I’d noticed that without her ever saying it. “It’s almond milk Ben & Jerry’s.”
“Really?” She broke into a wide grin. “Phish Food?”
I nodded.
“That’s my favorite,” she said.
“Then I guess we have something else we agree on.” I nudged her with my elbow. “Come inside. You can tell me what you’re writing—I want to hear all about it—and then I’ll walk you home later.”When you’re settled, I silently added.
“Okay, but I’m going to eat all your ice cream.”
I shrugged. “There are worse things.”Like saying good night before I’m ready.
BREE LOVED ICE CREAM. SHE DIDN’T WANTto share. I was fine with that because I enjoyed having her on my couch, with me, so very much. She wasn’t on my lap or anything, but she was close enough to touch me. She showed no sign of wanting to move either. That was more than enough for me to keep the conversation going.
“So… what do you like about contemporary romance? What makes it better than paranormal romance?” I asked.
She’d gone into great detail about what she wanted to write in the story that she was working on, and I was curious enoughto keep asking her about the project. Unfortunately, I wasn’t an expert on romance. In more ways than one.
She shrugged. “I don’t think it’s better than paranormal romance, but there’s a more intimate feel to it. The things in my paranormal romances can be off the chain because nothing needs to be realistic other than the emotions. Everything in contemporary romance needs to be grounded.”
I considered it. “Why romance?” I wasn’t trying to be insulting, but I was desperate to understand her. So very desperate.
“Well, when I was a kid, they were the only books in the house.” She offered up a sheepish shrug. “Sometimes I had a library card, so that meant I could check out other books, but sometimes when we moved, there would be a new library, and my mother wasn’t great about taking me to get a card.”
My heart pinged. “I never went to libraries, because my father allowed me to fill out a list of the books I wanted, and he would buy them all. In hindsight, I wish I could’ve gone to a library. I just missed out that way.”
“Could you read whatever you wanted?”
“Yeah. That was mostly fantasy, some mystery.” I laughed to myself. “I read Stephen King, although I freaked myself out with that a few times.”
“I freaked myself out with Stephen King too. The first book of his I read wasSalem’s Lot. There was a tree outside my window at the time, and it brushed against the glass. I convinced myself it was vampires trying to get in.”
“What’s your favorite King book?”
“The Shining,” she answered without hesitation. “Even though I know he hated the movie, that’s my favorite horror movie too.”
“That’s a great movie,” I agreed. “The Standis my favorite.”
We lapsed into comfortable silence as she finished off the ice cream. She shifted her phone to check the time. “I should get going.” She didn’t sound thrilled about it, but we were in a weird place. We both needed sleep.
“I’ll walk you.” I automatically stood at the same time she did, and our chests bumped together.
I instinctively reached out to steady her but didn’t move away. She didn’t either.
We stood there for a long moment, heat swirling between us, and all I could do was study her mouth. I wanted to kiss her again—more than anything—but it wasn’t a good idea. She’d become my friend. Heck, she was almost my best friend at this point. Sure, I still had Nathan, but I spent more time with her. We talked about everything. We laughed about movies. Sometimes we would watch the same show and text.Dexter: Resurrectionwas our current favorite.
“I…”
“We…”
We spoke at the same time then dissolved into nervous fits of laughter.
“You go first,” she said.
This was my breaking point. I had never wanted anything more than I wanted her. Yes, I was afraid of her getting nervous and ending the friendship. I was never going to get what I truly wanted unless I said something, however. So that was what I did.
“I want to kiss you.” The words rushed out. “So much. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since last time.”
