagine it. And it’s so much more breathtaking when Colt’s face comes into view instead. His same cocky smile. His hair mussed from running his fingers through it. A boutonniere pinned to his dark suit, and his hands folded in front of him as he watches me walk toward him. I can see it all. And it looks good. Great, actually. Like a dream. It kind of makes me want to cry.

Because we haven’t even said I love you yet.

But I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.

We’ve been too busy hiding. Sneaking around. Bending over backward to keep our pasts from catching up to us when it’s our future I want to chase.

“I want to see it too,” I admit on a sigh, nuzzling into his chest and soaking up his heat like it’s the sun.

“Maybe one day.” He drops a kiss to the top of my head and rolls me onto my back, pinning me against the mattress. “But for now, I wanna worship you again, Sunshine.”

My laugh turns into a moan as he bends his head and kisses me.

Yes, please.

51

ASHLYN

“Seriously, Colt. You gotta stop surprising me by taking me places,” I mutter as the pilot turns on the fasten seatbelt icon and announces we’ll be landing shortly. I click my seatbelt into place and puff out my cheeks, ignoring the anxiety in my chest and how close I am to hyperventilating.

“To be fair, this isn’t a surprise,” Colt returns. He reaches over my lap and slides open the window screen. “You know where we’re going.” When the different patches of greens and yellows come into view, creating a quilt of my home state, he smiles.

With a scowl, I counter, “Yeah, but I didn’t know until you took the exit to the airport instead of the one that led home. Not cool, dude. Not cool.”

“We have one more day of Spring Break. I figured your parents would want to see you.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know my parents like I do,” I mutter, fiddling with the cold metal from my seatbelt.

---