After the Rain: A Man of the Month Club Novella: A Sister's Best Friend Small-town Romance by Ember Davis

Author:Ember Davis [Davis, Ember]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

MAGNOLIA

If this were any other year, I would be thrilled we got through basically the entire fair before the rain started. Those years I wasn’t in Ryland’s arms, the only arms I’ve ever wanted to be in, while he’s telling me things I’m finding hard to believe. My heart desperately wants to take him at face value, but my head has other plans.

How can I believe the words of a man who is telling me this now? It’s about ten years too late. Ten years, a lot of distance, and lost time we’ll never get back.

As I look up into his whiskey-colored eyes, not giving a single fuck I’m being drenched, it feels like there’s a riot going on inside of me, complete with looting and Molotov cocktails. Not only has the kiss short-circuited my brain, but then there’s the information he divebombed me with.

He looked completely earnest when he told me he hasn’t been with anyone in the last ten years. He said he wouldn’t betray me.

Can I ignore the fact that he already did? Isn’t that what he did when he left like a coward? When he stayed away for all this time torturing us slowly?

It might have been torture, but wasn’t it worth it? There isn’t another man on Earth who could kiss you like he just did.

“You don’t have to say it back, I haven’t earned it, but you need to know,” Ryland pauses and tilts his head up toward the sky, rain running down his face in rivulets. When he looks back down at me, there’s a fire in his eyes, “I love you. I’ve loved you for so long, Magnolia. You stole my heart ten years ago and I don’t want it back, even if you never give me yours.”

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I’m not even sure what should. This must be a dream. I convinced myself for so long that my feelings for Ryland were just those of a girl who didn’t know any better.

Before my mind can spiral down into all the questions, all the unknowns, and the quagmire of my doubts and fears, Ryland’s lips are pressed against mine again. I may not be sure if I can trust this man or my feelings, but I do know how my body reacts to him. I may as well be a sugar cube in this downpour with the way my body finds his and dissolves.

Even though I feel like I’m boneless and melding into his body, it doesn’t mean my nerve endings have gone to sleep. Not even a little bit. They’re waking up for real for the first time.

I want to hate him because I could have been feeling this for the last ten years, but I can’t really be sure if it’s true or not. When he nips at my bottom lip, all my reservations fly out the window, even though I try and hold onto them. It’s like he rips them from me, but the long gouges from my nails are a testament to how hard I was trying to keep them.

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