Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his lips to hers.
Chapter Thirty-Five
SOFIA
When they checked into the vacation rental Sofia had won at the auction on New Year’s Eve, she quickly claimed the largest room then said good night and shut the door.
After their kiss, she had taken a step back, trying to force the electricity between them to dissipate as she stepped out of his orbit. It hadn’t worked. She hadn’t stepped back because their second kiss wasn’t as good as their first—it was the opposite. She never wanted the kiss to end. And that was a problem.
Isaiah had allowed her to step away, and they hadn’t said anything as they’d driven to the rental home.
She paced her room restlessly, wondering what Isaiah was doing at the moment.
And what am I doing?she asked herself, finally deciding to quit pacing and take a hot shower. The bathroom in the rental was much more luxurious than the one she had at home, with a massive clawfoot tub with dozens of real plants surrounding it. In other circumstances, Sofia would enjoy the escapism of being inside a plant jungle, but she barely noticed her surroundings.
Her mind kept showing her pictures of Isaiah’s face just before she had kissed him. She had an entire conversation with herself as the steam fogged up the mirror in the bathroom.
This is a man who doesn’t even know who he is. Am I taking advantage of him? And where could this… thing… between us be going anyway? What’s going to happen when he eventually finds out who he is?
And besides the instinctive feeling she had that he would know if he was in a relationship in his real life, she still didn’t know for sure that he didn’t have a girlfriend somewhere out there.
Out of all the guys in the world, why did I have to fall for someone with amnesia? It’s like the plot of a movie.She let out a mirthless laugh and shook her head as she gently towel-dried her curls and lathered on her favorite body lotion.
Her mind went to her mom for the second time that day. She could practically hear her mom speaking to her, teasing her about wanting a love story that was worthy of a Hallmark movie. That had been Sofia’s dream as a preteen as she scribbled designs in her heart-stickered notebooks. Her hopeless romantic spirit had started at a young age and carried on for years, until it had been crushed by Noah.
And there she was, living a romance movie, and she was more unsure than ever. She’d given up her dream of romance years ago, choosing to make her life into the dream she’d imagined on her own—long baths on the weekend, candles in her kitchen while she cooked, rom-coms on the TV. But none of them had involved another person. She knew from experience that it wasn’t safe to let one person have that much control over her happiness.
She’d lost Noah, then she’d lost her mom, then it had just been her. And aside from a couple of amazing friendships, mainly with Ash and Holly, that had suited her.
Sofia scrunched some oil into her wet curls with extra ferocity.
By the time she’d slipped into her pajama top and shorts, she’d made up her mind.
She would make it clear that she couldn’t continue the relationship until he had his memories back and they knew for sure that there was no one else in the picture. While their kisses had been nothing short of magical, she couldn’t let it happen a third time, at least not yet. They needed to double down on figuring out his identity. If she couldn’t commit to him, she could at least commit to that. And she hoped it would be enough for him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
ISAIAH
It felt like Sofia had been in the shower for an eternity. Isaiah had been so restless that he’d walked down the street and grabbed some take-out dinner for them. He sat on the couch while picking at it, mindlessly flicking through TV channels. He hadn’t even checked out his room other than to drop off his backpack.
Isaiah could tell that their second kiss had spooked her. He wasn’t sure why, but he sensed something in her past was holding her back from trusting that things were real between them. He wished he could assure her that everything he felt for her was genuine and that he would never hurt her.But can I really promise that?
After all, he was a man with no memories of who he’d been. One thing he could never do to Sofia was make promises he couldn’t be certain to deliver on.But where does that leave us?
When Sofia’s door opened, Isaiah looked up, and she stepped out in a cloud of spicy floral aroma and a set of silky pink pajamas. Her damp curls were beautifully framing her face.
She jumped when she noticed him. “I thought you’d be in bed,” she said, her tone accusatory.
He pushed the boxes of food across the coffee table toward her. “Hungry?”
Sofia seemed like she was going to decline, but after a few moments, she plopped into the armchair across from him and reached for the container and some chopsticks.
“How was your spa date?”
“Huh?” Sofia asked, slurping a noodle. She arched an eyebrow at him.
He grinned. “Well, you were in the shower for hours and came out smelling like a candy shop, so I figured you must have been having a full-on spa experience in there.” He didn’t mention that the smell had been driving him crazy since he’d first met her.Is it her shampoo? Lotion?
