First Love, Second Chance: Friends to Forever / Second Chance with the Rebel / It Started with a Crush.... Nikki Logan

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СКАЧАТЬ pulled her towards him. Into his warmth. The kind of moment she’d lived for back in school. It was old Marc and old Beth from a time that the two of them could have conquered the world. From inside the crush of his arms, she could feel his chest rising and falling roughly. He was struggling with everything she’d just told him. And why not? It had taken her two years to finally recognise where her addiction seeded. And when.

      Emotional and physical exhaustion hovered around her. She struggled to keep her eyes open, leaning her entire upper body into his. So tired, the only thought she had about the two perfect pectoral muscles facing her was what a comfortable pillow they’d make. His hand slipped around her back to better support her.

      ‘I don’t know what to say,’ he said, voice rough.

      ‘There’s nothing you can say,’ she murmured thickly. ‘It’s enough that you know.’

      ‘Thank you for explaining.’

      ‘I’m glad you understand now.’ Her words slurred. Her eyes surrendered to the weight on them and closed. She leaned more heavily into him.

      His voice was only a murmur but it echoed through the chest she pressed against. ‘You want my understanding? I thought it was forgiveness you wanted?’

      Nodding only rubbed her cheek against his chest. It was perfect friction. She did it twice. ‘Both. I don’t want you to hate me.’

      Marc’s thumping heart beat hard against her ear. Five times. Six times. ‘I accept your apology, Beth.’

      Something indefinable shifted in her world. Like the last barrel of a lock clunking into place releasing a door to fling open. And out rushed all her remaining energy like heat from a room, finally freed from her determination to win his forgiveness. Marc was the last of her list. She’d focused on those names for so long she’d never really given much thought to what lay beyond them. A dreadful unknown spread out before her. Something she had to brave without help.

      Later. When she wasn’t so warm and tired.

      She found her voice. ‘Thank you.’

      He took her face in his hands and tipped it up to his. She forced her lids to lift. Hazel eyes blazed down onto her. ‘I think I’ve been angry at you for a really long time.’

      She blinked up at him, barely able to drag her lids open after each close. Knowing these words came straight from his soul. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’ She laid her face back against the pillow of warm muscle and sighed as the heat soaked into her cold cheeks.

      ‘Why couldn’t I let it go?’ he murmured.

      I don’t know. The words came out as an insensible mumble as her lips moved against his skin. His arms tightened around her, held her up.

      ‘Why couldn’t I let you go?’

      His voice swam in and out with the lapping tide and, ultimately, washed clear through her head and out again as she slipped into sleep, quite literally, on her feet.

CHAPTER SEVEN

      A HIGH-pitched shriek dragged Beth from a deep, uncomfortable slumber. A musty smell filled her nose and she shifted around uncomfortable rocks that had somehow found their way into her bed.

      Her eyes cracked open. Not a bed … the back of a car. And the shriek was a Wedge-tailed Eagle that, even now, circled the dim skies in search of breakfast. The rocks were the detritus that littered the back of Marc’s four-wheel drive, cutting into her back and thighs where she lay on them. And the mustiness was a mix of the skanky old blanket that wrapped tortilla-like around her and the salty moisture of her clothes, her hair. Dry yet damp.

       God damn it, Marc!

      Fury forced her upright and every seized muscle in her body protested violently. She should have kept moving. She should have kept helping. Not sleeping comfortably—or even uncomfortably—while Marc froze his butt off alone with the whale.

      She lurched like a caterpillar towards the rear doors of the wagon and used her bare feet to activate the internal handle. Icy-cold air streamed in as she pushed the doors with her legs and her skin prickled all over with gooseflesh.

      It took longer than it should have, but she eventually scrambled out of the car and tucked the dirty blanket more securely around her against the chill wind. Up here, exposed above the dunes, it was almost worse than down on the shore. The world around her was still muted but tiny fingers of light tickled at the horizon.

      ‘How long have I been out?’ She didn’t waste any time with pleasantries as she got back to the shoreline. Marc was up to his knees in the rapidly retreating ocean, practically sagging on the whale for strength. ‘Why did you let me sleep?’

      He turned his face her way. Haggard but still beautiful. To her. ‘You passed out in my arms, Beth. You were exhausted.’

      ‘So are you.’

      ‘I wasn’t the one asleep on my feet.’ Frost rose from his lips with every word.

      Beth’s whole face tightened on a frown. Anxiety flowed through her. ‘How are you?’

      ‘Freezing. Thanks for asking.’

      ‘What can I do?’

      ‘You can not give me grief for putting an unconscious woman into my car.’

      She bit back her frustration. ‘I’m sorry to be ungracious. I just. You were alone.’

      ‘I’ve done this before, on my own, Beth.’

      ‘You shouldn’t be alone.’

      Well …! That was a mouthful and a half straight from her sleepy subconscious. The moment the words left her, she knew she meant more than just today. This man deserved the right woman by his side, for ever. A bit of happiness. He’d earned it.

      Not that she was the right woman. Beth frowned at the instant denial her mind tossed up. It was a little too fervent.

      ‘Why are you single?’

      He lifted one eyebrow. ‘Why are you asking?’

      ‘Because you’d be a catch, I would have thought. Even in the country. ‘ Where men outnumbered women ten to one.

      ‘Thanks for the confidence.’

      All the time that had passed might not have existed. They fitted instantly back together. Back into the gentle jibes only friends could make.

      ‘I’ve had girlfriends.’

       Olympic Tasmin for one. ‘Anything special?’

      His eyes studied the lightening horizon. ‘Nothing lasting, if that’s what you’re asking. But all nice women.’

      ‘So what went wrong?’

      He glared at her. ‘I hope you’re not warming up to offer relationship advice?’

      Despite СКАЧАТЬ