“Technically, you kissed me. But, yes, I meant to kiss you back. It was one of the most intentional things I’ve ever done.”
Her lips parted and an audible gasp reached his ears.
“And even if I did believe in mistakes,” he continued, “a kiss with you could never be that.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that.” But even as she said the words, her gaze slipped to his mouth, just once, before she glanced back up.
She wanted to kiss him again. He could see it in her eyes. He could just about feel it. And shit, he wanted to kiss her too.
“What can I get you?”
Polly spun toward the bartender. “Hi, uh, a beer please. Doesn’t matter which.”
“Make that two,” Joel added. As the guy grabbed two bottles, Joel leaned down and whispered. “Why does a kiss between us scare you, Sunshine?”
“I never said it did.”
His lips grazed her neck, and she shuddered. “You didn’t have to.” He cocked his head. “Scared to fall in love with me?”
“No. Definitely, definitely not.”
He chuckled.
When they returned to the table, the guys were talking about the team training from the day before, and they settled into the conversation. Over the next hour, Polly received a number of texts, and every time she read one, she got that frustrated frown on her face, then drank from her beer.
The group was talking about how accurate Maureen’s readings were when Polly read what had to be her tenth text before muttering something under her breath and finishing her drink.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Is your mother as annoying as mine? Tell me she is, so I don’t feel so victimized.”
“I guarantee you she’s worse.”
“I doubt that.” She reached over and downed some of his beer. “You know how we’re sold this story that to be happy, weneed marriage and kids and the golden retriever inside the white picket fence?”
“I don’t know if that’s?—”
“It is. And my mother takes it way too seriously.”
“But you don’t believe in any of that?”
She snorted, and it was so unflattering, he almost laughed. “What’s there to believe in? Marriage is a lie that women have been sold for generations.”
“A lie?”
“It benefits men, and women just inherit more work. Did you know that marriage was traditionally a property transfer of a woman from her father? We wereproperty.”
“But that’s not the case anymore.”
She inched closer, her cherry scent teasing his nose. “We’ve been socially conditioned to believe that if we don’t get married, if we don’t have children, we’ve failed. And my mother—God,my mother—is forever searching for that golden man who will fix everything in her life. I swear, these guys smell her desperation and think, ‘There’s a heart I can step on.’”
He slipped a piece of hair behind her ear. “I agree with you.”
She straightened. “You do?”
“Yeah. I’ve never believed in marriage. In my family, marriage isn’t about love—it’s a business transaction.”
“But your family looks so perfect.”
