She’s fucking hot.

Unable to stay in place, I start for her, meeting her right in the middle of the road and gathering her in my arms. Squeezing me, she brings her arms around my neck, and our mouths meet at the perfect moment. As her fingers thread into my hair, my hands squeeze her, the thorn of the rose stabbing me, but I don’t care. All I care about is her mouth. I swear, this girl is never, ever breaking up with me again.

When she pulls back, I smile and she presses her forehead to mine. Sharing the same breath with her, I just feel so damn complete. But when I open my eyes, I see she is crying.

I’m gutted. “Don’t cry, baby.”

“I missed you,” she sobs, squeezing me tightly. “So damn much.”

“Me too,” I say hoarsely, my heart in my throat. Looking deep into her eyes, I can’t believe it’s only been three days since I saw her last. It feels like three years. As the tears fall down her sweet cheeks, I cup her face, wiping them away. Closing my eyes, I press my mouth to hers and drink from her sweet lips, her sob vibrating against me.

When a car beeps, we part and her eyes widen as my lips curve. I place her on her feet and wave at the disgruntled driver. I go to walk away, but I don’t like the new set of tears. That driver will just have to wait. Moving my hands along her cheeks, I wipe away her tears. “No more crying.”

She nods slowly as I hand her the rose. “For my Avery Rose.”

Her lips wobble as she takes it and smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you.”

I kiss her temple and she laces her fingers with mine, her other hand coming up to rest on my bicep and I smile. Laying her chin against my arm as we go to the passenger side of the car, she whispers, “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Of course.” I kiss her once more before opening her door. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Okay,” she says as I throw her bag in the trunk and she gets in. I look over at her, and she is still crying. I don’t understand it. Before I can even question her, though, I see the faint darkness around her nose and a certain kind of rage consumes me.

“Your brother is on my hit list.”

She looks at me, pressing on her nose with her two fingers. “It doesn’t even hurt anymore. It just looks bad.”

“Still, he’s dead if I ever see him. You better hope it’s not at our wedding.”

I want her to smile, laugh. It’s a joke, but she shakes her head, her tears coming faster down her cheeks. “Please, like he would come.”

When a sob escapes her lips, I reach out for her, cupping the back of her neck. “Baby, are you okay? Is this about him?”

She makes a face, shaking her head. “Hell no, I’m just really tired and we have a lot to talk about,” she says, the last word coming out as a sob.

“We do.” I lean over and kiss her. I want to kiss away the tears, I want her to smile, but at least she melts into our kiss as my finger traces along her jaw. If she hadn’t, I would have been worried. If anything, this time apart has made me realize how much she means to me, and I’ll do anything to make it work.

She’s it.

As my fingers thread into her ponytail, I’m lost. For two days, I thought I’d never get to press my lips to this mouth. Because of that, I have to make up for lost time. I deepen the kiss and she moans as my tongue moves into her mouth, my fingers cupping her face.

When she pulls back, she holds my face. “I love you.”

I wink. “Good, ’cause I love you.”

I go for more, but then the buzzer above me that keeps time on how long cars can wait starts sounding and I shake my head. “Man, the world doesn’t want us to make up!”

She smiles tentatively but it still doesn’t reach her eyes, and that really bothers me. I wish she hadn’t gone because if her family did anything to change her while she was gone, I swear, I’ll blow their house up.

Whoa, that was a little psycho.

Clearing my throat, I put the car in reverse and ask, “You sure you’re okay? Matty didn’t try anything else, did he?”

She shakes her head, wiping her face as I drive off. “No. Just a lot going on up here,” she says, tapping her head.

“Like?”

I feel her look over at me as I turn on to the interstate. “I mean, do you want to do this now?”

I shrug. “We can, or you can wait,” I say as I turn, going toward Nashville. “I packed up a dinner and figured we could go up to my special love nest.” I give her an exaggerated wink, but she doesn’t even crack a grin. Dread settles deep in my gut because I know something is seriously wrong. “Avery, baby, you’re scaring me. You’re not gonna break up with me again, are you?”

She shakes her head. “God, no. I’m just freaking out. I’m sorry.”

“Why? It’s okay. We are gonna be okay. No matter what, I love you and we will work through this,” I stress as I turn on to the road that will take me to campus.

“I hope so,” I hear her mutter and my heart speeds up.

“What does that mean?”

“Let’s just wait,” she says, wiping her tears as she pulls her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

“Okay.”

Reaching over, I tuck my hand between her legs and she leans on my arm, her tears wetting my sleeve as I drive. I don’t know what to say, and I don’t know what is happening. Of course, I think the worst. She is going to break up with me and soon. My heart is in my throat as I drive silently to the arena. This wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were supposed to chat, be happy to see each other. But obviously, I was wrong on that.

Which scares the living shit out of me.

When I get to the arena, I park on the side and get out, grabbing the basket from the back. I notice she is at the back of the car, bundled up in her jacket. I go to her, wrapping my arm around her waist and kissing her temple. “I love you.”

She looks up at me, her eyes drowning in tears, and she nods. “I love you more.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I know she’s not lying. She does love me, I see it in her eyes, but I also see fear and that stops me. What the hell is she scared of? Before I can try to ask, though, we start for the arena, going inside and up the many stairs to my special spot. I stopped by before getting her and set everything up to make it even more special. I’m all about ambiance when we are making up. I had hoped she would be impressed, but when I look at her face, she is still crying. “Avery?”