“You’re right. If only I’d known talking to you could’ve changed everything,” I whispered. “I wouldn’t have been such a dick all these years.”
Her smile was small, bittersweet. “It’s scary how big the change is and how fast it feels like it’s happening.”
She was right. It was terrifying. But for the first time in a long time, I was ready to be scared.
Later when I pulled up outside the bookstore, a crashing drumbeat pounded in my chest. It was like the crescendo to some epic film score. It was going that fast and was that loud in my ears. What I did next could change everything. One wrong move and we could go back to being enemies, or the very least professional acquaintances. That was why no matter how much I wanted to follow Cassidy up the stairs to her apartment andlavish all my attention on her for the whole night, I knew I had to leave her at the door.
“I’ll walk you to your door,” I told her, my voice feeling big in the darkness of my truck.
She laughed softly. “It’s like two feet away, Gunner.”
“It could be two inches, but I would not be a gentleman if I didn’t walk you to it.” I unbuckled my seat belt and opened my door. “Wait there.”
“Gunner!”
“Cassidy, I’m lacking in many things, but manners isn’t one of them. My Mom taught me everything I know.”
When she sighed in defeat, I got out of the truck and ran around the hood to her side. She’d already unbuckled her belt by the time I opened the door, so I held out my hand.
“Be careful.” I grinned. “It’s a big drop for an itty bitty thing like you.”
She tried to scowl but her lips lifted at the edges giving her away. “Thank you.”
“This door have a bolt?” I asked after the two seconds it took us to reach her front door.
“It does, as does the one to my apartment. Why?”
“Because I want you to bolt it once you’re inside.” I looked up at the bookshop, considering how safe she was. Whether anyone could scale the walls somehow to get to her front window.
“Gunner,” she sighed.
“What?” I turned my gaze back to the frown and the beautiful eyes narrowed on me.
“I’ve lived here for a long time, alone. I know how to be safe. In fact, I have a baseball bat next to my bed and a mean right hook. Just ask my ex.”
“He hurt you?” My hands immediately went to fists at my side. “Was he some college prick who wore his sweater tied around his neck?”
Cassidy giggled and placed a warm palm against my chest. “No, he was an Insurance Broker from Durango who cheated on me. I went back there after college and hooked up with my old high school boyfriend who apparently hadn’t matured one bit since he was fifteen. I found out he was fucking his mom’s PA so socked him in the jaw.”
“His Mom’s PA? What a dick, not only did he cheat on you but not even with his own PA, but his fucking mom’s!”
Laughing full out loud now, Cassidy hugged me. “God, anyone ever tell you you’re funny when you’re angry.”
“No, but let me tell you, you’re downright scary when you are.”
When she kissed my cheek, my irritation drifted away, and I moved my head to look at her. Maybe I could gauge from her eyes what I should do next. Maybe I was a damn pussy even wondering. Usually if I liked a girl I said, ‘I’d like to kiss you now, is that okay’ and then damn well kissed her. Cassidy, though, she was different. I felt like I needed—no, wanted—to do everything perfectly.
Then she surprised me again. “Gunner, just kiss me honey, because it’s getting damn cold on this sidewalk and it’s getting late and you have to be up in like,” she looked at the gold and silver watch she was wearing, “five hours.”
When her lips parted and she let out the softest sigh, I didn’t make her wait any longer.
Unlike our heated kisses on the sofa, this one started gently, a question, an answer, a promise. Her lips were soft against mine, tasting faintly of the chocolate dessert we’d shared. When her hand slid up to cup my jaw, her fingertips cool against my skin, something shifted between us. Not just desire, though God knows that was there, but something deeper. Something that felt like finally finding solid ground after years of treading water.
I kept it slow, savoring the way she sighed against my mouth, the way her body swayed toward mine. When we finally broke apart, her eyes fluttered open, those whisky depths soft and wondering in the dim light from the bookstore window.
“Goodnight, Cassidy,” I whispered, my voice rougher than I intended.
She smiled; her cheeks flushed from our kiss. “Goodnight, cowboy.”
