She moved closer. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You told me that after I crawled into your bed and made a fool of myself. Now it’s my turn to give that back. We’re all human. And we get drunk, we reach out, we…” She threw her head back and sighed. “We sometimes do stupid shit.”
It hadn’t been stupid. Simply premature. “Do you ever not swear?”
“Says the guy in the navy?” She looked back at him, her eyes twinkling. “Fuck no.”
He laughed with her. Then he sobered up again. “But seriously, Grace. I think we cleared up some confusion earlier, only for me to muddy those waters again.”
“Frank…if you had kissed me, that would have been okay, too. I’ve been single for twenty years. I kiss a lot of frogs. I know it doesn’t mean anything, and sometimes it feels good. Don’t overthink it.”
He wasn’t overthinking it. Not anymore. He’d spent all afternoon thinking, and reasoning, and trying to come up with any plan other than getting his mouth on hers.
* * *
Grace had thoughtthat would be the end of it. Re-frame the lean-in as something normal and inconsequential. Promise it meant nothing and move on.
But Frank didn’t step back. In fact, he moved in closer, and this time there was none of the nervous energy zinging off him that there had been earlier. This man was more like a predator, coiled tight and ready to pounce.
And like she was his prey.
She knew this feeling, too. It was rarer than the frog kissing. There had only been a couple of guys over the years who had been this…intense. And it was dangerous, because she liked intense. Deep down, intense was her jam, and no no no, Frank could not be her jam.
“You know what I’ve learned, Grace?”
She swallowed.Don’t fall for it.She fell for it. “What?”
“Life is too short to be polite, or demure, or anything other than balls-to-the-wall.”
“That’s me. One hundred percent to the wall with my—”
He reached out and cupped her face, his thumb rubbing against her lips.
She fell silent. They weren’t bitching about the state of the world. He was talking about… She watched him move closer, his eyes bright and his jaw set. Yeah, he totally wanted to kiss her now.
And that was great, except for all the ways it was still a terrible idea. No big deal, but still nope. She stepped back, bumping against the wall before she pivoted and ducked under his still outstretched arm. “So anyway, how about that local sports team?”
“Grace.”
She shook her head, her back still to him. “Bad idea, Frank.”
“You told me it was okay to kiss you.”
“I think I specifically said, it would have been okay if you did. If it was spontaneous, I wouldn’t want you to feel bad or awkward about it. But come on, you’re an emotional hot mess and I am callous at best when it comes to feelings.”
“Is that true?”
“Yep, you’re a total mess.”
“I mean about you being callous. That hasn’t been my experience.”
“You’ve known me for three days.”
“Sure, but they’ve been a very long three days.” She heard him move, and then he was right behind her, radiating warmth against her back. “Why is it a bad idea for me to kiss you, exactly?”
“I…”
He waited.
She tried again. “You…”
