A few minutes in and she recognized what the problem was. Dalton was calm, mellow. He didn’t have the same type of intensity Kevin had. Kevin kissed her like he wanted to consume her, devour her. His kisses were raw and possessive, claiming her whole body even when only their lips were touching. His kisses were also a lie, so sensual and captivating that she foolishly believed he wanted her, cared about her. He didn’t, and it was unfair to Dalton to use it as a standard. It was annoying that she was comparing in the first place. Dalton was a good-looking guy. He was sweet and shy, and she doubted that heeven had it in him to be crude or abrasive. So why didn’t she feel anything?
His hand moved into her hair and finally something happened, a slight jolt ran through her body. But it wasn’t because of Dalton. It was because the gesture reminded her of the many times Kevin had done that. It made her miss him. He’d used her as a distraction, said the most awful things to her and she still couldn’t stop thinking about him. Pathetic! Fuck dopamine and every obsessive tendency it created.
She immediately broke the kiss and sighed her annoyance. “Bastard broke my tingler,” she muttered to herself.
“What?”
She pulled her legs off his lap and gave an apologetic smile. “Dalton, I’m sorry. You’re a really nice guy and agreatkisser, but…I’m just not feeling it.”
He was obviously disappointed, but he seemed to appreciate the honesty. “Do you want me to take you back to the hotel?”
“No. I didn’t say I don’t like hanging out with you. Let’s do something fun.”
“Okay. Cool,” he replied with an easy smile. “I think I know just the place for you.”
He slid out of the booth and held out his hand to help her out as well.
“I just need to make a quick stop first,” she said as they headed out the door of the café.
“What do you want to do?”
“I wanna cut my hair.”
*****
“You’re a terrible singer,” Dalton said as he walked her back to her hotel room.
“Pffft! You’re tone deaf and you obviously don’t recognize talent when you hear it.”
It was a joke. Jasmin knew she was the worst singer in the world, yet the look on his face showed that he took her seriously. Why was it so hard to find people who understood her sense of humor? It wasn’t that she didn’t like hanging out with Dalton, but he just didn’t understand her. Not the way… She stopped that thought dead in its tracks. She was comparing him to Kevin again and the fact that she’d been doing it all afternoon was frustrating her to no end. Kevin would have seen the sadness beneath her smile, but no one she’d met today had noticed that she was barely keeping herself together.
Dalton had taken her to a karaoke bar and it had been a great distraction. She’d met his cousin Stephanie, who owned the bar, and a few of his other friends. Once she’d pushed her pathetic feelings aside, what ensued was three hours of solid fun. They’d pretended to be different contestants on their own version of America’s Got Talent, with Stephanie being the judge. No one had been able to impress her. Jasmin and Dalton sang a duet together, which had everyone in hysterics. Stephanie’s comments hadn’t been kind.A symphony of crows…being strangled, she’d said.
It was safe to say that none of them had any talents, but every time she made a joke about that, it went over Dalton’s head. Maybe it was because she said it with a straight face, but it confirmed that he simply didn’t get her. She decided that she would use that as a way of sifting through the statistical pool of one hundred and that meant that Dalton was definitely not one of her soul mates.
“I was kidding,” Jasmin said.
“I knew that,” he replied with a sheepish grin.
“I had a great time. Thanks for showing me around.”
“Me too. We should do it again before you leave.”
She smiled. “I’d like that. My dad and I fly back to Chicago the day after Christmas, so maybe sometime next week?”
“Sure.”
They reached that awkward moment where they didn’t know if a hug, a kiss, or a handshake was an appropriate way to say goodbye. They settled on a hug.
“I’ll see you around.”
Jasmin watched him walk back towards the lobby before opening the door to her room. As soon as he father set eyes on her, his mouth dropped open.
“What did you do?” He sounded so horrified that she felt like she was standing over a dead body with a bloody knife in her hand.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I cut my hair, Dad.”
He just stared at her in dismay, taking in how short it actually was. She’d been a bit aggressive, settling on the Shaylene Woodley pixie cut. Impulsive, but she felt like cutting off all the memories.
