True (True Believers #1)(63)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Tyler stared at it, his jaw clenched. Then he said, “Oh, God, Rory, I love you. I shouldn’t tell you that, but I can’t . . .”

He lifted my wrist and he kissed the tattoo, staring deep into my eyes while his lips brushed across my flesh. Mist droplets were scattered all over his hair, and he caressed the inside of my arm. Then he murmured, “It wouldn’t be fair to ask you to be with me.”

That’s what I had been waiting to hear. I would have let it rain on me all day if those words were at the end of twelve hours. “Why don’t you give it a shot?”

“But your dad . . .”

“Will get over it. We’ve come to a new understanding.”

He laced his fingers through mine. “What do I have to offer you?” he asked, pleading.

“You’re my best friend. My English tutor. The guy who keeps me from becoming a lab recluse.” I shook my head at him. “But I’m not going to talk you into it. This one is up to you. We’ve proven that we can survive apart.”

I gave him just a second or two, watching the struggle on his face, then I whispered, “Good-bye, Tyler,” and started to walk away. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, be with a man, no matter how much I loved him, who wasn’t sure it was what he wanted. In some ways, the breakup had been good for me. It had given me a new appreciation for myself and the people in my life.

Even the ones who might not be able to be in it.

Ignoring my tears, I was all the way across the grass and to the street when I heard him yell, “Rory, wait!”

I turned and there he was, right behind me, reaching for me, pulling me into his embrace as he stared down intently at me. “Don’t go, please, God, don’t go.”

My heart swelled, but I shook my head. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do,” he said tenderly. “I don’t want to be without you. Not for another day. Not for another minute. I’ve been miserable without you. Opening that car door was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life, even if I thought it was the right thing to do.”

I kissed him. Hard. Wanting him to understand that none of that mattered. That what mattered was here, now, me and him and a promise to be the best we could, for ourselves, for each other.

“I love you,” he whispered in my ear. “And I’m never going to let you go.”

Then the horn blaring made me jump. We were still standing in the street by the cemetery and Riley had hit the car horn.

“Seriously?” Tyler said shooting an annoyed look at his brother. “What a jack-off.”

I smiled, giving a watery laugh. “Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else.”

“I don’t think there is really anything else to discuss.” Tyler cupped both of my cheeks with his hands and kissed me again, softer this time. “Except how happy I’m going to make you.”

“You already have.” I sighed, so relieved to feel him close to me, to smell his scent, to have his fingers caressing me. I had missed him so much. “But you do owe me a Christmas present.”

He laughed, leading me over to the car, holding my hand firmly in his. “Good point. I’ll work on that. How about a matching necklace?”

“That’s kind of a cop-out, but effective,” I told him, because frankly he needed to work a little harder than that.

“Rory Macintosh, what am I going to do with you?”

“I can think of a thing or two.”

“So can I.”