“I don’t need ice cream, Ford.”
“I think you may.” I started walking through her place, looking for the kitchen.
“What if I wasn’t home?”
“Ashley said you’re always home on Tuesday nights. You have a show…”
“I’m going to kill her and bury the body. No one will be the wiser.”
“Except me.”
She play-huffed.
“Thought maybe we could watch together,” I said, setting my cooler on her kitchen counter. The whole place was white lacquer and quartz with chrome accents, a fascinating contradiction to the Victorian façade of the house. “Did you pick all of this?”
“Isn’t that what most people do?”
“Not in my world.”
“I think we established I don’t live in your world.”
“Thank God for that,” I said honestly. “The women in my world don’t eat anything, let alone ice cream.”
“You know what? You have to go.” She tossed her hands on her hips, only accentuating one of the best parts of her body. “You can’t take over my life. Last night, today’s lunch, and now a surprise visit to my house. We don’t know each other anymore, and I’m not some charity case you can feed and make happy while your dad dies. I’m not a distraction.”
I moved in close, paying special attention not to touch her. I wasn’t that kind of guy. Assertive, yes. Aggressive, no. “James, you’re hardly a charity case. Look at you—successful on your own, stunning, and sassy. The three S’s.”
“That’s not a real thing.”
Ignoring her comment, I said with a smile, “I have to say I don’t know when you got to be so feisty, but I like it.” My sister’s call was long forgotten; I was wholly focused on Jamie.
“Look, I don’t know when I got so feisty either, but this is too much.”
Her gaze never lifted from the floor as I used my index finger and tipped her chin up. With my eyes on hers, staring beyond her eyeglasses, I spoke. “I made a mistake. A big one. I lost my closest friend and someone who could have been more that night when I walked out. Now I’m here, and there was a reason I ran into you. To make up for lost time.”
My finger still under her chin, she maintained our staring contest. “You’re my boss. I spoke to the director and you’re on the board, as if you thought there would be a problem with that…”
“I want to kiss you.”
“We’re forty-four, half our lives done.”
Never one not to counter, I let her know my plan. “Half left to go.” Tension swirled in the room, my mind heady with ideas.
“The ice cream is melting,” she argued, desperate for excuses.
So what? If it melted, I’d call out for more, but I didn’t share this. “I’m going to kiss you.”
There were no more rebuttals on her part, so I let my finger slip away and leaned an inch closer, and then another inch, my mouth touching hers gently. Her lips, soft and supple, begged me to bite down, but I didn’t. It was only a first kiss.
My hand wrapped around her back, slipping up her loose sweatshirt, making contact with her skin. Heat radiated through my palm as my lips deepened the kiss. Holding her close, my length digging into her soft curves, I sucked on her lower lip until my tongue won entry into her mouth. A small moan escaped her, and my other hand reached up and grabbed her messy bun. My tongue tracing a path over her throat, nipping a bit along the way, I took small tastes before I ran back up again and met her mouth.
My lips found hers for a second time, and this time mine came crashing down on hers. I wanted to ravage all of her, make her mine in a way I’d never wanted to with anyone. Except maybe James on that ill-fated night where I ran because I didn’t understand what it all meant.
Her kisses took over all my senses, erasing any self-doubt I had when it came to feelings.
I pressed harder into her mouth, unable to avoid small bites to her lower lip. I wanted to make sure she knew I never wanted to let go.
As we kissed, we inched backward into the white wall, and I was grateful for the hard surface to brace her on while I hiked her left leg up and around my hip. I continued to hold her steady, our lower halves seeking friction with one another. Our tongues danced while our lips moved in sync, my palm now on her hip, holding her tight.
