He hadn’t spelled it out for me, but I knew. I got it.
I got him.
Because he’d let me in. He’d taken the trouble to get to know me and he’d let me know him. After years of keeping everyone at bay so he wouldn’t care, so he wouldn’t get hurt again...he let me in.
Oh crap. I was going to cry.
I gave my head a little shake as I took a step back, away from Tony. What was I doing here? I didn’t know this guy. And from what little I knew of him, I didn’t want to get to know him any more than I already did.
Rose was right. I didn’t need to make a pros and cons list. I didn’t need to think this through.
My gut was begging me to get out of here, my feet were just itching to run, and my heart…?
My heart was desperate to get to Andrew and tell him I’d made a mistake for coming here tonight. I wanted him to know that I didn’t need to flirt with Tony to see what was right in front of my face…
To see who was right in front of my face.
“You still want a ride?” Tony asked, already heading to the door and not waiting for me.
“Yeah,” I said, hurrying to catch up. “But, um….could you drop me off somewhere along the way?”
13
Andrew
“Andy, you have a visitor!” My mother’s voice reached me from the bottom of the stairs and I paused in the middle of deadlifts.
One of the perks of having a bedroom that was twice the size of my room in our old house? I had space for my workout equipment, and a stereo, which was currently on and blaring, and which had to be the reason I’d misheard my mother.
I set the weights down and sat up, reaching for a towel and my water bottle. “What’s up, Mom?”
I heard my bedroom door open but it was not my mother’s voice in the doorway. “Andy, huh? I guess now I know what to call you when you call me Sims.”
I stood up so quickly the towel fell and the water bottle rolled to the floor. “Simone...what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be heading to the—”
“The concert?” Simone said. “Yeah.” She fidgeted with the hem of her dress, like she was trying to tug it down.
Possibly because I was staring. “You look beautiful.”
It came out on a rush of air, and it was the truth. I reached over and turned down the music.
Had I ever thought she was plain when she wasn’t smiling? If so, I was a fool. The girl was beautiful in every sense of the word. She was unique, and genuine, and kind, and smart, and…
She was here.
“Thanks,” she said, her cheeks turning pink as she looked down at herself. “Rose helped.”
I had a million questions racing through my skull and even more emotions jockeying for position in my chest. But one question seemed to win out. “What are you doing here?”
She met my gaze. “I didn’t need to go to the concert to figure out how I feel about Tony.”
I watched her steadily. “What does that mean?”
She licked her lips. “I don’t want a guy who doesn’t know who I am. I don’t want a guy I don’t know.” She shrugged helplessly, her eyes tinged with pleading, but I couldn’t make this easier for her, not until I was sure I knew what she meant. “He’s a stranger.”
“And what am I?” I asked. I took a step toward her, my heart hammering against my ribcage as I fought the urge to reach out for her. “I swear, Simone,if you say ‘just a friend’ right now—”
“No. You’re not a friend. I mean, you are, but…” She swallowed. “The way I feel about you is nothing like the way I feel for Jax.”
Relief surged through me. I didn’t realize how tense I’d been until this moment when relief flooded my muscles and made me feel weak. My lips hitched up. “You like me.”
She nodded. “I like you.”
A million prayers of thanks rushed through my mind as I crossed the distance and pulled her into my arms.
She lifted up on tiptoe as I pulled her close and I crushed her mouth with mine, unable to be gentle like before because I was too freakin’ relieved. My lips moved over hers, tasting and exploring and...claiming. She was mine. I knew it. Or at least, I’d hoped. But now she was in my arms where she belonged and I reveled in the feel of her, hoping she could feel how happy she’d made me, hoping she was just as happy, too.
I held her tight and she kissed me back just as desperately, like she was just as relieved. Just as glad to be in my arms.
I lifted my head to give us both some air but I didn’t ease my grip on her. She was here, with me, and I wasn’t going to let her go anytime soon. “What changed your mind?”
“It wasn’t my mind that changed,” she said cryptically.
I arched my brows. “Is that a movie quote?”
“No, just me speaking gibberish,” she said with a little laugh that I adored. Not many people got to hear that laugh, and I was one of the lucky few. “What I meant was, I’d gotten it into my head that I liked Tony, but that infatuation was based on nothing. Whatever I thought I felt for him, it was based on fiction. There was nothing real about it.”
I grinned down at her because I knew exactly what she meant but I needed to hear her say it. Or maybe I just wanted to hear it. “And this?” I said, squeezing her waist with a hug.
She smiled up at me. “This still makes no
