33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

“ T he truth?” He grabbed Cleo’s hands again and moved closer. Cleo had never seen Clark look shy before. Grumpy, yes. Irritated, most definitely, usually by her. Confident, usually. But shy? This was a new look for him and a surge of compassion rose up in Cleo. “The truth I want from you is a truth I’ve been dying to know for some time. I’ve tried to guess, tried to decipher your body language, tried to read between the lines of what you say, but no matter how hard I look I still can’t be sure.” He licked his lips. “Cleo, the truth I need to know is this: Please tell me, Darling, how you feel about me.” His eyes pleaded with hers. “Please put me out of my misery and let me know?”

She shrugged. She felt compassion, but she couldn’t forget what their norm was. Plus, he deserved a little ribbing. So she teased. “The truth of how I feel about you? Why, I tolerate you, of course.”

He scowled. “Try again.”

“I like you.”

“Better, but not enough.”

“I regard you as someone who is very nice to look at and to be around.” He growled.

She tried again. “I prefer you to anyone else?” He rolled his eyes.

She wanted to keep teasing him, but at the earnestness on his face, she knew she had to tell him the truth. “I thought I was making my feelings painfully obvious, Mr. Collins.”

She paused, and he must’ve taken that for her complete answer because he whined, “Cleo–”

Putting her hand over his mouth she continued, “But if you need it spelled out for you then I will.” Cleo moved her hand to his cheek and lightly grazed the stubble with her thumb. He sucked in a quick breath at her touch. “When I first met you, I thought you were rude and grumpy and a bit arrogant. But then you threw a french fry at my face and accused me of trying to snuggle up to you, and I started to see through the facade.”

“Ah, you threw a french fry at my face!”

Cleo ignored the correction. “You put up walls, figurative ones as well as a real one. I can’t sleep up in that bed without a stupid Wall of Jericho, by the way, thankyouverymuch.”

“Oh, the Wall of Jericho. I didn’t build that initial one, Sweetheart, but I did build the second one. And I wanted to tear them both down so badly.”

She smiled. “Then you started to let me see behind your walls. And what I found was a man who cares deeply for people, one who is brave and loyal and funny ‘as all get out,’ as Ms. Dottie would say.” Her thumb moved to graze Clark’s lower lip, and he nipped at it, making her smile again.

“By the time we passed through Texarkana, my heart was firmly in the I Have a Major Crush on Clark camp, and it tipped right over into the I Love Clark one by the time we reached San Antonio. Unless that was the TexMex I was catching feelings for.” Clark grabbed Cleo’s hand and placed a kiss on her palm.

“Say that again.”

“What, TexMex?”

He growled again. It was adorable.

Heat warmed her cheeks but she repeated, “I love you, Clark.” He laughed out loud. “I’ve loved you for weeks, maybe even before you chose a book for me that proved you had me figured out.” She sniffled a little. “ Hope Was Here is really good, by the way. I cried buckets.”

“ The Martian is my new favorite book, too,” he admitted. “Sounds like we both had the measure of the other person long before we realized it.”

“Probably,” she agreed.

“I love you too, you know,” he added. “In case that wasn’t obvious.” He quirked an eyebrow. “I think I first mistook it for love when you told me your favorite band is The Cure.”

Cleo laughed. “Why didn’t you just divulge everything then and there?”

“About why I was going to Texas with you? Right, like you would’ve handled that well.” He had a point. She might’ve left him on the side of the road in Arkansas and let him try his hand at hitchhiking back to Dottie’s.

“I wanted to tell you the truth so many times, but I knew I had to finish getting you to San Antonio, if only to help you reunite with your mom.”

“Did you know about her? I mean, before I told you?”

His head tilted. “No, how could I have? Not even your father knew you knew about her, right?”

“Right. But with your major sleuthing powers I figured maybe you’d figured it out.”

“Not until you told me. Though you did say her name in your sleep that night at Dottie’s, so I may have figured it out then if you hadn’t already said something.”

“I’m surprised I could’ve dreamt about anyone that night other than you, after that kiss.”

“What kiss would that be?” A wicked gleam lit up his gaze. “The kiss that haunts all my dreams?”

She lifted one shoulder nonchalantly. “If you say so.”

He shuffled closer to her. “The one that I’ve desperately wanted to repeat?”

Cleo registered how breathy her voice answered, “Uh huh.”

He closed the distance between them almost completely, his gaze pinning her in place. Her knees went weak enough to give out. “The kiss that drove me so crazy, I could hardly look at you the rest of the trip without wanting to back you into a wall to see if it was as good as I remembered?”

She shivered. “That would be the one.”

“Well then,....” When he started backing Cleo toward the tree trunk, she nearly tripped over her own feet. She gasped, but he held on to her carefully but firmly as he pressed her against the willow. His eyes roamed over her face, dark and eager.

“Clark–” she started, but her words were cut off as Clark took her face in his hands and pressed a gentle kiss to one corner of her mouth, then the other. He tasted minty and smelled spicy sweet, and Cleo couldn’t for the life of her think what she had started to say.

Clark pulled back just enough to look deeply into her eyes before moving in to press his lips against hers in the barest brush. She gasped at the feather-light connection. The next touch was a little more firm, just a small taste. Not enough. He was playing with her, teasing her as she’d been teasing him. She copied his earlier growl, eliciting a chuckle from him that she felt in her bones.

She kept her eyes closed, but she could sense him watching her. He shifted and she felt him draw closer and closer. When she thought she couldn’t stand it one more moment, he pressed his mouth to hers. Cleo lost herself in his grip as he deepened the kiss, moving his lips against hers in a possessive way that drove her crazy. Her arms came up around his back to grasp his shoulders, so solid and strong. They’d borne so much weight recently, but he’d put it down. It was obvious in the way he held himself that it was gone.

He moved his hands to circle her back and pull her flush against him while he continued to explore her mouth for several minutes. This kiss! This guy! He was everything she needed and so much more than she expected. He was the greatest surprise of her life, and he knew how to take care of the people he loved. Now that included her.

“Cleo?” he asked between kisses. “Can I still call you my princess?”

Her face puckered like she tasted a lemon. “I am not, nor have I ever been, your Little Princess.”

He smiled. “And I’m not your superman, or whoever that Roy Kent guy is.”

“Fair enough, Cleavage Clark.” She loved that nickname his coworker had given him after The Oyster Incident and would keep it going as long as she could.

He scowled but quickly let it drop. “Then what am I allowed to call you?”

“Cleo works just fine. ‘Hottest Girlfriend You’ve Ever Had’ would be great too.”

His eyes darkened. “You’re definitely the hottest.”

She pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him tenderly. A zing went up her spine and she shivered, the good kind of shiver. “Am I your girlfriend then?”

“I hope so. If you’re available, that is.”

“I saw a picture of Jameson with a blonde model that Bea sent to me. While he and I still need to talk, I think it’s safe to say he’s moved on. I am most definitely available.”

“Will Bea approve?”

She nodded vigorously. “Bea will like anyone I like. Which is probably why she didn’t like Jameson.”

“What about your mom?”

Cleo stood up straight as realization dawned on her. “You haven’t really met my mom yet! Come on, she’s been dying to meet you.”

Before Cleo could pull away completely, Clark held her in place. “And what about your dad? Will he completely hate me?”

Cleo’s head tilted as she considered. “Hmm. That one will be tricky. Under any other circumstance I’m pretty sure he’d like you.”

“He’ll despise me.”

“He might at first, but we’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t deserve to have him like me.”

“And yet, we often get what we don’t deserve, don’t we?”

His look penetrated to her core. “Yes, we do.” He took her face in his hands once again and kissed her, more gently now. Taking his time, he showed her how much he enjoyed getting to finally do this.

Pulling back to catch her breath, she licked her lips, a bit swollen from Clark’s kisses. “Your questions make me wonder what your family will think about me?” she asked shyly.

“I already know that answer.”

“What? How? They’ve never met me.”

A corner of his lips turned up and he pressed a soft kiss to her mouth then breathed, “Maybe not, but they’re already crazy about you.” He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ve told them all about you. Why else would Greta have called you to convince you to give me a chance?”

“You’ve talked about me that much since you went home?”

Touching his forehead to hers he said, “Cleo, I’ve been talking about you since you got in my cab. Why do you think I was so nervous to let you read my latest texts? I was scared you’d see your name there in every conversation I was having with my mom and sisters.”

“I knew you were hiding something! I thought, after the article came out, that you hadn’t wanted me to see your texts with Roscoe.”

“Well, that would’ve been bad too. But it was their incessant questions about my carmate that I was most embarrassed by.”

“What exactly had you told them?”

“I didn’t say anything about who you were or what I was trying to do. I kept it vague, but I guess I said enough flattering things that everyone could tell I was falling for you. They knew way before I did.”

“Why did they think you were driving to Texas if not for a story?”

“I think I told them I was going for a story, just not yours. Believe me, they were not happy when your story broke and they found out what I’d done. I didn’t hear from any of them for three solid days, which is akin to being taken out and beaten, tied in a burlap sack, and dropped in a river.”

Cleo grinned. “I can’t wait to meet these ladies.”

“Believe me, they’ll like you way more than they like me.”

Cleo heard her name being called. “That’s my mom now. Come on, let’s go meet her.”

Clark pulled her in for one last deep kiss before letting her take his hand and lead him out of the cover of the willow branches.