“What about Grace and Natalie?”
She sighed heavily, pulling away. “You know Nat will be fine. I’ll take care of Grace, but I’ll expect a picture of his abs for that one. Anyway, only three more months to graduation.”
“Echo?” said Luke from behind me.
Lila kissed my cheek, stuffed my shoes into my hand and left to join Natalie and Grace.
“Luke.” I tugged at my gloves.
He had his dress jacket off with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows. “I’m sorry for running into you. I saw you, but I couldn’t stop.”
“It’s okay.” I shifted from one uncomfortable foot to another, sensing the sand running into the bottom of the hourglass. “Luke …”
“He touched you—Noah. He saw your scars, didn’t flinch, and then he touched them.” Luke rubbed the back of his head. “I’m going to sound like a real dick, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that. Touch them or pretend they weren’t there. I thought I could, but …”
I rubbed my arms. Regardless of the words I’d planned on saying to him, the truth still stung. “Luke, it’s okay, because here’s the truth …” This sucked. “I’m not ‘in’ with you and I’m not going to be. Part of me really wanted us to work, but that’s what we became—work. We didn’t have to work the first time around.”
Luke nodded his head and then lowered it. His shoulders drooped forward and he stared at the floor for a second before wiping his nose. Then he raised his head and straightened to his full height. He forced a grin, but there wasn’t a light in his blue eyes. “Deanna came stag and she was hoping to get a ride in the limo to my house …”
“She can have my spot.” I didn’t need to rub it in that I planned on leaving with Noah.
He took a step toward me and whispered into my ear, “I really did love you.” Leaving out the unsaid word, once.
“Me, too.” Once.
NOAH
I should have thrown her over my shoulder and dragged her from the gym. Instead, like an idiot, I’d given her the choice. The choice to rip my heart out and hand it back to me. Why didn’t I listen to Beth? Why did I listen to Isaiah? Beth had experience down this road and Isaiah gave me advice he refused to take himself. I needed my damn head examined.
Fifteen minutes. Fuck it. She wasn’t coming and I wasn’t going to continue to stand here in the freezing cold like a moron. I had a party to go to. A party where there would be plenty of girls willing to give themselves to me and plenty of shit to smoke and enough alcohol to help me forget.
I pushed off the brick wall of the gym, shoving my hands in my jeans pocket for my keys. The door flew open, almost smacking me in the face. I opened my mouth to yell at the asshole busting out the door, but stopped the moment I came face-to-face with my own personal siren, my nymph—Echo. This time, she wouldn’t walk away.
Wrapping my arms around her, I walked her backward into the brick. “Tell me you chose me, Echo.”
She licked her lips. Those green eyes smoldered, calling me to her. “I chose you.”
For the first time in three years, the coil forever tightened in my gut relaxed. “You will never regret it. I promise.” Letting my hands skim the curve of her waist, I leaned into her soft body.
I wanted her. All of her, but Echo deserved more than a quick thrill and better than a guy like me. Everything needed to be slow and deliberate. I wanted to blow her mind with every touch and every kiss so her every thought always came back to me. I would never touch anyone else again without thinking about her.
I’d promised she would be more and I needed to keep that promise. Tearing myself away, I took her delicate hand in mine and headed toward my car. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
I opened the passenger door and turned to face her. Echo’s innocent eyes were wide with confusion. She shouldn’t be with me. We’d both been through hell, but Echo deserved better. Still, I wasn’t all bad. I used to be good, like her. She needed to know that. “Someplace special.”
“I’M BUYING YOU A COAT.” And I meant it. I opened the car door and slung my leather jacket around her shoulders. “It’s February. Why don’t you ever have a damn jacket on?”
Echo slid her arms through my coat, closing her eyes as she inhaled. When she finally opened them, she fluttered her eyelashes, giving me a look of pure seduction. “Maybe I like wearing yours instead.”
I swallowed. I had plans, and those plans did not involve kissing her against my car. Dammit, she was going to kill me. “Congratulations, it’s yours.”
Her laughter warmed me in ways a jacket couldn’t. “Are you going to be a big pushover now?”
Appeared so. I entwined my fingers with Echo’s and walked her across the empty street, toward the fountain. Red and pink lights lit up the water trickling from the three flowered tiers.
“It’s beautiful.” Echo stared at the fountain, her eyes darting to the different flowers etched in the metal. No, she was beautiful.
“I helped build this.”
“What?”
I motioned toward the houses that encircled the fountain. “The houses. I helped build these houses. My mom and dad were involved with Habitat for Humanity. It’s how they met. Instead of partying in Cancun for spring break, they went to eastern Kentucky and built houses. They got married and kept doing it.”
Echo let go of my hand and stared at the small vinyl houses with porches and swings. My dad had made sure every house had a swing. As she turned completely around, she caught sight of the plaque on the side of the fountain: In memory of David and Sarah Hutchins.
“Your parents?”
My throat tightened, leaving me unable to answer. I nodded.
“Every time I think I’ve got you figured out, Noah, you surprise me.”
Which was why I brought her here. “We didn’t finish that dance.”
Her anxious gaze went to the windows of the small neighborhood. All the shades were drawn. Some had lights on, some didn’t, but no one watched. “Here?”