Page 33 of Kisses Sweeter than Wine

Damn fucking legs.

He chugged.

“Claudia has no idea about my past or my connection to this town. I couldn’t leave her high and dry. She’s been the only constant in my life since my mother died. I owe her.”

He leaned against the counter. “I can understand the new identity. I can get past you dying. But I can’t stand here and believe you’d come back and not tell me of all people.”

“This isn’t going to make any of this better, but I’m so relieved you know.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “Kind of makes it worse.” He sipped his beverage. “How much of what you told me about your current life is a lie?”

“Nothing,” she said.

“So, there’s a man you’re in love with.” The wordlovestuck to the roof of his mouth like something bitter. He had no right to be angry over her having someone. He had no claim to her whatsoever. Technically, she was dead and he had done his best to move on.

“Not in the way I presented it. Or in how you’re thinking.”

“That makes no sense, Daisy.”

“My name is Talbot, and that’s what you need to call me,” she said with a level of conviction he hadn’t heard from her since she’d come back to Candlewood Falls.

He had to admit, he enjoyed the fire that illuminated in her gaze. “Okay. But I need you to explain that statement, Talbot.”

“I’m going to need one of those in order to do that.”

He laughed. “You tried tequila once. It made you throw up.”

“A few things have changed in twenty-one years.”

He snagged another glass. After preparing her drink, he handed it to her, but he wasn’t ready to be so close, so he chose the corner of the bed on the other side of the room. “I’m listening.”

She took the tequila and downed the entire liquid.

“You’re going to regret that.”

“Not as much as I’m going to regret the second one.” Gracefully, she rose and strolled to the bar, making herself another drink.

Patiently, he waited until she settled back on the couch.

“You’ve always been persistent and the only way I could think to get you to back off was to tell you there was someone else because I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist you.”

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to take that as a compliment or not.”

She tossed her head back and took her drink like a shot. Back in high school, they stole liquor from his older brother and did shots. He had to hold her hair back for half an hour that night while it all came back up.

He had a feeling he might be doing that again.

“You didn’t have to lie to me about there being a man in your life if you didn’t want me,” he said.

“You don’t get it.” She laughed. “It wasn’t exactly a lie. I am in love with someone.”

He arched a brow. That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear, but he did want the truth. “Who?”

“For a smart man, sometimes you’re a dumbass.” She let out a long breath. “When I was yanked out of bed in the middle of the night by my mom and tossed on a bus bound for God knows where, I cried for hours because I had to leave you and I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye, but I was more worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew the plan. I knew they were going to tell you I was dead. If that had been me, I would have been heartbroken. At least I knew you were alive and had a chance at a good life. A happy one. But the thing I never anticipated was I never got closure.”

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