Perfect Regret (Bad Rep #2)(39)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

“I’ll be here as long as you want me, Riley,” he whispered, his breath stirring my hair. And that’s all I needed to fall into a restful sleep.

15

True to his word, Garrett was still there when I woke up three hours later. I probably could have slept longer but my mind wouldn’t let me rest that long. I sat up with a start, jolting Garrett awake with my sudden movement.

I reached over top of him to grab my phone; scared to death I had missed a call or a text from my mom or one of my siblings. I quickly checked but lay back down when I realized they hadn’t tried to get a hold of me.

No news was good news, right?

I rolled onto my side and looked up at Garrett, feeling suddenly shy being in bed with him. I had seen him naked. He had been with me in the most intimate way possible (even if I still couldn’t recall every detail) and here I was shy while lying in a bed together, fully clothed.

Garrett’s fingers traced the line of my face until his palm came to rest against the thudding pulse at my throat. His hand was warm against my skin. “How’d you sleep?” he asked.

“Pretty good actually. At least you don’t hog the bed,” I said, nudging his leg over with mine.

“Yeah, I picked up pretty quickly after you fell asleep that you like your space. Doesn’t leave a guy much room to work with, you know.” Garrett indicated the tiny, sliver of space I had left for him and I laughed, moving over.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

Garrett pressed in close to me and pulled me against his chest. My cheek rested over the thudding of his heart, strong and loud beneath my ear. The consistency of that sound lulled me into an easy peace.

“I’m not sure why you’re being so nice to me after how crappy I’ve been to you, but I sincerely appreciate it,” I said, needing him to hear again how much him being here meant to me.

“I haven’t been Mr. Sunshine and Roses. And I’m a jerk when my pride gets stomped on,” he responded.

Garrett’s took my chin between his fingers, pressing me to look up at him. When I did, my breath caught at the way his eyes lit up when they met mine.

“You’re a challenge, Riley Walker. But I knew that the day we met. Do you remember?” he asked and I shook my head.

Garrett’s fingers began to thread through my hair and I wanted to purr like a cat at his touch. “You and Maysie were hanging out at the bar after your shift and I came in with Cole to meet up with Jordan. I saw you and I had to talk to you. You were the most gorgeous girl in the room,” he said, smiling at the memory and I snorted.

“Oh please. Give me a break. You’ve already gotten in my pants, you don’t need to butter me up,” I said, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable with the compliment.

Garrett shook his head, his eyes amused by my response. “Never can take a compliment, can you?” His fingers continued their lazy travel through my hair. “That day, I walked over to you, thinking I’d buy you a drink, give you some line about how hot you were and you’d come home with me. All I could think about was seeing your clothes on my bedroom floor and your beautiful legs wrapped around my waist,” he said huskily and I felt a familiar warmth pooling in my belly.

Garrett leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose, a silly affectionate gesture that made my heart clench. “But when I tapped you on the shoulder you turned around and looked at me with this expression on your face that said I was wasting my time. You didn’t say anything. You didn’t need to. I knew you were out of my league. So I turned around and walked away with my tail between my legs,” he finished and I felt my face flush in embarrassment.

“God I’m so sorry, Garrett. Rude just comes naturally. I really need to work on that,” I muttered, feeling not for the first time, mortified by the way I tended to respond in unfamiliar situations. When I didn’t know what to say, or how to act, I always fell back on my snarky one-liners. But what I realized I was doing was keeping everyone else away. Mostly so I wasn’t forced to go outside of my small, confined bubble and see the world that lay beyond it. Scared that it would prove that my perfect life plan wasn’t so perfect.

Garrett pulled me up so that we were nose to nose. His lips were a breath away from mine and his eyes never left me. “I love the way you are, Riley. It’s what makes you, you. If I didn’t want the hassle, I wouldn’t be here now.” My heart thudded in my chest and I knew, without a doubt that I wanted this.

Right now.

Maybe for a long time after.

Garrett’s hands slid up my back until he was cupping the back of my head. “I’m here because no matter what you say, or what you do, I want you. I want every part of you. There is something in you that calls out to the messed up pieces inside of me. And I think that you might be the girl to make my world right again.”

Emotion was thick in my throat and I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say that would come close to how amazing his words were.

Garrett’s blue eyes were soft as they regarded me as if I were the most wonderful thing he had ever seen. Not once in the year that Damien and I had been together had I ever felt that I was it for him. That person that he revolved around. Hell, he wanted to get back together because comfortable was okay with him.

But the passion and desire and absolute totality I saw in Garrett’s eyes blew me apart.

Garrett softly kissed my lips. “Because I’m a mess, Riley. I have spent so long pretending like the future doesn’t matter because I was terrified to plan anything. I had all ready lost the two people that meant the most to me, so I would be damned if I would ever depend on someone like that again. And if I didn’t think too much about what comes next I wouldn’t have to think about the million and one ways I was disappointing my parents.” His breath caught and he looked away, as though shamed by the secrets he had just revealed.

It was my turn to grip his chin and turn him back to face me. “Your parents would be nothing but proud of the man you’ve become, Garrett. You’re talented and motivated by your music. You’re building a future around something you love to do. How many people get to do that?” I leaned up and placed my lips on his for a moment and he held me tightly as we tasted each other.

I pulled back and looked at him again. “You are the guy who took a heart broken girl and put her back together again, whether you realize it or not,” I whispered, my soul close to flowing over.

And it was true. Garrett held me together and he tore me a apart. And what was left behind was complete and total annihilation.