Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L. Gray

Author:Tammy L. Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance;Novels;FIC042040;FIC042100;FIC027270
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Cameron

I walked Lexie home not long after we kissed. A part of me didn’t want to. The same part that had to pull myself away from the goodbye on her doorstep. The part that could spend every minute of every day with this amazing girl.

That ever-blurring line was officially crossed tonight. There’s no going back. No pretense that friendship is the only thing between us.

Mason had been right about my denied feelings. He’d seen it, just like he’d seen me years ago. But I won’t prove him true this time. I won’t hurt her or disappoint her. Not just to prove a point, but also because I think doing so would break my heart more than hers. If tonight showed me anything, it was how incredibly strong Lexie is. At nineteen, she’d become an overnight mother, and instead of breaking, she conquered. How at thirty-three could I continue to sit in self-pity? The idea feels as laughable as it does pathetic.

I shove my hands into my pockets, the brisk cold like sharp needles on my face. Our houses are only two blocks from each other, but the trip had been considerably more enjoyable with Lexie at my side. We’d held hands, fingers laced, childlike almost in its sweetness. I haven’t felt that kind of innocent delight in years. Haven’t wanted to be with someone on such an emotional, spiritual, and physical level since . . . well, since Darcy. And she hardly counts, because she was never real, only an illusion.

But Lexie is real and in a lot of ways knows me on a level Darcy never understood. The music, that part of me, Lexie gets. She doesn’t just placate my artistry, but loves it, desires it as much as she desires me. She makes me feel as though maybe it isn’t such a curse after all.

I’m determined not to ruin this relationship like I have all the ones in the past. We’ll take our time. Get to know each other. Mason was right to worry. My history with women has always been to jump in too fast and then cut ties and run, leaving heartache in my wake. I refuse to do the same with Lexie. We’ll be friends first. Honest to a fault. And when I return to Nashville, it will be without guilt and without pain for either of us.

Maybe by then the crush she’s had will be satisfied and she’ll be ready to send me packing. I shake my head at the thought, disliking how my stomach twists at the prospect, and focus on the memory of her touch. The silken way her fingers pressed against my skin, the softness of her beautiful lips.

She saw all my worst parts tonight and still wanted me.

Wind whips through the trees, and leaves fall in a smooth floating rhythm down to my feet. I halt my steps, my eyes fixed on the brown dry foliage. Then I glance upward and watch as the wind strips more leaves from the branches.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.