52

She inhaled. "Why'd you guys do that?"

"Who knows?" he admitted. "We were seventeen and bored, and our friends probably thought we'd be too chicken shit to do it."

Elena was a loud thinker, he was coming to realize. Especially when she was trying to figure something out. And right now, she was trying to figure him out. She stared at that picture so hard, he was surprised it didn't jump off the wall.

"No wonder," she murmured.

He stepped closer behind her and took a slow inhale. It was stronger than it had been on the pillow, that incredible scent. He had to fight not to bury his nose in her hair, wrap his arms around her from behind, and glory in how warm and soft she'd be tucked into his body.

It was so clear she wanted to put him together like a puzzle that no one had sorted. But eventually, she'd see that it wasn't as complicated as all that. He was what his family thought. A screwup and a disappointment. He was what Paul thought too. A hothead who didn't think things through.

"N