Cowboy Desires: The Complete Collection by Aubrey Skye Read Free Book Online Page A

my texts were returned. I asked around about you, but no one knew where you were. Or you swore them to secrecy. I’m still not sure. Either way, I am still struggling with it to this day, and you are still the only person who knows about the hell I went through. How could you leave me so broken?”
    “I had no idea you didn’t tell anyone. Why did you do it alone? I ran. I was an asshole. A selfish asshole. I didn’t mean to stay away for so long. But I was mourning, and I didn’t want to face you or anyone else here. I didn’t want anyone to see me go through my grief like that. I cried every day. I still cry a lot. I had closed up my heart for so long. When I finally let you in, that was a huge step for me. When that happened, I figured it was all my fault for letting myself fall in love with you. I lost two people that day. And I lost myself too. Unfortunately, you were the one who suffered the most.”
    “You have no idea, Mason! I had to go on fucking anti-depressants. I still cry more than normal people do. I heard our song the other day, and I had to pull over because I was sobbing. All I wanted was you. You were the only one who could understand my grief. I wanted to build a life with you. I wanted to marry you. We could have tried again. How could you love me and leave me? You completely broke me.”
    I was sobbing again now. Angry tears of rage and hurt and love were falling down my face. What surprised me the most was looking over and seeing the same tears falling down his face. That was the last thing I expected to see.
    Despite all the pain he had caused, I still wanted to go to him. I couldn’t stand to see him cry like this. He had meant everything to me and, up until yesterday, I had still been waiting for him to come back to me. Now here he was, sitting here in front of me, pouring his heart out. He was sharing his feelings like never before. But he still hadn’t told me where he had gone. Was he living alone? Did he see anyone else? Did he sleep with anyone else? I didn’t know if I could take the answers to those questions.
    “I’m broken too, Jamie! I completely lost everything that day, too. I was ready to build a life with you. To start our family. But I’m not strong like you. I ran to my aunt and uncle’s farm in Pennsylvania, and I have been there this whole time. Hard work and quiet was the only way I knew how to get through this. They didn’t ask any questions, and they always have a room for me there. I worked my pain out. But when I couldn’t get the ache to dull, I knew it was because the only thing that could ever make it better was you. I need you, Jamie. I want you back. Please tell me it’s not too late.”
    He was crying the whole time he spoke. In all the time I had known him, this was the only time I had seen him cry. He didn’t even cry in the hospital that day. My heart was crying out for him. But I was trying to process all of this information. Plus I had built my defenses up in preparation for his return. I couldn’t deny the fact that I was still head over heels in love with him. I was lost in my thoughts when I felt him get closer.
    Mason was standing in front of me, and he reached down to grab my hand and pulled me up in front of him. Since I was barefoot, I only came up to his chest. That was something that I had always loved about him. Standing so close, I could smell him and feel the familiarity of the warmth of his body. He placed a finger under my chin and lifted my face so I was looking into his eyes. His face was still wet with fresh tears that matched my own. His eyes were the same blue that haunted my dreams night after night. He looked so vulnerable that I couldn’t take it anymore. Despite my pain, I got on my toes, took his face in my hands, and pressed my lips to his. The kiss immediately became heated, igniting a fire of passion, love, heartache, and desperation. His hands were wound up in my hair, and I was sucking on his bottom lip. Our bodies were