A kiss. That was all he’d shared with Kelsey—a kiss. Nothing more, nothing less. No reason to beat himself up and lose another night’s sleep tossing and turning over a kiss. He’d kissed other women before. He would kiss other women after.
After Kelsey.
A heaviness centered in his chest, squeezed his already-aching heart. Up until now, the only woman who affected his heart was Sara. Up until now…
Maybe he was lonely. Maybe his mother was right about that. Maybe that explained the way he felt. Working too hard, traveling too much, not getting out and socializing enough. As he stared at Midas, his heart overflowed with love for the cat. But something had been missing in Will’s life. “It’s been me and you for so long, I forgot how nice it is having another person around to talk with. Not that I don’t like talking to you, but you don’t talk back. Kelsey…”
Midas glanced up from his dish and meowed.
Will rubbed him and fed him a forkful of food. “I like her, too.”
Like, he repeated to himself. Nothing more than that. He couldn’t go further than that. Unfortunately, that didn’t change what was happening between them.
Longing and desire.
Feelings that had lain dormant for so long were springing to life, thawing his frozen heart in the middle of winter. All the feelings had one thing in common. All of them revolved around Kelsey Armstrong Waters.
The out-of-this-world kiss last night he hadn’t wanted to end. The way her hand fit so snugly, so perfectly, in his that he hadn’t wanted to let go. Even the meeting with the chef had made him feel as if he and Kelsey were the couple getting married, not the pair simply planning the wedding.
The wedding.
Faith’swedding.
Will was beginning to imagine Kelsey as the bride and himself as the groom. It had to stop. Now. The fantasy forming in his mind was replacing memories of his own wedding with Sara.
That was…
Unacceptable.
A silver-dollar-size lump of guilt lodged in his throat. Guilt over having such a good time with Kelsey. Guilt over wanting to kiss her again and again. Guilt over putting Kelsey in Sara’s place.
No, Will corrected himself,where Sara is and always will be.
Today, tomorrow, always.
Nothing would ever change that. Nothing could.
Yet these feelings for Kelsey aren’t going away.
Did it matter?
Not in the long run.
Whatever feelings he might have for her were temporary, like the traffic on a three-day holiday weekend after a good snowfall. Everything on the roads would go back to normal come Tuesday. The same would happen with him.
Will’s life would return to normal on February fifteenth. The battle between what he thought was right and what he felt was right would end in a draw. The wedding would be over, and Faith would be a married woman. Kelsey would be long gone, on her way home to Beverly Hills and her dysfunctional family to design weddings and search for unhappy endings.
Not his problem. She was a capable adult. He didn’t need to play knight in shining armor to her misguided heart. She would figure out the truth on her own when the time was right. He couldn’t do anything about it.
Not even kiss her until she saw the light.
* * *
February 8
Light reflected off the heart-shaped silver frame Kelsey held in the air. She was putting her foot down about this, even if it went against Starr’s wishes. “No engraving.”
Will rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s only a frame.”
