“To always do the right thing.”
“What was the right thing?”
“I should have been with him.I should have stayed.Or dragged him home.”
Astrid knelt before him and put a hand over his, still resting on his thigh.“It wasn’t your fault.”
Head down he muttered, “I know—”
“Michael.”She interrupted whatever casual agreeance he was making.“Look at me.It wasn’t your fault.You can’t control other people’s actions.He made a choice.If you had stayed you would have died in the water with him.”
“You don’t know that.I could have pulled him out.”
“Or died trying.”She gripped his hand.“It wasn’t your fault.He made a poor choice.He didn’t listen to your advice.Grieve the loss, but don’t bear misplaced guilt.”
“So what should I have learned from this?People should always listen to me?”He mocked her.
“No.I think the only lesson you can learn from this is that accidents happen.It’s terrible.You did the best you knew how to at the time.”
When he finally looked up at her, his eyes were moist.She pushed herself up on her knees and moved in between his thighs.Never had she expected to come to his room looking for comfort, only to be the one to provide it to him.
Gingerly, she placed her hand on his chest, and ran it up along his neck to caress his jaw.Then she bestowed a soft kiss on his lips.It was an exchange of tenderness.
And it was imprinted on her heart.
Chapter 9
MICHAELHESITATEDTOENDthe kiss.His body clearly ached for her.But suddenly it was more than physical.It was his heart.He had never relied on someone to comfort him physically.He wasn’t entirely sure how it had even happened.One minute she was in his thoughts.The next she was in his room.Then he was pouring out his heart to her, with very little prompting, and then she ended up soothing an emotional wound that he thought he had already healed.
As her lips brushed over his, her words floated in his mind.It wasn’t your fault.He had known that intellectually, but somehow hearing it from her, he now felt it viscerally.For so long he had been making amends for one mistake.Trying to live the most upright life that he could.Trying not to give in to his impulses.But now he could breathe.
That first deep breath was such an audible sigh of relief that Astrid pulled back.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.I know you didn’t come in here for this.But…thank you.I’ve been living with the guilt of one mistake for a long time.The guilt hasn’t magically disappeared, but I needed to hear those words that you spoke.”
“I know what a single mistake can do to a person.”He watched as she sat back on her feet, knees bent.
He supposed that now was as good a time as any to discuss what happened that night at the house party.He didn’t even need to prompt her to speak.
“The mistake of my life.It was just a loose thread.I never would have guessed it could have such a dire outcome.”
Michael felt his brows pull together.What was she talking about?What loose thread?Was she referencing a different event?
“After that ridiculous game, Echoes in the Dark, we were just about to leave, and I noticed that loose thread.It was almost a compulsion to pull it.And maybe everything would have been fine if that drunken buffoon hadn’t bumped into me and then proceeded to announce my…dishabille…to everyone.”
“Wait.What are you talking about?What loose thread?”
She pointed to her bosom.“It was around here.I just tugged it and the bodice fell down.”
“What?You mean you weren’t…” he stalled.He couldn’t actually say it, could he?He couldn’t say,you weren’t trying to seduce me?
But he didn’t have to.He saw the indignation catch fire in her eyes.And…was that disappointment?
She spoke slowly, as if he were a child.“You thought I intended to show you my breast right then and there?”
“I-I don’t know,” he stammered.“We kissed.I thought you wanted more.”
