Page 96 of Confessions of a Canine Drama Queen

Keaton was waiting for her, fire in his smile and devilish temptation in his eyes. “Good,” he said, his voice liquid smooth. “You came.”

Passion bubbled up inside her like champagne and it was the best feeling in the world.

“I never knew you felt that way about me,” she said. “It took me by surprise.”

“I know. And it’s important that you know I didn’t run off with Ellery that night because I was angry at you for rejecting me or anything like that. It wasn’t... I wasn’t trying to make you jealous.”

“I know.” She nodded. “That’s not the kind of person you are. I know you loved her very much.”

“You pulled away and I respected that.” He nodded. “It obviously wasn’t the reaction I’d hoped for, but... I was never going to push you to do anything you didn’t want to.”

I should have said yes. Iwantedto say yes.

“That night was like aSliding Doorsmoment,” he continued. Then he chuckled. “Leah made me watch that damn movie a dozen times.”

“She really loves that one.”

“That night could have gone two ways and lately I’ve been wondering what lay down the other path. The path with you.”

Her heart hammered and her hands grew clammy. “What do you mean?”

“If we’d kissed that night and I’d stayed with you out in the snow, what might have happened? Where might we be now?” He shook his head. “I guess it’s easy to romanticize it, but spending time with you in the cabin made me wonder if therewassomething down that path. Something special.”

“I think there was.” Tears pricked her eyes and she tried to blink them away, but they dampened her lashes. “I think there was something really special down that path.”

“Was?” he said, taking another step forward. “Or is?”

“I don’t know.” It was the only honest answer she could give. “Because we can’t unwind the past, Keaton. We can’t go back to that night and change things.”

“I don’t want to change things. Regret is something I’ve lived with for a very long time and I’ve decided that it needs to go. I can’t regret fucking up when I was an angry, disillusioned kid. I can’t regret waiting to tell you how I felt. I can’t regret working myself into the ground to bury my grief.”

“You did what you needed to do to survive.”

“Yeah, I did.” He nodded. “But surviving isn’t enough for me anymore. I want tolive, August. I want to wake up in the morning and not be on autopilot. I want to feel the things I used to feel—satisfaction, anticipation, desire, excitement, playfulness. Things I’ve forgotten.”

“You deserve those things,” she said, meaning it with every cell in her body. “You deserve a full life that makes you happy.”

“And I’m ready for it now.” He sucked in a breath. “I just hope I’m not too late.”

He’d wanted to show August how he really felt. But being so vulnerable was way more than laying himself on the line. It was throwing himself on the line, tearing his heart out and asking her to take a swing at it.

It was terrifying. Exhilarating. Real.

He couldn’t remember the last time such emotions had coursed through him and it was like drinking coffee for the first time—he was energized in a way that was foreign and new. She might say no. She wouldprobablysay no after him taking so damn long to figure his shit out.

But he’d taken a step out of his comfort zone and that meant something. It meant he could take another step, and then another, and keep going until he’d left that dark, stagnant place behind him entirely.

“Too late for what?” she asked. Her hands were interlaced in front of her, red hair tumbling down around her shoulders. Hazel eyes stared at him, glimmering.

Could she forgive him for being so stubborn? So slow to adapt and change? So slow to heal?

“For you,” he said simply. “I want to go back to that night and see what’s down the other path. I want to act on this gripping, relentless chemistry we have and finally make it work for us, instead of against us. I wantyou, August. I always have.”

She looked up at him, pale skin flushed pink against her plain T-shirt. Even dressed in the most basic of clothes, she glowed. She was vibrantly alive. Engaged. Emotional.

And he loved all those things about her because for so long she was his opposite. But he wanted to meet her in that place now—a place of hope and love and striving. A place where life was more than trying to make every day feel the same.

“Keaton, I...” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

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