One More Time | ✓

Chapter Eleven

Once we've made it all the way around the markets a third time, Theo draws to a stop, a hand on my elbow to tug me closer towards him. He seems to love holding my elbow.

My heart rate immediately picks up at the look on his face.

"Listen, Sabrina," he murmurs softly, his other hand taking my other elbow, so that I'm fully facing him. Not that I'd want to do anything else. This man has me completely enamoured.

"I'm listening," I whisper softly, unable to tear my eyes away from his captivating ones.

"I just... Need to say this, I think. I'm going round and round in circles in my head, wondering about everything and think I should just tell you. Let you choose."

I don't say anything as I wait for him to continue. I can't. I'm frozen in time, it seems.

He lets out a small, sharp laugh. "Fuck. Okay. You're really going to make me say it, huh?"

Yes, I am. I couldn't utter a word right now, even if I tried. I'm too scared that I'm reading it wrong. That he's going to say we shouldn't see each other again. That it's too much.

But I've known Theo for pretty much my whole life. Loved him for most of high school, and have thought about him for all the years that I've been away, no matter that I slept with other people during my time at college. He's looking at me so earnestly, so apprehensively, that I just don't think he can be about to tell me he never wants to see me again.

And suddenly, it occurs to me that it's not really fair to let him lay his heart out on the line. To open himself up to a whole load of hurt, when really, it's my fault in the first place.

So, I find courage somewhere inside of me, and open my mouth.

"No. I'll say it. Being back here, being able to talk to you again, get to know you all over again, has been so good," I confess, throat working hard. "It makes me realise all the mistakes I made all those years ago. Makes me regret them all, even more than I already did. I know that the last thing in the world that I deserve is a second chance. I can't help but ask, though. Am I alone in feeling like this?"

The emotions that flash across his face throughout my confession are in such a wide range that I can't seem to pinpoint any of them. But he pulls me close, so that we're eye-to-eye. I'm pretty tall, so he's only an inch or two taller than me.

"No," he whispers, pulling me tight against him, hands slipping from my elbows to my waist. "No, Sabrina. Fuck, no, you're not alone. You've never been alone. I've not been able to stop thinking about you."

"Me neither," I whisper, head spinning as we confess these things to each other. I'm only just holding onto Maya's lead by a thread. I'm not even really sure where she is right now, to be honest. All of my attention is zeroed in on the man in front of me.

He lets out a disbelieving laugh, shaking his head. "Fuck. Seriously? You really..."

"I think it should be me who's surprised."

"Baby," Theo murmurs in that ultra-silky voice of his, eyes flickering to my lips briefly. "Don't think about that anymore. Think about today. About tomorrow, about the future. Not something that happened years ago that we can't change."

My heart hiccups. Okay, that's an understatement. It fucking screeches to a stop at his words and stalls for a second, before struggling to re-start. Shit. This man...

"I want to kiss you," he whispers. "But I think that if I start, I won't be able to stop. Do you want to come over? Think Maya has had a long enough walk now. We've seen enough of the markets, too."