What?
“I need to get back to work.” She still had some time left before she needed to get back, but it was the perfect excuse. “You also have somewhere to be.” He did say he was on his way somewhere before he saw her.
“They can wait, this can’t.”
Why was he being so stubborn all of a sudden? “Mike, please.” She wasn’t above begging. Anything to let her flee at the moment.
“We need to talk.” That was the last thing she wanted to do. “About that almost kiss.” Especially about that.
“We really don’t. I’m sorry for bringing it up. It’s not a big deal.” She’d learn to suppress it like everything else. A secret memory of “what if” to tuck into her memory.
“That was the thing I wanted to talk to you about, that I’m making a whole mess about.”
“Well, we can pretend it never happened, since it didn’t. Glad we got that straightened out.” Destiny tried to pull free again, but Mike had firm grip on her arm. It wasn’t painful, but he also wasn’t letting go until he was ready to.
“It’s not straight because you won’t let me talk,” he grumbled.
She hated how that noise affected her.
“Fine, talk.” Once again, she tried pulling her arm free. If they were going to talk about this, she wanted to have some distance from him. This time Mike let her go. Taking a few steps back, Destiny crossed her arms over her chest.
If he took another five minutes to speak, she would not be held accountable for her actions. For such a big, confident man, he took forever to speak to her sometimes. It was as if he had to play the entire conversation in his head. Plan for every possible scenario. It drove her crazy at times, like now when her anxiety was rising. The fact he didn’t want to stop being friends helped – a little.
Mike huffed out a breath, scratching the back of his head. One of his signs he was nervous. “I want to talk about the almost kiss.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly. This conversation could go in so many directions. “You said that part already.”
“You’re one of my closest friends, Destiny,” he started to say.
Uh oh. No woman ever wanted to hear a sentence start that way. It was never good.
“Since the day I met you I can’t describe the happiness I’ve felt.”
“Me too.”
Mike took her hands in his, easily engulfing them. She was used to being the same size if not bigger than most men. Mike was the only man that made her feel dainty.
“I’m not upset we almost kissed.” Her heart stopped beating. “I’m only upset we never actually got to.” Destiny felt her knees weaken. It was like her greatest fantasy had come to life. She wanted to pinch herself and make sure this wasn’t a dream. Or if it was, she never wanted to waken. “Do you regret it?”
Her mouth dried thinking about that almost kiss. Her gaze fixated on his lips. Would he kiss her now if she admitted she wanted his kiss? “I don’t regret it. I wanted to kill Ron for interrupting us.”
The corner of Mike’s lip twitched. “I had a similar thought.”
His hand came up and brushed a stray hair behind her ear that had pulled free from her bun. Destiny almost gasped at his soft gaze as he tracked his own movements. It was like a veil had been pulled from her eyes and she could finally see. Grandma was right, she was dense. How had she missed what was right in front of her face. She couldn’t say it was love, but there was something more than friendship there. It had always been there. What she had been unable to decipher this whole time was affection.
All this time she had been lamenting that he didn’t return her affections when he did. Mike was just shy about it. She should have been able to put two and two together. It took him forever sometimes just to talk to her. It had never occurred to her that he could have been reserved about sharing his feelings.
Now that she knew, she wasn’t afraid to tell him how she felt. Maybe if he knew he wouldn’t be so shy about sharing his feelings. Destiny looked into his eyes, fascinated by the kaleidoscope of color changes. She was now starting to recognize what the color changes meant. His eyes were much more expressive than his words could be.
Destiny planted her hands on his chest for support so she could lift up on her toes not wanting to waste another second from kissing him. They had already been denied long enough, due to interruptions and both of their inability to see what was right in front of them.
Mike got the hint, his eyes practically blazing as he leaned down to meet her.
“Watch out,” a frantic voice called out.
Before Destiny could process the words, Mike had her on the ground, his body shielding her.
Oh, come on.She really couldn’t catch a break.
