Truly Mine Read Online Free PDF Page B

takes hold of my wrists but doesn’t try to remove my hands. Her big brown eyes make me weak in the knees.
    “I’m sorry, Tru, for everything. I mean it.” I wish it felt as good to say it to her as I always imagined it would, but it doesn’t. It feels like it’s too little, too late. “I wish I had known sooner. Why did you wait until you were leaving to tell me you had feelings for me?”
    The next few moments, she intensely looks me in the eyes, and I’m sure she’s searching my soul to gauge my sincerity. I’ve never been more sincere about anything in my entire life. I hope she sees that.
    “These tears are out of anger at my mother, so don’t get any delusional ideas that it has anything to do with you. Tyler, it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d told you.” She turns and saunters toward the stairs.
    Unfortunately, she’s right. I had my own agenda, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
    But as the years went on, I did think about her more often than I should have. She would occupy my mind far more after she’d left Fallport than she’d ever had while she was here.
    I had no idea until I was older how much Truly had meant to me and how special our relationship was. It took one accidental relationship that turned into a destined-to-fail marriage for me to see that.
    Over the past twelve years, there were many times when I wished any relationship were as simple as the one I’d had with Truly. But that’s exactly what sent her away. My perfect girl was heartbroken.
    I’ve wondered what she would be like as a wife, possibly a mother. I’ve thought of her often, and I tried searching her out on social media, but I came up empty every time. Her mother rarely came to town, and when she did, I never got the opportunity to speak to her. I would just see her in passing and assume that Truly looked like her as she grew older.
    I see now she does. She’s stunning.

pronunciation kuh-n-fruhnt
    (v.) to come in front of; to meet face-to-face.

Truly
    S tanding at the office door, Tyler holds his hand out, motioning for me to exit ahead of him.
    Over the past hour, we ravaged the office on the second floor, managing to locate every document I needed. Although we worked side by side and I caught him staring at me several times, we didn’t speak more than a few words to one another.
    Honestly, I’m a bit embarrassed by my outburst when I first arrived, especially considering my whole mission was to get in and out of this town without incident. I certainly did not come close to accomplishing that. Instead, I made myself look manic and in desperate need of therapy. That’s probably not far from the truth really.
    “Thank you for helping me. Contrary to my behavior earlier, I do appreciate it, and it was good to see you, Tyler,” I speak as we walk down the stairs so that I don’t have to look at him.
    His eyes still have a way of grabbing hold of my heart. I’ll admit, the chemistry is still there, but my heart is not available for his taking anymore.
    We reach the bottom of the stairs. Tyler moves quickly past me and stands directly in front of me. I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my head as I focus on an imaginary wrinkle in my shirt. I pretend to smooth it away and will him to stop looking at me. He’s demanding my attention, demanding that I look at him. He’s good. I teach that on day one. When you want a woman’s attention, demand it.
    I can’t fight the urge to look at him, no matter how hard I try.
    The minute my eyes meet his, he says exactly what I knew he would, “Let me take you out tonight for your birthday.” It’s almost like a plea.
    I expected him to persuade me to spend time with him tonight, but what I didn’t expect was for him to know that today was my birthday.
    “How do you know it’s my birthday?”
    “I just remembered. I have a good memory.”
    “No way, Tyler. You were hard-pressed to remember my damn name until the day I left this town.”
    “That’s bullshit,