“Is there anus?” She lifted her warm brown eyes, and his heart pounded against his ribs—as if it would rather be in her hands than in his chest.
He applied his cereal-box grin. “I thought we established you’re my only friend of the female persuasion.” Really, with how much Kyle worked, she was his only friend. And Kyle was out of town with family obligations again. This week it was his parents’ anniversary.
Bree’s phone rang. She frantically dug it out of her purse and glanced at the screen. “It’s my mom. I have to take this.”
There were no other words in the English language that could have doused his desire for more than friendship with Bree faster thanit’s my momcoupled withI have to take this. “Of course.” He rocketed to his feet, propelled by the fuel of past hurts and a spurned heart, and moved far enough away to give her some privacy. The distance wasn’t enough to forget that kiss—however brief. Because within those precious seconds, his soul had rejoiced and his heart expanded beyond anything he’d ever felt for Tammy.
The kiss had taught him something about himself: he wasn’t immune to love.
He flipped up the arm of a sleeve and stared at the size tag. He wasn’t in love with Bree. That would be stupid. He couldn’t fall for someone he’d known for such a short time. Love was a lifetime kind of experience. You had to know someone for years before real love developed. And then you had to live in that love for years longer before you could know if they were the one. There was no shortcut. Like in football. You drilled, you ran stairs, you lifted, and you paid your dues, and if you did everything just right, you made it.
There were no shortcuts to success in football or in love.
Chapter Fifteen
“He kissed you?”
“Yep.” Bree lay on the circulation desk the next night after closing, her legs dangled off the edge, her boots swinging. Audrey was creating new labels for the books that had come in with the mail that afternoon. The two of them usually went through the selection and pulled their favorites—that weren’t on hold for a patron, of course. Unless there was a book that translated football player into librarian, Bree wasn’t interested.
“And then backed off.”
Bree dug her fingers into her scalp. “Basically said it was the biggest mistake of his life, he just wants to be friends, and could I forget it ever happened.”
“What did you do?”
She sighed. She straightened her leg and pointed at her newly beloved fringe-covered boots. “I let him buy me a new pair of shoes.”
Audrey laughed. “I’m impressed he got you in the store in the first place.”
“Followed him in like an innocent child who was offered candy.”
“He is eye candy.”
“That he is.” Bree dug her fingers into her stomach to strangle the butterflies that fluttered at the very thought of Owen’s lips sweeping across hers. The movement was so natural, like they’d kissed a thousand times, and yet the impact was brand-new.
“What are you going to do?”
Bree relaxed heavily onto the counter. “I don’t know!” Silence followed her pronouncement, which wasn’t unusual in the library after hours. This, however, was the silence of a friend holding back words that simply must be said. “Lay it on me. I can take it.”
“I don’t think you can.”
Bree flipped upright. “I can.” She brushed the hair out of her face. “Truly. Lay it on me.”
Audrey looked both ways. Bree mimicked her. They were alone, the stacks cleared and the computer screens black. “You like him.”
Bree dropped her head back to the counter, threw one arm over her face, and groaned. “I think I must.”
Audrey patted her arm in sympathy. “Unrequited.”
“Tragic.” Bree threw both her arms over her head. “My life was not meant to be a Shakespearean play. Juliet I am not.”
Audrey gasped. “Let’s hope not.”
Bree pulled herself together both metaphorically and literally. She straightened up, smoothed her hair down, and tidied her shirt. “The time for lamentation is over.”
Audrey snapped her fingers in the air. “That’s right.”
“Nothing has to change unless I let it. Owen and I will remain friends. The kiss will fade into the historical tapestry of our friendship. And we will continue our friendship as before.”
