“Okay.” He begins on a heavy exhale. “You’ve been avoiding it. I’ve been avoiding it. And we just can’t anymore. Especially because you’re helping with CeCe so much, I can’t have anything become weird between us.” He stops talking and looks at me with those golden brown eyes. “I’m sorry I kissed you.”
I’d like to be surprised by his apology, but I’m not. I knew the moment it was happening that Chase would feel guilty about it. He’d never want to lead me on, I know that wholeheartedly.
“Chase, stop. Don’t apologize. It didn’t mean anything to you, I knew that and I was okay with it. We both got caught up in the moment. And I think we can admit it was just nice having company for the night and we’ve always got along well, we’re friends… I know it meant nothing. It’s okay.”
I’ve spent my entire teenage years and adult life lusting after Chase. I won’t be stupid enough to think that one random kiss meant anything to him.
When he doesn’t say anything more, I walk around him to exit the bedroom but his arm shoots out, blocking me.
“Don’t say that. It didn’t meannothing, Summer.”
Summer. He never calls me by my first name.
“But… I can’t let it happen again.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, confused by the conflict in his voice.
He lowers his arm, his body edging closer to mine.
The dynamic we’ve always had made my feelings for him somehow seem manageable. I like him, he doesn’t like me, we go back and forth with our jabs sometimes and voila. Easy for me. Things were never reciprocated and in some way that made it easier for me to be so confident and playful with him.
“What do you mean, ‘it didn’t mean nothing’?” My tone becoming more demanding.
He looks tormented when his eyes meet mine, confused even. Like words are on the tip of his tongue and he’s debating whether or not he can say them.
But when he doesn’t say anything I move around him and this time he doesn’t block me. Though, his voice stops me before I can leave the room.
“It means… I haven’t stopped thinking about that goddamn kiss in a week, Kincaid. And Ishouldn’tbe thinking about it. I shouldn’t be thinking aboutyou. But all that clouds my mind lately is how badly I want to fucking do it again.”
Shock runs through my body.
I’m sorry,what?
How the fuck did I just let that slip out?
“Let me get this straight…” Summer takes a step back, which only puts her right up against the door she was just planning to exit. One hand goes up and she looks genuinely confused as I stand there in front of her.
I guess I can’t blame her, up until seven seconds ago she thought her very existence irritated me beyond belief.
“You… you don’t regret kissing me?” Her hip pops out and she places her other hand on it firmly. The gold rings on her fingers stand out against the black sheer fabric she’s wearing to cover up her bathing suit underneath. She has yet to even take this cover up off, even when she was sitting with her legs in the pool.
Suddenly, I’m paying attention to the way her body looks and the clothes that have been covering it. The overalls, the big oversized t-shirts. In all the time I’ve known Summer, herwardrobe has been her own. She wears brighter colors and usually things that hug her frame, but I see now how much of her body she’s trying to cover.
“Why are you wearing this?” I ask, pulling at the fabric near her shoulder.
“I—What? That has nothing to do with what I just asked you.”
“You haven’t taken this off the entire time you’ve been here. And you wear overalls now, and shirts that hang to your knees. Why?”
She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “So, you’ve taken an interest in my clothing choices. Nice, Chase.”
“You’re not answering my question,” I retort.
“You’renot answering mine. I asked first, and frankly, my question is a hell of a lot more important than why I’m wearing overalls.”
“God, you’re difficult.” A defeated sigh leaves my chest as her eyes widen, waiting for me to answer.
“That kiss…” I start. “I don’t know what came over me. Dare I say, I liked being around you and fuck… I don’t know. But I shouldn’twantto kiss you. And lately, it’s all I can fucking think about and it’s messing with my head.” Her eyes bore into mine. Bright blue and pleading for more.
