Leaving Annalise (Katie & Annalise Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

throat and were squeezing it shut. From past experience, I knew this was probably for the best.
    He cleared his throat. “There were three things I was going to say to you,” he said, gesturing at the worn paper. “What I didn’t get out after the ‘this can’t happen’ part, at least before you got upset, was the word YET, and . . .” Here he stopped and muttered, “You can do this, Kovacs,” so softly that I wasn’t sure if I’d heard him or if it was only the wind.
    My words broke through the grip around my throat. “And what?”
    He laughed, breaking the tension. “Slow down, this is important.”
    He closed his eyes for a moment and then looked straight into mine. “That my heart stops whenever you walk into a room.”
    He waited. Here was the part where I was supposed to say something.
    I sat still as granite. I didn’t want to mess this up with the wrong words, and I couldn’t find the right ones. But in my confusion over what to say, I left a silence that I didn’t mean. Nick frowned slightly, but he went on.
    “And so the second thing was that I wanted to do this right. I wanted a real relationship with you, not just a wild weekend.”
    Again, he waited for my response, and again I sat stricken mute.
    He dragged his hand back through his hair. “But my third point was that I needed to ask you to wait, because things were too crazy in my life right then. I needed time because I didn’t want the beginning of us ruined by all of that.”
    Finally, I could speak.
    “Oh, my,” I said in a squeaky whisper.
    That was it. But what I felt? I would have crawled on my belly across hot broken glass to hear those words from him.
    The little voice in my head chimed in. “But he hurt you. He was cold and mean. He could have said these words to you one thousand times over before now.”
    Shut up, I said back. This is the good part. Where was the voice to cheer me on and wish me happiness?
    Nick spoke. “But that night, everything went to hell. I got so angry at you that—”
    I found my breath. I had to get something out before I did something foolish, like listen to the little voice that wanted to sabotage this for me. “Nick, stop. I have to tell you before you say another word: I am so sorry. I lied to you. You were right, I did tell Emily I was in love with you, and I knew you’d overheard us on the phone. But when you started with ‘this can’t happen,’ I was mortified. I got defensive and I was . . . I was . . . well, I was awful. And I was wrong.”
    Nick released a giant breath. “It’s OK. I know I blew what you said out of proportion. I wasn’t as mad at you as I was at myself for messing it up—my life and that conversation—but I blamed it all on you. I was a shit to you, and I know I hurt you. What happened is my fault. You coming to St. Marcos is my fault. That damn McMillan trial fiasco was my fault. It’s taken me months to get up the courage to come here. But I had to say all this just one time. I had to try.”
    Those. Those were the words I needed to hear.

Chapter Five
    I didn’t exactly want to be reminded about the humiliation of losing the rape trial of basketball superstar Zane McMillan, but other than that, his words were perfect. Bart’s face flashed through my mind again, but I refused to feel the guilt I knew would come. I’d deal with it later.
    “Come on,” I said, jumping out of the truck. My heels sank into the ground, so I took them off and tossed them into the bed of the pickup.
    Nick was standing beside me trying to soothe the dogs. Sheila, a rottweiler, hung back. Cowboy, the alpha male, muttered in dog-speak under his breath. He gave Nick a thorough sniff-over before he let the others check him out. Nick stood his ground and I let the dogs do their thing. If he didn’t pass their muster, I’d rethink this.
    The night air was singing its song of coqui frogs and leaf-rustling breezes, brushing my cheeks with its soft, damp kiss. I put out my hand to