"I think I love you too," I whispered, finally letting the truth I'd been denying for what like a lifetime escape past the prison of my teeth.
"I know," he answered.
Chapter Fifteen
Duncan
I was nowhere near as calm or confident as I hoped I seemed. My heart thrummed in my chest, pulse pounding loudly.
Rune's fingertips slid along the line of my jaw, came to rest on the pulse point at my throat. "Dunc, your heartbeat."
"You're not the only one who’s afraid," I said. "I want you to want me. I want to do this with you. I've been fucking miserable since you left."
Rune sighed. Brought her silken, warm cheek against mine, lips ghosting near the shell of my ear, her words barely a whisper. "Wanting you isn't the problem, Dunc."
"What is?"
"Everything else." She exhaled slowly, shakily. "C'mon, we need to talk somewhere more private." She pulled away, her sapphire eyes flicking up to mine. “Talk, Duncan. Just talk."
"I'll try not to rip your clothes off," I deadpanned.
“You joke," Rune said, "But with us…"
I chuckled. “Yeah, you're not wrong. We don't have a great track record when it comes to restraint."
She took my hand and led me toward the sliding glass door, glancing back at her parents, who were sitting on their butts in the grass, watching us with open curiosity. "We're going up to my room to talk."
"Should we run an errand or something?" her dad asked, eyebrow arched.
Her mom whacked him on the arm with the back of her hand. "Tom! Inappropriate!"
He frowned at his wife. "Quit hitting me, woman. It's a perfectly appropriate question. She's a grown adult woman, not a fifteen-year-old girl."
Rune rolled her eyes, huffing. "No, Dad, you don't need to leave. We're talking—just talking. It's the not talking that got us into this in the first place."
Her mother bit her lip, stifling a laugh. "It’s always the not-talking that gets us into trouble, isn't it?"
Rune shook her head. "Like you would know. You and Dad were married when you had me."
Something made her stop, and we both glanced at her parents, who were trading glances.
"Wait," Rune said, turning to face them. "Weren't you?"
Thomas Rigby was smirking. "Not great at math, are you, Sweet-Pea?"
“What are you talking about?"
Her mother, Kelly, was grinning also. “You weren't exactly planned, Rune."
She pulled me back toward her parents. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I was almost six months pregnant with you when we got married," Kelly said. "I had my dress custom-made to hide my bump."
Rune stared at them, one parent and then the other.
"Not even my parents knew," Kelly added.
Tom chuckled. "They were pretty confused when you gave birth three months after the wedding."
