Her body recognizes me.Her breath syncs with mine.Her lips shape against mine like they’ve done it a thousand times before.Heat surges through me, hot, primal, possessive.
I deepen the kiss instinctively, pulling her closer, her body fitting against mine like it always has, like it always will.And that’s when I shatter into a million pieces.
I tear myself away from her, stumbling back like I’ve been punched.Her lips part in shock.Her chest rises and falls fast.
“Ledger?”she whispers.“What, what’s wrong?”
Everything.
Absolutely everything.
I drag a hand over my face, chest heaving.
“You’re injured,” I choke out roughly.“Confused.You don’t remember anything.”
She steps toward me, hurt flickering in her eyes.“But I wanted this.”
“You think you did,” I cut in gently.“Because you’re lookin’ for something steady.Something familiar.And your brain picked me.”
“That doesn’t mean it isn’t what I want.”
“It does,” I rasp.“Kelly, you don’t remember us.You don’t remember what we were.You don’t remember the night we ended things.You don’t remember the shit I said that hurt you.”
Her breath catches.
“So until you do?”I state, forcing the words out like shards of glass.“I’m not takin’ advantage.”
She looks stunned.“You’re not taking advantage.”
“You’re vulnerable,” I give her the truth.“And I’m not the kind of man who takes from a woman when she’s not in her full mind.”
Her voice trembles.“I’m not broken.”
“I didn’t say you were,” I whisper.“But you’re healing.And you deserve more than me makin’ a move on you when you’re missing half the story.”
She swallows, stepping closer again.“Then fill in the gaps.”
I shake my head.“No.”
“No?”
“You need to remember on your own.”I look away.“Otherwise I’m telling you what to feel.”
Silence falls like a weight.She stares at me for a long, aching moment.Then her shoulders slump.
“I don’t understand you,” she whispers.
“Neither do I,” I mutter the God’s honest truth.
A humorless laugh bursts from her lips.She wipes at her eyes.“Ledger, I kissed you because I wanted to.Not because I’m confused.No matter what our past is, I wanted to feel this.”
“I know.”
It’s the truth.It’s also the problem.
Her bottom lip trembles.“Did we ever kiss before?”
The images hit me like a fist.Her hands in my hair.Her mouth soft and eager beneath mine.Her laughing against my lips in the bakery kitchen.Her breathless moans in the dark of her apartment.
