Tennessee Truths: A Standalone Enemies-to-Lovers- Romance

by Ashley Munoz

“You both crossed such a big line. You should have stood by me—only me. You should have rooted for my life with Jace, should have stood by my choice to love him and my choice to leave Bryan,” I lectured, folding my arms across my chest.

  “I know, and I’m so sorr—”

  “No, just stop. I…I need space, Dad. I don’t believe that you’re sorry, not yet. I need some time away from you both. I hope you can understand that.”

  Tears welled in his eyes, shredding me in half. I hated this. I hated it so much, but it was the truth…the only one I had to give. I needed to stand by it.

  “Okay…I love you, sweetheart. Just…come back to us, okay?” His voice cracked again as he leaned in, kissing the top of my head.

  As soon as he left, I crumpled into a tiny ball and cried.

  Thirty-Eight

  Working had become a mundane task that brought me little joy. I didn’t listen to music…it was playing, but I didn’t really hear it. Everything felt wrong. For the first time since I met Faith, I finally knew in my bones that it was time to let her go.

  An odd sensation thrummed through me at the realization. It wasn’t even what had happened with Bryan; it was just that she’d grown past the place I had been standing in. We were going in different directions.

  She needed to figure out who she was going to be, and maybe one day down the road, we’d find a way back to each other. Maybe.

  Or maybe not.

  I was adjusting a part on an older Chevy when I heard someone clear their throat.

  Tipping my head up, I found Clark Morgan leaning against my tool table, across the room.

  I should have punched him, thrown my fist right into his face, especially because I’d never done anything about his betrayal. I’d never gotten revenge, had never even spread a single rumor about him around town. I had gotten him fired, but that was it.

  But now, as I looked at him and saw the pathetic mess he’d become, I realized I didn’t need revenge. He’d lost his daughter, and that was revenge enough.

  “I should have apologized a long time ago,” he started, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks.

  I waited, silently wiping my tools with a clean rag.

  “What I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have blackmailed you, shouldn’t have betrayed you the way I did.” His chin wobbled, just like his voice.

  It did something to my chest.

  Seeing my worst enemy apologize did something to me, something strange and chaotic, like a torrential downpour in the middle of a desert.

  “I was wrong. Whether or not my daughter ever forgives me, I’m so sorry.”

  I watched him as he tripped over his words and they caught in his throat. I didn’t say anything; I couldn’t. I didn’t even know what I would say. I hadn’t forgiven him yet, and what he’d done wasn’t okay. So, I merely nodded at him. He tightened his jaw then walked out of my garage, leaving behind him a piece of hope I didn’t understand. Why did it feel so good to hear him say he’d fucked up? Why did it matter at all? My mind wandered to Faith, and to him being tied to her, how this was something that’d always stood like a pillar in our way. I hated her father, so in my mind, we would never work in the long term.

  It should have made me happy. It should have made me pick up my phone and call Faith. I tossed the rag in my hand down to the ground and went back to work, because him showing up, saying sorry…it didn’t actually change anything.

  She was still lost to me.

  The sting of giving Faith up, the confusion around her father showing up, and her stealing the locket back was ruining the excitement about my new house. I was all alone in my brand-new home, the empty walls, sparse furniture, and impressive views all reminding me of my past.

  “I might have to sell this place,” I muttered to Trevor over my bottle of beer. I was staring out my back window, looking over my empty back yard to where, down the hill, McGrady’s orchard started. My yard still hadn’t been touched. I wouldn’t get to it until after spring, but I wasn’t in a rush.

  The sound of someone unlocking my front door startled me. I narrowed my eyes, set my bottle down, and realized too late that Trevor wasn’t barking. Instead, he was excitedly wagging his tail. I moved around the corner, closer to the door, and I heard…

  “Hey, sorry…ugh, could you come help?” Faith’s muffled voice echoed from the foyer. She was carrying a box…one that, in black marker, said Kitchen.

  “Faith…what are you…”

  “I know, it seems odd. I should have just had you load up your truck, but I fit almost everything besides the furniture in my Rover. Isn’t that great?” She smiled at me, set the box down, and put her hands on her hips.

  What the hell is happening?

  “I…uhh…what is…” I tried again, but she merely turned on her heel and smirked over her shoulder.

  “You helping or what?”

  I stalked forward, gently grabbing her arm to stop her. “Faith, what the hell are you doing here?”

  I searched her face, which was void of any makeup. Her lips only had a sheer gloss over them, but she was perfect. She was more than perfect…she was…home.

  “I’m moving in.” She pulled her arm free.

  I let out a laugh, because this girl…fucking hilarious. “You’re what?”

  “Thought it’d be obvious…” She smirked again, pulling the door open.

  “You are not moving in. This is my house,” I said, feeling those words settle on my tongue like a Pop Rocks in soda.

  She laughed as she moved toward her open back hatch; she’d reversed her car into my driveway.

  “Look, I get it. You’re a little surprised, and that’s fine, but this is happening. I’m moving in, and if you need me to sleep in a guest room, or the basement…whatever you need to help you adjust is fine. But…” She groaned loudly as she lifted another box. Her Dwight Schrute method of lifting nearly made me laugh, but her appearance tempered the urge. “I am moving in.”

  I moved forward to take the box from her, shaking my head to clear whatever misunderstanding this was. Meanwhile, my heart was doing fucking Olympic flips in my chest. I set the box down and gently tugged on her hand, pulled her into the house, and pinned her against the wall.

  “Explain this to me,” I whispered, resting my forehead on hers.

  She caressed my jaw, her lips curving up as she smiled. “I love you, Jace Walker. I have loved you since I knew what love was. I am going to keep loving you, so I suggest you get used to it. I plan on proposing to you one day, may even give you a necklace to wear.”

  I laughed, couldn’t help it, but I also felt tears start at the edges of my eyes.

  “But you’re married…” I choked out.

  She shook her head back and forth. “I’m not.”

  “So…you’re…” I tried again, but I needed her to give me the words. Bryan’s lies were still stuck like glue inside my head, her marriage and her father…it was just too much. I was finally ready to let her go because it was the right thing to do…yet here she was, shoving her way back in.

  “I’m stayin’,” she quipped with her Southern accent.

  I stood back and tried to process what exactly that meant.

  Faith

  Jace hadn’t stopped looking at me strangely since I arrived, which was two hours ago. After we silently carried my boxes inside, he awkwardly headed to the kitchen and made dinner…in silence.

  I knew he was overthinking something, and I hated that I didn’t know what Bryan had told him. I knew he’d told enough damaging lies for Jace to consider giving me up, so it must have been a hot mess in his mind, but he wouldn’t let me in.

  The only way I could show him I was serious about this, about us, was to do something drastic—like move in uninvited.

  I chewed on a snap pea while watching the muscles in Jace’s back shift under his shirt. This was more awkward than I had imagined it would be. I’d thought…I guess I’d assumed he’d see my gesture and sweep me off my feet, ta
ke me to bed, and we’d be together, officially. But this…this was so much different.

  Is he going to let me stay but never talk to me again?

  “I’m afraid of you,” Jace declared suddenly, breaking up the silence and startling me.

  “What?” I sat up in the stool, clearing my throat.

  He flipped the burner off and turned. Blue, dangerous eyes met mine.

  “Fucking terrified,” he added, moving closer.

  I pushed my fingers so hard into my palm, I worried it’d draw blood.

  He was finally giving me words.

  “I’m afraid you might wake up one day and realize you could do better. I’m afraid we won’t last, and it’ll ruin me…again. I’m afraid you’re going to leave.” He moved around the island until he was towering over me.

  The pad of his finger danced along my collarbone, as light as a feather. His words were thread, knitting us back together.

  I tipped my head back as he continued.

  “He said you were pregnant…said you two were working together to buy me out.” He shook his head as if to clear the lies away. “I may not have taken his money, but a part of me believed him…not all of it, but that you were maybe playing me.”

  I held my breath as Jace continued.

  “I fear you, Faith, because I’m so fucking in love with you. I’ve always been in love with you. There is no one else for me.” He lowered his lips, nearly touching mine, his other hand caging me in against the island. His breath washed over me, hot and wanting. He kept his lips hovering just above mine, letting me decide.

  He was addressing our relationship in its entirety. While I had been willing to hatch this scheme to get him to let me back in, I had buried some of my own pain, the things we’d never settled.

  But the old hurt I carried inside me like an extra set of useless organs began to unfurl, expand, and beg for release. Tears slipped down my flushing face as I reached up to grip his shirt. I wasn’t strong enough to resist him. The love I had for him was a tidal wave—powerful, terrible, and beautifully destructive.

  I wanted us both to sink under its weight.

  “He had threatened you and Jessie…your house, your business…her college…all of it.”

  Jace’s brows drew together in confusion.

  “It’s why I agreed to meet with him, without you, why I was keeping it from you. I just…I didn’t want you to leave me because of your pride or do something stupid. I’m s-sorry,” I stammered, feeling guilty that I hadn’t just trusted him.

  His eyes softened with my confession, his finger tracing a trail around the shell of my ear.

  I pushed up off my seat, capturing his lips, hoping to reclaim his heart.

  He pulled me up until I was flush against him. I stood, wrapping my arms around his neck, pouring every fear we had about us into this kiss, igniting and lighting it all on fire. Our tongues didn’t dance; they warred for the things we had been cheated of.

  He grabbed me by the thighs, lifting me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he carried us toward the stairs.

  Once he pushed open the bedroom door, I watched his azure gaze focus on me as he lowered me to the bed. Only the small lamp was on in the bedroom, giving off a soft glow. He’d set up a king-sized bed with a dark grey duvet.

  The mattress dipped as Jace crawled over me. I wanted to take a second and relish the softness of the mattress…it was magnificent, and the pillows were all down, fluffed to perfection.

  “You like it?” Jace laughed as the rough pads of his fingers pushed my shirt up. I blinked, trying to remember the boy I once knew and liken him to the rugged man who peered down at me now.

  I let out a useless lilt of laughter. “I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

  He responded with a smile, the kind that stretched across his face, crinkling his eyes.

  My heart melted.

  He leaned down, frantic lips dancing along my skin. His firm hand wrapped around my rib cage, tugging me closer until I was under him. He held himself up while he devoured me, his left hand winding down my body, finding purchase under the waistline of my jeans.

  His coarse caress against my wet, aching center was pure bliss, causing me to arch my back and grind against his hand. I closed my eyes as white light crackled along the blackness behind my eyelids. Heaving out a heavy moan, I moved my hips to a desperate rhythm, wordlessly begging him to give me more, even if it ruined me, even if it was the end of me.

  “Jace,” I whispered.

  “We aren’t in your parents’ house, Pip—no need to whisper anymore.” He removed his hand only to pull my jeans down the length of my legs, followed by my panties. His hungry gaze made me brazen.

  He stood, removing his shirt, revealing that perfectly sculpted chest, the small trail of dark hair traveling down his stomach. Next went his jeans, leaving him in only his black boxer briefs.

  I bit my lip, sitting up, and tugged my shirt off, then unhooking my bra.

  “I haven’t slept with anyone in over a year,” he rushed out, slowly moving his hand to grip his erection through his boxers. I nodded my head, giving him the green light, he was looking for.

  “I don’t want anything between us tonight,” I whispered, husky and hungry.

  That was all the permission he needed.

  His boxers came down. Free and ready, he crawled toward me and, locking eyes with me, he slowly entered me. Closing his eyes, he waited there, for just a second, letting out a shuddering kind of breath. Like this was as perfect and painful for him as it was for me.

  So much time had passed, and I knew as he sank further into me, his mind was wrestling with my past. I wouldn’t have any of that tonight. I pushed my chest against his, hard and demanding, bringing my hips up hard against his length. He groaned, finally letting himself go. He pulled out, and entered me again, harder this time.

  “Jace,” I moaned, clinging to his shoulders, digging in with my nails. It wasn’t enough.

  Pulling out again, he thrust even hard, pushing me back an inch on the bed.

  “I’ve missed you so fucking much, Pip.” He rasped, with so much need it nearly undid me.

  I tangled my fingers up into his hair and pushed against him in a frantic rhythm.

  His forceful thrusts were what I needed. He leaned back, until his gaze locked on mine, he was challenging me with the slightest lift of his lip, and fuck if that didn’t turn me on. I leaned up, pulling his lip into my mouth and sucking as hard as I could, forcing him to drive his hips deeper into me.

  “Fuck, Faith. Fuck!” He yelled.

  “Yes,” I hissed on a throaty moan.

  Sex with Jace was always an experience. He made love with what felt like his entire soul, shards of every emotion making their way into each thrust and moan. I’d never felt him like this, though—bare, nothing hindering our connection. It was just us, together when everything tried to keep us apart. I brought my nails down, along his back as he rocked into me.

  He sank deeper, groaning into my ear as he pressed hot, hurried kisses to my neck, trailing down to my aching nipples.

  I met him thrust for thrust, as though we could heal the broken pieces in our hearts with each slap of skin. Every whispered confession, he continued filling me, pushing against me, until we were nothing but two spent, languid bodies, roaring our release and gasping for breath. Sweat drenched my back as Jace trailed a line down my skin, watching me with a peace in his eyes that I hadn’t ever seen before.

  I blinked, trying to create an internal scrapbook of looks, sounds, images—everything Jace and I were, saved inside my head. I didn’t ever want to forget the look on his face when he tried to pull out and I locked my ankles together behind his back, begging him not to. I knew it was crazy, but I didn’t want to waste any more time. I wasn’t kidding when I told him he was my dream. Him, our future kids, whatever else life brought to us—as long as it was with him, it would be a part of my dream.

  “Tell me something true,” I wh
ispered, turning my head to watch him.

  He smiled. “I love that you stole your locket back and somehow managed to get a key to my place.”

  I laughed, rolling until I fit under his arm. He gently picked up my locket, stroking a finger down the design.

  “That was no easy feat. It took some guesswork, a solid brainstorming session with Jessie, Gemma, and your dad, and then, of course, Jessie loaning me the spare key you’d given her.”

  He shook his head, that crazy huge smile in place. Mentally I taped the edges of the photo to a creamy page with the word Forever printed underneath.

  “Marry me, Pip. I know you just got divorced. I know it’s not ideal for couples to get engaged after sex, especially makeup sex, but it’s my truth, my deepest truth that exists. I want you next to me, for all time, for all the rest of time we have, and to make up for the time we don’t.” His blue eyes caught the glow of the room, making him look ethereal.

  I leaned in to kiss him. “I think we’re way past that.”

  “Oh, we are?” He laughed, pulling me on top of him.

  “Well yeah, I mean…I just moved in, but I saw my ring in that box, and I was tempted to put it on instead of the locket. I’m yours, Jace. I won’t ever not be yours.”

  Epilogue

  Jace

  A few months later

  I leaned against the counter, eating an apple. Trevor was curled around Faith’s legs, his nose planted in her lap against her stomach. He was always touching her, close to her, especially now. Even with Trudy here, there wasn’t any chance he’d leave her side.

  I didn’t hate it, but at night, when I was trying to make love to her, it got old.

  “Jace, it’s nice to see that you’re doing so well.” Julia Morgan smiled at me, a genuine smile with no hidden meanings or secret anythings. I heard Clark straighten his newspaper in the other room, probably a silent request for me to leave the women alone.