Page 30 of The Second Dance
My face reddens. “Excuse me?”
“There ain’t nobody around here worth dating, anyway.”
I peer up at him. My eyes have adjusted to the dark and I can easily make out his features in the faint red glow of the bar lights.
“I guess that’s up to me now, isn’t it?”
He huffs an irritated breath. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“A little late for that, don’t you think?” I fire back.
I’m in a bad mood. I’m used to sparring with him.
I do not anticipate the look on his face. It’s like I slapped him.
I’ve just had the worst date on record, and for some reason, I’m the one who feels guilty.
“Bo… I didn’t mean you.” But even as I say it, I realize, maybe I do mean him.
He did hurt me. So badly.
And my foolish heart wants him, anyway.
My feet carry me closer without ever having the thought to do it.
“It’s okay if you did.” He says, drawing closer. “I’m not proud of the way things turned out between us.”
My heart is racing, pounding against my ribs. I want him to stop talking. Bringing up the past just makes me feel even more pathetic.
We’re close enough now that our coats touch.
His fingers trace a featherlight trail up my sleeve. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. But kissing you was not one of them.”
His fingers find my jaw, and with a gentle touch, he tips my chin up.
He bends down to me, brushing his lips across mine. I like the way he feels. The way he smells. Like soap and cedar and ginger.
I grab a fistful of his shirt and press up onto my tiptoes, deepening his teasing kiss.
His hand automatically braces my lower back, supporting me, lifting me into him.
It all comes cascading back with vibrant detail. How he can use that abundant strength to manhandle me, or in the next moment, be so achingly tender.
I forgot how good it was between us.
The way we just fit together.
Everything that came after was so painful, so humiliating, that it just blotted out the good stuff.
I was mocked and discarded. Deceived.
It left me wondering what was real and what I imagined.
But this kiss?
This kiss can’t be a lie.
And that’s why I’m so confused by him. By the whole thing.
