Chapter Fourteen
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As much as I would have loved to spend the entire day with Holly—most of that time being in bed—I got that she had a life and responsibilities and other people. I might have felt a neediness when it came to this woman I’d never felt before, but I wouldn’t bethatguy. The kind of guy who would monopolize all her time and want to be the center of everything. I’d known plenty of people like that. Hell, I’d dated women who acted like that. Who expected me to dump everyone else in my life and make it all about them.
It was a toxic trait I didn’t abide by in others, and I refused to behave that way myself.
The silence that filled my car as I drove us back into town wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. It was the opposite, in fact. It was two people comfortable enough with each other that they didn’t need to fill the silence.
At least that was the case until her phone started chirping.
She pulled her hand from mine, placing it on her knee—I couldn’t be this close to her andnottouch her—and leanedforward to pull it from her purse. The vibe coming off her changed as soon as she saw whatever was on it. The atmosphere that was light and easy just a second ago was now suddenly thick with tension. Hell, even the muscles in her leg locked up tight beneath my palm.
“Everything good, Sunshine?”
She jolted at the sound of my voice, like she’d gotten lost in thought and forgot I was even there. “What? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it’s fine,” she said distractedly.
It was the first time I could say with certainty she was lying. Whatever was on that phone rattled her, and she didn’t want me to know. She hit the button on the side of the phone to black out the screen, then shoved it back into her bag. On a deep inhale, she sat back and offered me a little-too-bright-to-be-real smile.
“Just a spam text.” She attempted to sound casual, but it didn’t ring true. “I need to get one of those blocker apps to catch them before they can come through.”
I had to remind myself even though it might have felt like I’d known her forever, that wasn’t actually true. If Luke were here he’d be the first to remind me of that little fact.
After she guided me around the building to the parking area, I pulled into a spot close to the door and killed the engine.
“I’ll get that,” I said when she reached for the door handle. “You just sit tight.”
I climbed out and rounded the hood quickly, pulling the door open for her. The smile she was wearing hit me in the solar plexus. It was so damn beautiful it nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.
She took my offered hand, and I helped her down onto the pavement. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Please. If my mom knew I let you open your own door, she’d skin my ass alive. Then she’d probably send Andrew to finish me off.” My mother had instilled manners and chivalry in me as farback as I could remember, and most of her lessons still stuck with me today.
“Oh?” Holly arched her brow as she leaned into me, pressing her tiny hands into my chest as she grinned at me. And just like that, any concerns I had earlier were gone. “Now I’m curious. What were some of the other things she taught you?”
Wrapping my arms around her was as easy as breathing. “Well, let’s see.” I thought over all the lessons she taught me growing up. “Always take the side closest to the street whenever walking on the sidewalk. Always hold the door and let the woman enter first. Oh, and the most important one. The woman is always right.” My mouth stretched into a wide smile. “Even when she isn’t.”
Holly’s head fell back on a laugh, her spine arching as I held on to her. Her tits pressed against my chest, causing my dick to stir. Then again, there wasn’t much she did that didn’t cause that reaction.
“Your mother is an incredibly smart woman.”
“That she is. She’ll love to hear you said so.”
Her cheeks pinched as her smile grew. “You’re going to tell your mom about me?”
It was taking everything I had not to go completely hard. “I see you like the thought of that.”
She attempted a mild shrug, but anyone would have seen right through it. “It’s only fair. I mean, my whole family lives here. Our grapevine is faster than a racehorse on speed. The ones that don’t already know about the date will soon enough. Your mom knowing about me would put us on equal footing.”
I nodded, humming in agreement, but that wasn’t why I planned to tell her about Holly. I was going to tell my mom about her because I shared the important things in my life with the woman who raised me. And something in my gut kept tellingme that Holiday Bradbury was quickly on her way to being very important.
I bent my head closer to hers, cradling her neck and using my thumb to tilt her face up to mine so I could press my lips to hers. She made it hard as hell to keep the kiss chaste when she parted her lips and swiped her tongue across my bottom lip. I fisted the hair at the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss, unable to help myself. I forced myself to break the kiss before it could get too heated and I ended up fucking her in the alleyway behind her bookshop.
A pained groan rumbled in my chest as I took a step back. I had to fist my hands and stuff them in my pockets to keep from reaching for her again. The only thing that helped was that Holly was in just as much pain as I was. Or at least that was what I assumed from the little whimper she let out and the way her bottom lip stuck out in a pout.
“Christ, you make me lose my head.”
“I know the feeling,” she whispered back, and I could have sworn that my poor dick had a heartbeat.
