“I was. For a long time. But you’re not her.”
“How do you know?” Jenny searched my eyes. She was finally the one asking the questions, instead of me begging her to want the information. If she thought that made her a tyrant, I had nothing to fear.
“For one thing, you could have grilled me in there with that road trip question. You could have humiliated me at any point tonight, and I would have deserved it. But you are unfailingly kind and good.”
“I’m not. I should have just added you to my road trip answer. But I get truthy when I’m nervous.”
“So, the truth is, you’d rather take someone else’s dog on a road trip than me?”
She swallowed. “The dog seemed like a safe bet.”
“And I’m not.”
“No.” She bit her lip. “I know you want to be.”
“I do.”
She stared at me for several seconds. “What are you thinking right now?” She let a small smile slip, like she’d trapped me with the question. I had just promised to never lie, after all.
In the dim light, her green eyes looked gray, but I could picture the color, and the sprinkle of freckles I knew ran across her cheeks. And I could picture the color of her lips. Right now, I could only see the slope of them. Absolutely perfect for…
“I’m thinking about kissing you,” I blurted out. “And how it would be completely inappropriate and you’d probably bite my tongue off.”
“There’d be tongue?” Her jaw dropped.
“Are you the thought police?”
“No.” Her grip on my shirt loosened, but before she could step away from me I reached out and put my hands on her hips.
Her eyes widened, and she looked like she wanted to slap me, but instead she froze, and studied me, and then slowly, slowly, leaned in until her lips were pressed against mine. Her kiss was soft, and sweet, and hesitant, and it took everything in me not to take over, especially when she sighed against my mouth. The sound made my insides go wild, and I gripped the sides of her before forcing my hands to relax. This wasn’t the Jenny in my head. She was real, and vulnerable, and right here, choosing to kiss me. I wouldn’t take advantage of that.
“Noah.” She dropped her head, resting her forehead against my neck. “Am I that bad of a kisser? I swear, if your goal is to make me hate you then you’re doing a great job.”
My hands tightened again, realizing what she was saying. “Bad kisser?” I dipped my head down and captured her mouth, showing her just how thorough I could be. My hands moved to her back and up into her hair as I pulled her closer. Her arms came up around my neck and she matched me kiss for kiss. There was no bad kissing going on. Just a lot of pent up feelings coming out. I could feel her confidence growing, but also her anger and frustration through her kiss. She certainly wasn’t punishing me, but I sensed she still wanted to. And that’s when I knew I needed to be the one to pull away. We’d been gone too long. I had followed her in here, and I didn’t regret it for one second, but she might if we got caught.
I put my hands on her shoulders and put some space between us. I immediately felt cold and fearful. I’d laid out my feelings, but she hadn’t.
Without looking at me, Jenny abruptly turned and fled the room. I scrubbed my hands over my face, knowing there were so many things left unsaid, and not sure if she’d ever give me the opportunity to say them.
Gina had waited for us by the desserts, pretending they needed more time so she could let Jenny and I help her serve. She was now my new favorite person. Well, after my first favorite, the woman who wouldn’t lift her eyes from the berry tarts. Jenny never left Sadie’s side the rest of the night, much to Justin’s disappointment. And mine.
Chapter 28 – Jenny
“Who in the heck is living in our apartment, Jenny?”
I pulled my phone away from my ear and winced. “Nice greeting, Lauren. I take it you met Clarissa?”
“Yes, and she threatened to call the cops on me, and I told her go ahead and do it, because I was afraid she was keeping you tied up in there or something. And then suddenly she turned nice and said you were living with Denver. Denver! I’m gone a week and you’re living in sin with Denver.”
“Oh my gosh. I’m not living in sin. I’m stuffed in a back bedroom in his house with Sadie, my carpool partner. And there’s no sinning going on. Everyone is extremely single here, including Denver. He could really use a new girlfriend actually, because he’s around way too much.”
Lauren relayed everything I’d just said to Clay, including the extreme singleness part, before coming back on the phone.
“How was Hawaii?” I asked, maybe a little too sarcastically.
“No, no, no. We’re talking about you right now, girl. Why are you at Denver’s?”
I left my bedroom and headed straight to the pantry in the kitchen. This was going to be a long conversation, and I’d need fortification. After grabbing a package of Chips Ahoy, I headed out to the front porch and sat down. Between cookies, I told Lauren everything housing-related, and nothing that was currently making me feel like curling up on this porch and crying.
