Page 84 of Truck Stop Tempest

“I’m not ready. Please. I just…fuck. Not now.”

“How do you feel about me?”

“You know.”

She climbed off my lap, leaving my dick cold in the breeze. I didn’t care. A storm was raging in that perfect little head of hers. Those eyes hid nothing. “Tuuli.”

“Just shut up, Tito. Shut up and drive me home.” She tugged her panties up her legs and started on her pants.

What the hell?

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I tucked my junk back where it belonged and climbed out of the car. How did things turn to shit so fast? Fuck. A simple answer was all she wanted, and I gave her nothing. Not a goddamn thing.

By the time I made my way to the driver’s seat, she was tying her shoes.

I drove up the hill, opened the door, and helped her out of the car.

She stormed to the door of my…her apartment, slipped the key in the lock, then turned, chin up, eyes down.

My guts twisted.

She was giving up. On me.

I caressed the soft skin on her cheek, cupped her face, and urged her to look up. “Let me come in.”

Her face crumpled and she dropped her forehead to my chest, shaking her head no.

“Why?”

Her chest rose and fell, she stepped back, tears flowing full stream. “Why?” She swiped her face with the back of her hand. “Because I love you, Tito. I love you so much.”

Iloveyou.

Her words slammed into me, hard and swift. My insides recoiled, protesting.

“I’ve given you all of me. Everything. I can’t settle for anything less than all of you. I deserve to know who you are.” Throwing her arms out wide, she continued, “I can’t pretend we’re a happy couple when I don’t know you at all. I deserve one hundred percent of you. I won’t take anything less.”

I backed away, scrambling to find the proper response. Something. Anything to keep her from giving up, from ending us. “Please, baby. Just let me come in. Let me catch my breath. Let me hold you.”

Her head fell back on her shoulders and she screamed, “No. God!”

The world around me blurred.

“Did you hear what I just said to you?” Small fists pounded my chest. “I just told you I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you! Don’t you have anything to say?”

So much. So much.

“It isn’t fair to me. It isn’t fair that I can’t know you. Do you understand?”

“You know me, Tuuli.” I fell to my knees, the weight of her words, the force of her emotion too much for me to bear. “Better than anyone. Please, don’t do this right now.”

She backed against the door, her trembling fingers curling around the handle. “I love you, Tito. I always will. Nothing will change that. But I won’t share a bed with you. I can’t keep giving you my body and soul when I’m only getting tattered pieces in return.”

If I could just hold her. If she would just let me hold her, everything would be okay.

I reached for her. She swatted my hand away.

“I’m not giving up on you, or us. But I can’t give up on me, either. Go home to your castle. Figure out what’s important to you. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

The door opened. My girl disappeared. The click of the lock sliding into place rang like a church bell between my ears.

I stared at the motherfucking door for ages, willing her to open it back up, invite me inside.

I waited, unmoving until my legs fell asleep beneath me. The door never budged.

I’d been so wrong. That girl wasn’t a timid little bunny. She wasn’t a beast either. She was a Tempest. A fucking force of nature. Coming in slow and steady, surprising, refreshing, caressing me with her brisk wind, then striking hard with everything she had, tearing my world apart from the roots, and leaving me in total devastation.

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