“What if I don’t want to?” I asked.
She shook her head, as if to settle her jumbled thoughts. “Sorry, what?”
“What if I don’t want to control myself? I enjoyed kissing you, Mercy. I think you enjoyed it, too, and I’d like to do it again.”
She gaped at me. “That’s a horrible idea.” But then her gaze dropped down to my lips, and I knew she was thinking about it. “I am not my mother. I don’t need the affection of a man to validate me.”
“Never said you did. Pretty sure I wouldn’t be this attracted to you if you did.”
That seemed to throw her off. She swallowed and glanced toward her apartment building, as if gauging the distance and figuring out how long it would take her to escape. I didn’t want her to feel threatened, so I took a step back.
“I’m also not your mother, either, Landon. I’m not going to wait around for you to get your shit together.”
That stung. “Never asked you to.”
“Well, I don’t do casual. Conversations or sex.”
“Who said anything about sex? It was just a kiss, Mercy,” I said, playing it off like I didn’t want in her pants. I was kind of being an asshole, but her comment about me getting my shit together was still smarting. Hell, I wished the woman would pull a punch every now and then. She seemed to know how to hit me right where it counted.
Her tongue snaked out and slid across her lower lip, drawing my attention back to it. “So, you don’t want to have sex with me?” she asked.
“Never crossed my mind,” I lied as my mind cycled through thoughts of stripping her bare and getting my hands on her luscious curves. I wanted to know what Mercy’s other lips tasted like, what sort of sounds she made as she was reaching climax, how she looked when she orgasmed. “But if that’s an offer, sure. I’ll take you up on it.”
She snorted. “Unbelievable. No, that is most definitelynotan offer.” Bending, she picked up her pan from where I’d discarded it when I lost my mind and kissed her. “Thank you for walking me home, Landon. In the future, do try to control yourself and keep your hands and lips off me.”
“You kissed me back,” I reminded her. Sure, it was immature, but I was still a man and my ego had been bruised. I needed to save face.
“Goodbye, Landon,” she replied, crossing the street.
I followed her, not quite done with our conversation yet. “Wait. Is the preschool open tomorrow?” I wasn’t sure since it was Christmas Eve and all.
She stopped, in less of a hurry to escape now that we were back on a topic she was comfortable with. “Yes. Only until noon. We should be closed, but we were worried about the kids getting a Christmas meal, so we took a vote and decided to stay open. Your mom has been preparing one heck of a feast for them. We’re down a couple of teachers and volunteers, but a lot of the kids will be gone, too.”
“I’ll be here to walk with you in the morning.”
Her expression hardened. “Thank you, but I’m sure I can make it the block and a half to your mother’s house on my own.”
The idea of her walking any distance alone in this neighborhood set off all sorts of protective instincts in me. Knowing I needed to extend an olive branch so she’d allow me to keep her safe, I agreed. “I have no doubt you can protect yourself—you’ve been doing it your whole life—but you don’t have to while I’m here. Please let me walk you.”
Her step faltered, but she recovered quickly. She didn’t look at me, but she nodded. “Okay.”
Relieved, I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
With her pan still in hand, Mercy hurried up the stairs to her apartment. But this time, she glanced over shoulder at me before disappearing behind her door.
I was making progress.
