Because I don’t trust myself not to burn us both down.
But I don’t say any of that.
Instead, I lean closer.
So close my mouth nearly brushes hers.
Her breathing goes ragged.
“Still think this is fake?” she whispers.
My heart hammers. I want to kiss her. I want to taste frosting and flour and everything I’ve been pretending I don’t still crave.I want to slide my hand under the hem of her shirt and drag her closer and forget the entire damn town exists.
Instead, I brace my forearm harder against the asphalt to keep from collapsing onto her.
“Don’t,” I say roughly.
“Don’t what?”
“Look at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you remember.”
Her eyes soften. “I never forgot.”
That nearly undoes me. I drop my forehead against hers for half a second. The contact is electric. Then I force myself back. I shift my weight and push the table frame up enough to crawl out. Flour rains down again. Cool air hits my overheated skin.
I stand and offer her a hand.
She stares up at me, breathless. “Levi?—”
I pull her up carefully. Cupcakes squish under our boots. The crowd finally surges forward.
“Oh my word, are you hurt?” Mrs. Dottie demands.
Sadie shakes her head. I keep my hand at her waist longer than necessary. She looks at me like she knows exactly why I pulled away. Like she knows how close I was to losing control.
Sawyer strolls up, surveying the wreckage. “Y’all okay?”
“Fine,” I say.
He eyes the flour on my shoulders, the frosting on Sadie’s shirt, the way we’re standing a little too close.
“Sure you are,” he mutters.
The cheer team starts collecting smashed cupcakes. Someone props the booth upright again. The event continues like the collapse was just part of the entertainment. Sadie brushes flour off her shorts.
“You pulled away,” she says quietly so only I can hear.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I hold her gaze. “Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t.”
Her throat tightens. “You think that’s a good thing?”
