He should have known the remnants of his past were still there. He should have seen his aversion to long-term relationships as a symptom of it. Should have seen his caution in his relationship with Trevor as a part of it. The fast pace of his relationship with Summer, too.
He should have realised he was protecting himself. Preparing himself. If he could protect himself—if he could prepare himself—maybe it wouldn’t hurt so damn much when the people he cared about decided to leave.
Wyatt lowered to the sand, grabbed a fistful of it, and threw it into the receding waves as if somehow it would help him throw away his issues. Or the guilt that realising them brought.
He’d denied that he hadn’t wanted a relationship with Summer. He stood by that. Because the truth wasn’t that he didn’t want it; he hadn’t been ready for it. Everything that happened with Summer proved his feelings for her had been special. Considering that the fear was still throbbing heavily through his body, beating loudly in his ears, he thought those feelings might not only be in the past...
He looked around, saw the spot where he and Summer had lain in the sand. Where they’d shared things with one another. Where they’d opened up.
His eyes shifted to where he’d chased her on the sand. He could still hear her shriek of laughter. Could still feel the grin it had brought to his face.
And where he was standing had been where they’d kissed. Where he’d felt her soft body under his fingertips. Where the perfection of her lips had touched his.
There were other things racing through his mind, too. Like how Summer always put others above herself. Like how, despite how wealthy her family was, she hadn’t sat back and enjoyed that wealth. How she’d gone out and made a name for herself. How she was the most down-to-earth person he knew.
She was the most caring person he knew, too. She loved deeply; hurt deeply. Having someone she cared about betray her trust must have stung. Feeling like an outcast because of it, though she’d done nothing wrong...
He could see how he’d made her feel isolated in their marriage. And how feeling that way with him must have hurt her.
He could also see why she’d want to protect him from that kind of hurt, too.
He stilled as warmth spread through his body at that. At how her thinking about wanting to protect him at all was more than either of his parents had done. She might have been misguided in her motivations for leaving him, but they were nobler than either of his parents’, he was sure. And she’d done it all in spite of how he’d hurt her.
Besides, it wasn’t a small thing that she wanted him to have the life he’d always wanted. She believed in him. Not in the way Trevor did, for his smarts or capabilities, but for who he was. For the person he was. Most of all, for who he had the potential to be.
It complicated things, these realisations. It complicated...feelings. He knew what those feelings were, but he didn’t know what to do about them. Especially not when his fear still mingled with them. When he was still afraid of being abandoned.
When the sun started to light the sky, he wasn’t any closer to knowing what he should do about them. Or the urgency accompanying them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SUMMER HAD PACKED her stuff before Autumn returned to the cabin after the wedding. When her sister walked in shortly after midnight, she greeted Autumn with her luggage.
‘What’s going on?’
‘I’m leaving.’
Autumn’s brows lifted. ‘Right now?’
‘I would have left much earlier if I hadn’t waited to say goodbye to you.’
‘Thank you for being so considerate,’ Autumn replied dryly. ‘Seriously, Sun, you can’t leave now. It’s after midnight.’
‘You drove after midnight last night,’ Summer reminded her.
‘Because I needed to be here for Mom and Dad today. Not because I was feeling emotional and had to escape my ex.’
Summer’s back went up. ‘Really?’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘How is Hunter, by the way?’
Autumn’s straightened. ‘He’s fine.’
‘Hmm. Your friendship is going well, then, is it?’
Autumn folded her arms. ‘Yes, actually it is.’
‘So you wouldn’t even be tempted into running if you told him you loved him? And he didn’t reply,’ she added flatly, when Autumn opened her mouth.
There was a pause.
‘Fine, I supposed I’d be tempted to.’ Autumn threw her clutch onto the couch. ‘But I wouldn’t let him ruin the time I got to spend with my family because of it.’
‘Of course you wouldn’t, Autumn. You’re perfect.’
Autumn tilted her head. ‘Not sure I deserved that.’
Summer exhaled. ‘No, you didn’t.’ She cleared her throat. ‘But spending time with the family isn’t exactly a pleasure for me.’
‘I know,’ Autumn said, her face softening. ‘I’m sorry you went through that. I should have—’
‘It’s not your fault, Wind,’ Summer interrupted, mostly because she didn’t have the energy to dive into it. ‘Look, I just need some space. And since there’s little chance of me getting sleep tonight, I might as well make the best of the time.’
‘Sun,’ Autumn said slowly. Summer waited for the lecture. ‘I don’t want you to drive in this state. You didn’t have any sleep last night either. At least try to get some rest. If you can’t, I’ll drive us home in the morning.’ She put her hand on Summer’s arm. ‘Please, don’t go.’
Summer studied her sister’s face, saw the genuine concern there, and heaved out a breath. ‘Fine. But first thing in the morning...’
Autumn crossed her heart, brought two fingers to her lips, and then lifted them to the air in the salute they’d created when they’d been kids.
Six hours later, Summer was kissing her sister on the forehead while Autumn slept, rolling her bags out the door.
She hadn’t made the promise, she told herself when her conscience poked at her. Besides, she didn’t want to cut short Autumn’s time with their parents because of her emotions. She’d done that far too many times in the past. Things would change in the future. She’d make sure of it.
She packed her luggage into her boot. When she closed it, she jumped when her father appeared at her side.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, pressing a hand to her heart.
‘I saw you making your escape.’
‘How?’ Summer looked around. ‘Your cabin is on the other side of the lodge.’
Trevor pursed his lips; Summer rolled her eyes.
‘Autumn.’ Summer frowned. ‘She sent you?’ She winced at the incredulity in her voice. Then, with a shake of her head, said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.’
‘You did. It’s fair.’ Trevor gave her a steady look. ‘How about we take a walk down to the beach before you go?’
Again? Summer wanted to ask, but caught the question before she could. Clearly Autumn thought she needed to speak with their father, which wasn’t untrue. Summer had planned to have a conversation with him as part of her ‘things would change’ resolution. Although she hadn’t counted on it being so soon.
When their feet touched the sand of the beach, Summer said, ‘I have something to say to you,’ at the same time her father said, ‘I’d like to apologise.’
Then they both said, ‘What?’
‘Let me go first,’ Trevor told her, ‘since I need to say something I should have years ago.’
Summer nodded and put her hands into her jersey’s pockets.
‘I’m sorry, Summer. For the affair. For asking you to keep it a secret. For seeing what it did to you and not doing anything about it.’
Summer swallowed, shutting her eyes against the tears that immediately began to burn there.
‘I should never have asked it from you. Or let you suffer for it as long as you did.’
<
br /> She felt her father’s hand on her wrist, and she stopped walking, opening her eyes. The sincerity on his face soothed her; the sadness unsettled her.
‘I know I hurt you.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I thought it would be easier if I ignored—’
‘Dad,’ she interrupted. ‘You don’t have to explain. I know why you didn’t do anything about it.’
‘You do?’
‘Yeah. It was easier to hurt me than to hurt Mom again. I get it.’
Trevor’s face tightened. ‘I’m so sorry, Summer.’
‘I know.’ She took a shaky breath and looked up. ‘But I did some of it to myself, too.’ She met his gaze. ‘You hurt me. I felt...betrayed. About everything.’ She started to look down, then forced herself to keep eye contact. ‘I stopped trusting you because you weren’t who I thought you were.’
Trevor’s eyes gleamed, but the nod of his head was firm.
‘I stopped trusting myself because of it. I thought you were one person, and you turned out to be another, and I didn’t know how I missed it.’ His eyes widened, but she kept talking. ‘It’s messed me up. I only saw how much this weekend.’ She took a breath. ‘I have a long way to go before I can put it behind me.’
Trevor looked down.
‘But I’m willing to try.’
His head shot up. ‘You are?’
Something similar to a smile touched her lips. ‘Yeah. I’m taking responsibility for our family, too.’ She waited a beat. ‘So you can go back and tell Mom you apologised.’
His lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile.
‘I wanted to do this,’ he said. ‘I didn’t do it because she told me to.’
She studied him, and saw a sincerity in his eyes that she hadn’t for the longest time. She nodded, then stepped closer to him. Carefully, she wrapped her hands around his waist, rested her head against his chest. She felt his hesitation before his arms went around her, and they stood like that for a moment before stepping away.
She pretended not to notice the tears that trailed down her father’s cheeks.
‘I’m going to make it up to you,’ Trevor promised.
She nodded, folded her arms. His eyes shifted to behind her.
‘Starting now,’ he said, moving forward and kissing her on the forehead. ‘You should try with him, too, Sun.’
She frowned, opened her mouth to answer, but he was already walking away. When she turned, she saw Wyatt a few metres behind him.
* * *
Wyatt braced when he saw Summer’s body tense, though he wasn’t sure why. Would he chase her if she tried to run? Or would he have let her go, considering not five minutes ago he wasn’t sure what he’d say to her when he saw her?
His heart immediately steeled with resolution, his mind following.
No more letting her go.
‘You’re up early,’ she noted demurely.
‘Not up early,’ he told her. ‘Going to bed late.’
An eyebrow quirked. ‘You couldn’t sleep?’
‘Not after what happened last night, no.’
She studied him. ‘Don’t let me stop you.’
‘Actually,’ he said softly, ‘I think I have to.’
‘What?’
‘You were here with your father,’ he said, ignoring her question.
‘Yes.’
‘Everything okay?’
Her arms tightened at the front of her chest. ‘It will be.’
‘Good.’
A long pause followed his pathetic answer.
‘Well,’ she said, when the awkwardness reached peak level. ‘I guess... I’m going to leave.’
‘No, wait,’ he said before she could, panic spurring the words. Then, when she didn’t move, only looked at him expectantly, panic turned into fear. He’d never been more terrified in his life.
‘Wyatt?’
‘I built exits,’ he said, ‘in our relationship. I built...exits.’
‘Am I supposed to know what that means?’
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘And you do.’
She bit her lip, then inclined her head in acknowledgement. ‘You were looking for a way out.’
‘I started our relationship knowing exactly where the ways out were. I... I helped create them. I pushed us both towards them with the way I behaved. So,’ he added measuredly, ‘you were right last night. We probably would have ended up here anyway.’
‘You know,’ she said after a few seconds, ‘if you built the exits, I handed you the tools.’ She paused. ‘I was always afraid I wouldn’t be able to trust you. Because I didn’t—don’t—trust myself. Or my belief of who you were. Because of what happened with my father. Or whatever,’ she ended on a mutter, her face turning red.
Seconds ticked by.
‘We were both wrong, then,’ he said.
She lifted a shoulder. ‘Or we were both right and this...didn’t have a future.’
‘Does it now?’ he asked, through numb lips—and with a numb mind, since he had no idea where that question had come from.
Or no, wait, he did. It had come from the fact that she loved him. That he’d never stopped loving her. Suddenly it became clearer than it had ever been. That this was more important than the fear. That this was worth the chance.
‘How can it?’ she interrupted his thoughts. ‘I still don’t trust me. And you... You still don’t want a relationship.’
A brand-new fear began to thrum through his body, more urgent than the other he’d let control his life. Finally he realised his past fears had been so extreme with Summer because he knew she’d be the most important person in his life. Which was why it had hurt so damn much that she’d given up on them.
Yet he’d given up on them, too.
But no more.
‘What if I prove that you can trust you?’
She laughed softly. Heartbrokenly. ‘How are you going to do that?’
‘By showing you that you can trust who you think I am.’ He reached for her hands. ‘No matter how long that takes.’
* * *
Summer couldn’t believe her ears. But there was warmth spreading through the icy coldness of her body; of her heart.
This is really happening.
Even in her worst nights after the divorce, when she’d missed him with everything inside her, she hadn’t allowed herself to think about getting back together with him. Now that the possibility was here, she couldn’t believe it.
‘What if it never happens?’ she asked.
It was easier to dread the worst than to hope for the best.
‘Worst-case scenario?’ he asked, brow furrowed. ‘We spend our lives enjoying each other.’
‘That’s a big ask from someone who’s spent his life running from commitment.’
‘We prefer “fearing abandonment”,’ he said dryly, before his expression sobered. ‘I know. So I suppose we won’t only be proving you can trust me.’ He paused. ‘We’ll be proving I’m... I’m safe with you.’
She studied him. Saw the passionate, resolute answers he’d give her if she asked him every question going through her mind on his face. In the light shining so fiercely in his eyes.
‘That’s a big ask from someone who doesn’t love me,’ she said quietly.
His eyes swept over her face. ‘Are you fishing for compliments?’
‘Why would I—?’
‘Because you want me to tell you that I like you. Your dry humour and the way you put rich people in their place.’ He plucked a stray curl and pulled it down, before letting the spiral bounce back up. ‘I like how you get annoyed with me. With people. And with yourself. And your feelings.’
Her lips twitched, but he continued before she could say anything.
‘I like how you care about me,’ he said. ‘That you tried to protect me, even if being hon
est with me would have been better.’
‘Wyatt—’
‘You should have been honest with me,’ he interrupted, ‘but I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should have fought.’ His lips curved, then straightened. ‘I’m fighting now.’
Her eyes welled up with hope—that damn hope that wouldn’t go away—but she shook her head. ‘We haven’t changed, Wyatt. I haven’t changed—’
‘That’s not true,’ he said, his fingers gently holding her chin. ‘You’ve realised things about yourself. I’ve realised things about myself.’ He paused. ‘Are you telling me that hasn’t changed you? Because it’s certainly changed me.’
She thought about all the things she’d learnt after this experience. Like how she’d been too hard on her family. How maybe...maybe she’d been too hard on herself, too. And that she’d let both those things control her life for too long.
Which probably meant she had changed.
‘You really want to try?’ she asked huskily. ‘You’re not afraid any more?’
‘I’m terrified,’ he said with a raw laugh. ‘But I’m more afraid of losing you.’
She blinked rapidly, but it did nothing to deter the tears that fell down her cheeks. ‘I like you, too, for the record.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I like that you made something of yourself. I like how funny you are. I like that you see me. No,’ she said, ‘I love that you see me.’
She lifted a hand and cupped his cheek, then brought her lips up to his, kissing him with the rest of her answer. With the simple I love you. There was passion and romance and happiness in that kiss. When they parted, they were both breathing heavily.
‘I love you, too,’ he said with a breathless laugh. Her eyes filled again. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘hey, that’s a good thing.’
‘I know,’ she said with a little sob. ‘It’s just that you knew exactly what I was saying with that kiss and I haven’t slept properly in weeks and I’m so tired.’
Second Chance with Her Billionaire Page 17
