Say yes, dummy.
“I had a great time with you too.”
Michael takes a seat next to me on the swing, his long legs splayed out in front of him. The green flecks in his pale brown eyes catch the light of the lowering sun.
“They’re doing Shakespeare in the Park next weekend.Romeo and Juliet.”
I love outdoor theater. I don’t care what’s playing. Mason took me to seeThe Lost Colonyin Manteo during fall break. We spent the week touring the Northern Outer Banks. Each day was filled with so much fun, and every night was filled with mind-blowing passion. After that trip was when I knew I was hopelessly, completely, and desperately in love with him. I started to dreambig dreams and wish for a future that I had no idea would cease to exist as a possibility three months later.
Michael tips my chin up with a finger when I fail to answer.
And I hate that I feel… nothing. No zap of electricity or the chilling tingles of millions of goose bumps as they race along my skin. I don’t feel that out-of-control need to have his hands and his lips touch every inch of me, take everything from me, like I did with Mason last night.
As much as I wish I was, I’m not attracted to Michael in that way. I don’t feel anything toward him other than a burgeoning friendship. It wouldn’t be right for me to string him along or lead him to think that I’m up for more than that.
“Michael, I don’t—”
“There’s another reason I came by.”
Regaining my train of thought, I try to come up with a viable excuse to say no to the invitation for a second date I feel he’s about to make. I don’t want to hurt his feelings or make things awkward between him and Brandon since he’s one of Brandon’s coaches. I guess I should have thought about that before I agreed to go out with him. In my defense, I never expected my ex to show up again and tilt my world on its axis.
If things were different, I would somersault over myself for another date with Michael. It would give me more time to get to know him better. People who aren’t attracted to each other at first can grow that attraction through conversation and things they have in common. Or so I’ve read.
But that was before.
It’s funny how your entire life can change in the blink of an eye, or in my case, in less than twenty-four hours.
“I forgot to do something last night,” he says, and leans in, taking me by surprise when he brushes his lips, ever so lightly, across mine.
This is wrong. It feels wrong.
Pulling back, I place a hand on Michael’s chest to stop him from trying to kiss me again.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
Oh no.
No no no.
My stomach plummets when I see Mason standing at the bottom step of my porch, the look on his face telling me that, yes, he saw Michael kiss me.
Well, crap.
Chapter 9
MASON
I’ve been on my front porch watering the million plants Mama Mac had bought and dumped on me. She said she wanted me to have a pop of color. What I actually got was a recreation of the Amazon jungle and no garden hose since it’s one of the many things I still need to purchase for the house. It also means that I’ve been going back and forth from the porch to the kitchen for the last half hour filling up glasses with tap water.
Just as I empty the last glass in the potted red hibiscus, a Ford Raptor pulls into Aria’s driveway and a man gets out. And yeah, I may stand there and blatantly watch and listen to them, up until the point when he leans over and kisses her. That’s when my feet decide to take authority over my brain and walk me across the yard to next door.
“Michael, I don’t think—”
“Am I interrupting anything?”
I know I am by the way Aria goes stiff like the proverbial kid who gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Her head slowly swivels in my direction, and her pretty mouth drops open when she sees me standing there.
I’m known for having a quick temper. To punch first and ask questions later. That knee-jerk response is a direct result of theshitty childhood I was forced to endure, being thrown around like discarded refuse from one foster family to another my entire life. So, it’s taking everything I have in me not to storm up the steps and punch this dickhead in the face for kissing my woman. Because make no mistake, Aria is mine, and she more than proved that last night by the way she kissed me like the world would end if she didn’t.
