Deceptions: A Collection Read Free Page B

asshole she was dating. And said asshole was behind the misery Decker heard in her voice, too. He knew that without asking.
    Decker was a selfish bastard because he wanted, more than anything, to hear that she’d broken up with Noel.
    He’d been a year too late…and he’d lost his chance.
    He’d been counting down the time, looking forward to every letter she sent, looking forward to every visit, every phone call, but he hadn’t told her. It hadn’t seemed the time.
    And then it was too late.
    Just like always.
    “Gimme fifteen minutes,” he said. “Call me if you have even a bit of trouble.”
    “I will. Deck? Thank you.”
    He grunted and hung up, the muscles in his big body going rock hard at the thought of seeing her.
    His semi-hard cock came to full attention and he shot it a dark look. “You’re just going to have to wait.”
    He’d been thinking about her—as always—which led to the typical reaction and now he was going to be in rough shape when he picked her up.
     
     
    Of course, she was in even rougher shape, it looked like.
    When he pulled up in front of the house, she darted toward the car, face ducked against the light rain coming down, but it didn’t take Decker any time to figure out fast that the moisture he saw gleaming in her eyes had nothing to do with rain.
    “What happened?” he asked, keeping his voice flat. Yelling just made her shut down, and besides, he wasn’t mad at her anyway.
    “Nothing.” She sniffed and shoved messy wet curls back from her face. “Just take me home, Deck. Okay? I can’t talk about it right now.”
    Throwing his truck into drive, he nodded. “Okay, Lizzie.” Then he reached over and caught her hand in his. “But we are going to talk about it. Something made you cry and you know I hate that.”
    “Deck…Kleenex commercials make me cry,” she said, a weak laugh escaping her.
    “Yep. And if it wouldn’t be a violation of my parole, I would have done some serious harm over some of those commercials, too.”
    She undid her seatbelt and slid across the seat, using the one in the middle so she could settle against him. It was both heaven and hell for him when she did that, but he’d always been into self-torture. Wrapping one arm around her, he hugged her in close. “You’re crazy,” she murmured, sighing and relaxing against him. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    Instead of answering, he brushed his lips across the top of her head.
    And for the twenty minutes it took to drive her home, he let himself just enjoy the feel of her in his arms.
    These brief moments never lasted anyway.
     
     
    An open relationship.
    Even now, in the cold, clear, hard light of morning, the words were still ugly. Maybe not to others, but Elizabeth just couldn’t do it. Or she didn’t want to.
    But she couldn’t lie in bed anymore either.
    Her alarm had gone off and she had to get up and get moving. Saturdays weren’t her morning to open—she only had two mornings where she wasn’t at her coffee shop at the crack of dawn, but she did have to be there by nine and it was creeping up on eight now. Tomorrow, she could sleep in or have all day to brood, but for now, she’d have to brood on the go.
    She slid out of bed, moving quietly. Decker might have collapsed on her couch. He did that sometimes, and she bit her lip as she darted a look into the living room.
    Yep.
    She gave herself one moment to stare.
    Just that one.
    He was her best friend and for the years he’d been practically out of reach, she’d missed him every day. Missed him and hated herself. Because no matter what he said, it was her fault.
    Somebody made you cry…you know I hate that…
    He’d said them mostly in jest, but she knew how serious he was under those light, easy words.
    It was her fault, and that was why she only let herself have this one moment. It was a greedy thing and she was mostly over it—mostly, because how could anybody get over the beauty that was Decker