He Belongs With Me (29 page)

“You can't keep showing up at my place,” Dean grunted. “Especially with Leo. It's messing with my head.”

“I’m messing with
your
head?” There was my voice. I found it and it came out as harsh as the look on his face. “What about you messing with
my
head? Acting like you care one minute and then telling me
you can't
the next. That's pretty much the very definition of messing with a person's head!”

Leo huffed. “He thinks you and I are together because we showed up here together. That's what he means by ‘messing with his head,’ Mags. Calm down.”

“So you're not together?” The anger mellowed in Dean's voice and something that sounded like hope replaced it very quickly.

“No,” Leo answered.

“Why are you here then?” Dean asked.

“Why do you think she's here? To wash your damn dishes?” Leo groaned and shoved past Dean, moving into his apartment. “I'll be on the couch. Where's the rugrat?”

“She's already in bed,” Dean whispered, paying little attention to Leo, his focus only on me. “Is that true? You're here for me?”

“Yes, Dean. I'm here for you. I only thought I—”

He unexpectedly grabbed my hand and yanked me outside into the breezeway, pulling the door closed behind us. “You called me Dean.”

“Sorry, it must have slipped out.”

A small, curious smile crept over his face. “And I'm guessing you being here also means that you don't love Leo.”

My heart started to pound even harder. “No, I definitely don't.”

“That—” He took a step closer to me, invading my space. “—is very good news.”

His hands moved to grip the sides of my neck. I sucked in a breath at his tender touch, a flame igniting inside my chest. It had been so many years since he'd touched me like this, but in that second, it felt like not a day had gone by.

“What are you doing?” I gasped.

“What I should have done the second you walked into my bar. You belong with me. Not Leo. Not Andrew. Only me.”

He drew me in close and kissed me—the way I was always supposed to be kissed. Slow and soft. Hot and sweet. Until I felt it in my toes. His arms moved to wrap around my waist and held me close to him.

He was right. All this time and all these years, as much as I’d tried to convince myself otherwise, my heart had always belonged with him. Nothing would ever change that. Unstoppable tears rolled down my cheeks. I broke away from him, shoving at his chest.

“What took you so long to come back to me?” I yelled. “You promised! You promised and I waited, but you never came. I missed you and all I wanted was to have you back.”

He took a couple of breaths, and even though I’d just shoved him, he caught my hand and pulled me back against him. The water from his shower had dried and the feel of his bare chest was warm and comforting. Maybe I wanted to stay mad at him, but being wrapped up in his arms felt too insanely good. I couldn't push him away a second time.

“I missed you too,” he whispered against the top of my head. “I missed you every single day, but I didn't come back because…well, for the longest time I had myself convinced that I wasn't good enough for you. I was embarrassed because I’d gotten a girl pregnant. I never told you, but I wasn't a virgin when we met. I knew you were…or I assumed you were, but we never discussed it. I got Valerie's mom pregnant before I even met you. My mom knew, but being her typical conniving self, she withheld that information until the worst possible moment. She told me in the car, seconds after we left your house and your family forever.”

“What?” I breathed into his chest.

“You had a perfect little future ahead of you. And I had nothing. I was no one. Just some kid who probably wouldn't amount to much, who had a con artist for a mother and a baby on the way. I couldn't ruin your life like that.”

“So, you decided everything for me? For
us
? And you couldn't even call to tell me what
you
had decided?”

“Yes.” He swallowed hard, resting his forehead against my forehead and staring down into my eyes. “And I've regretted it every day since. I love you, Maggie. And I came back to Blue Creek for you. If you want me to leave you alone forever, I will, but I had to come back. I had to see if I still had a chance.”

I stared up at him, my chest heaving and tears still blurring my vision. My insides were like lava mixed with goo. I wanted to scream and yell and break something. But all I managed to do was mutter, “I love you too. But don't you
ever
make a decision like that for me again.”

The biggest, most perfect smile filled his beautiful face. “Yes, ma'am,” he said, bringing his lips back to mine. He caught my legs and scooped me up against his chest. I wound my arms around his neck as he deepened our kiss, our tongues mingling, exploring, and demanding. His appearance might have changed drastically, but his touch and taste were just as I remembered. He didn't kiss like most boys—like he had a finish line he needed to cross. He kissed as if he meant to savor and worship me forever.

By the time he set me back down, my chest was buzzing with warmth. I'd never felt so alive or so loved. “We better make sure Leo's okay in there,” Dean said, rubbing at my wet cheeks. My eyes were surely all red and puffy from crying, but I didn't shy away from him. “But first, are
you
okay?”

“I feel a whole lot better than I have in a long time,” I responded.

He nodded. “You know, Leo's a good friend to you, but I knew all along you weren't in love with him. I just needed to make sure
you
knew that.”

I gently shoved at his arm and we went inside. “You shouldn't suggest crazy things like that when people are feeling vulnerable and lost. They might just believe you.”

“Well, I learned my lesson on that one.”

We walked into the living room and found Leo passed out on the couch. He'd been doing that in odd places lately. “Did you guys kiss and make up?” he asked, apparently not as asleep as I’d thought.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Good.” He rubbed at his tired eyes and stood. “I'm gonna get going then. Call me in the morning. I need to come up with a new plan. I think Steph's going to be a dead end. She's clearly worried about Clara—I don't think she would have come home with us if she wasn't—but she's not gonna crack.”

“What's going on with Clara?” Dean asked.

“She ran away,” I answered with a shrug. “Leo got in an argument with her and then she disappeared a couple days ago. Dad's pretty worried this time.”

“Our argument wasn't even that bad,” Leo insisted, like he'd been insisting for two days. “But I was an ass and she won't even answer her phone. We already checked her friend’s place in New York and she wasn’t there, so I don't know where she could be.”

Dean scratched at his jawline. “She probably went to Arizona then.”

“Arizona?” Leo asked, his face paling dramatically.

“Yeah. She mentioned it once or twice to me way back when. I can't really remember, but I think she used to call it her ‘Arizona Escape Plan.’”

Leo and I both just stared at him for several long moments. Maybe I'd heard her mention Arizona before—years ago—when she'd been upset about something stupid. Had her juvenile threats to run away been real? Why Arizona? And could she even pull something like that off? She'd need money and I doubted Clara had any saved.

Leo must have believed it was possible because he muttered, “Thank you, Dean.”

“I'm not sure I did anything. Arizona is a big state.”

“It's more than I knew two minutes ago,” Leo said sincerely. “Now...could you please go put some clothes on, pack a bag, and grab the rugrat? I'm sick of looking at you in that towel and this neighborhood isn't safe enough for a kid. I'm actually a little afraid that my car's been stolen in the thirty minutes we've been inside your place. I have a giant home with enough rooms to house an army, and you and Valerie can stay with me until you figure out something better. Or stay however long you want. Whatever. Just go put on a damn shirt already.”

A cheesy grin lit up Dean's face and he walked over to Leo. Then he did the most shocking thing imaginable—he hugged him. Not just a tap-tap on the back either, but a full-on bear hug. I nearly fainted at the unexpected sight of it. Well, goodness gracious, Dean did it. He won over Leo, just like he said he would. And it barely took him ten minutes to do it.

Leo immediately pushed Dean away from him. “Don't turn this into a bromance. Go put on some fucking clothes.”

Dean laughed before turning and heading through a door. I mouthed a quick
omigosh
in Leo's direction and then quietly followed after Dean. His room was smaller than my walk-in closet at home. He already had a duffel bag unzipped on his bed and he was filling it with a few of his belongings.

“So just like that, huh?” I said to him, closing the door behind me. “Leo says move in and you immediately start packing.”

Dean stopped what he was doing and looked at me with an oh-so-serious expression on his face. “If it were just me, do you think I would take Leo up on his offer?” Before I could respond, he continued, “I can tell you that the answer to that question would be a ‘hell no.’ But it’s
not
just me…I have Valerie to think about, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. I’d bite whatever bullet, sell whatever organ, do whatever needs to be done to give her the best life that I can. And if that happens to include taking Leo up on his offer to give her a safer place to live for a short while, then that’s what I’ll do.”

He shrugged, shoving a few more things into the bag, as if he didn’t just rock my world with the words he just spoke. I was also reminded of some unanswered questions that I couldn’t wait another minute to ask.

“Dean,” I said, the tone of my voice stopping him in his tracks, “I don’t necessarily need to know who Valerie’s mom is, but I do need to ask why you have her.”

His body tensed immediately and he asked, “Why does it matter?”

I could tell he had misunderstood the motivation behind my question so I gentled my voice and said, “It matters because, from the few times I’ve met Valerie, I can see myself falling in love with her…the same way I love you. And I need to know that there isn’t a chance that someone will walk in one day and take away someone that I love.”

His eyes shone as he responded, “After I found out that Valerie’s mom was pregnant, I contacted her to see what I could do to help. She told me she was putting her up for adoption, that she was too young and there was too much she wanted to do in life. I couldn’t let her give away
my
kid, so I told her I wanted to raise the baby and she happily signed over all parental rights. So, to answer your question, I have her because her mom didn’t want her and I did. And even if she decides one day that she
does
want Valerie, she can’t have her so you have nothing to worry about.”

He grabbed some jeans and a shirt from a drawer, tossing them onto the bed. His hands moved to the little pink towel still wrapped around his waist. “I'm gonna change now. So, unless you want to see the show, you better go back out to the living room.”

He gave me exactly two heartbeats to decide. When I made zero effort to leave, the little towel dropped and my mouth dropped along with it. Searing heat exploded in my chest and I stood there in a trance, watching him. He had a body like a prized stallion—sharp lines, hard muscle, thick thighs, and a slim waist. His unwavering confidence made him twice as sexy. When my eyes finally finished tracing over his body and finally made their way up to his face, I found him smiling at me.

My face burned red hot. My hands needed something to do, so I tugged at a strand of my hair.
Wow, he was one sexy beast.
Then Dean moved toward me.
God, help me.
I took a step backward, my butt hitting his dresser. I'd seen my share of naked men before, but he was the first to turn me into a trembling little girl.

He reached around me and grabbed something off the top of his dresser.
Oh. Boxers.
He pulled them up over the most intimidating part of his anatomy and then continued to put on the rest of his clothes. Once he was completely covered, I could breathe again. Always a good thing when there were still important things I needed to know.

“What about us?” I asked, biting at the inside of my lip. “What happens now? You have a daughter. I have school to finish. Do we just pick up where we left off?”

“Those are some heavy questions.” He shook his head, grinning.

“Sorry.” I felt foolish for jumping ahead of myself.

“Don't be. I like those questions.” He came over, planting one big hand on each side of my waist. His touch made my heart race even harder than his naked body had. And that scared me most of all. If he wasn't one-hundred percent on board with this, I'm positive it would leave me broken-hearted all over again.

“Those questions are the exact reason I came back to Blue Creek. I don't have all the answers, but maybe together we can figure them out. The first step is dinner.”

“Dinner?”

“Yes, dinner. I'd like to take you out on a date this weekend. First, we have to help Leo find your sister, of course, but then I would love nothing more than to take you somewhere fancy enough where you can wear that red dress of yours again.”

“You liked my red dress?” I stared into his chest, feeling my cheeks burn all over again. Dang it, I needed to learn how to control myself around him.

He moved his hands to tilt my chin up toward him, the way he used to do when we were younger. Being that he was so much taller than me, sometimes it was easier to avoid looking directly into his eyes. He always liked to correct that. “You in that dress...it's been haunting me. I used to have all these expectations about what it might be like to see you again after so many years of missing you. Then you go and exceed every single one of them. It nearly knocked me to my knees when you walked into my bar—so sexy and confident—in that dress.” He swallowed hard. “I'd like to see you in it again.”

“Fine. I will have dinner with you, and I will even wear the red dress. But I have one condition…Valerie gets to come with us.”