I cup her face. Her eyes search mine, and there’s no anger in me, only the sorrow over the life we could have had together.

“What do we do now?” she asks.

The day of that phone call was the day all my dreams came true. Except for one. The woman I wanted to share it all with disappeared. Delaney was my dream then, and I can’t deny that I have feelings for her now.

Her lips twitch.

I lean in and claim her mouth, my lips caressing hers. She lets out a whimper, and it spurs me on as she opens up and my tongue meets hers for the first time in six years. This is what we both need, what we always needed. She’s my one who got away, and I’m not making that mistake again.

But the discovery we both just made about what happened six years ago has made any union between us so fragile that any attempt to push her right now might make it all collapse.

I can’t stop myself from kissing her, and the way she slides her arms around my waist tells me she’s feeling the same way.

The strokes of her tongue are tentative, mine forceful, and she falls the rest of the way back into my arms with a moan that rolls down to my toes.

I close my eyes, not wanting this to end, and feeling like I’m righting a wrong that’s gone on far too long.

When it does, I open my eyes and all I see is her. Her expression’s a mix of confusion and need—that aching need I have to the bone.

“Josh,” she whispers.

“Don’t know about you, but I needed that.” I press my forehead to hers. I should have done more. I should have chased her to the ends of the Earth to find out why she left.

“It was … unexpected.” She has the softest laugh, but at least she’s not crying anymore. I don’t ever want to make her cry again.

“You’re a part of me, and it doesn’t matter how long we’ve been apart, you burrowed into my heart a long time ago.” I straighten up. “I’ve been wanting to do that since I first saw you again. The second time.”

A smile breaks through the sadness just for a moment before her eyes cloud over. “You should hate me.”

I shake my head. “I could never hate you. I’m pissed that you didn’t stop to talk to me, or even confront me over it. And when you left, it killed me inside. We had something so special.”

She drops her gaze, but I slide my index finger under her chin and raise her face until her eyes meet mine.