Though he couldn’t help thinking he would have liked to do exactly that.
“Why? Just... why?”
He had to give her some kind of answer. His mind racedthrough a half-dozen excuses but he finally decided on the truth.
“Because I’ve wanted to do that since you came back to town.”
From the instant he first walked into the bookstore and found her, with her purple-tipped hair and her gorgeous tattoos and all that attitude, he had wantedallof her, with a fierce, ever-present ache.
She glared at him. “Shut up. You have not.”
“Why does that seem so unbelievable to you?”
“Because I’m completely not your type.”
“Says who?”
“Me. That’s who.” Her eyes grew shadowed and she moved away from him, much to his deep regret.
“If you kissed me as some kind of sick joke, I’m not laughing.”
Would he ever be able to get away from his own past, when he had become the class clown to mask his own vast insecurities. He had spent all of his school years trying to make everyone laugh. Especially Emma Lucas.
“Do I look like I find any of this funny?” he asked, his voice low.
She studied him and he couldn’t help wondering what she saw when she looked at him now.
Finally she looked away. “Whatever the reason, don’t do it again. I’m not... I don’t have time for this.Wedon’t have time for this. We have to work together for the time being, until this project is renovated. This kind of... unnecessary distraction won’t accomplish anything.”
He could think of several things that kissing Emma might accomplish. Maybe he could finally get her out of his head, after all this time.
Somehow he doubted it, though.
“Don’t kiss me again,” she repeated, as if he didn’t understand her the first time.
He felt his jaw tighten at her order. “Got it.”
He turned and went back to work, the thing he was best at. They were both silent as they cleared out the rest of the debris. Only after they were both outside again, lights turned off, door locked and alarm set, did she finally speak.
“It was a great kiss, Bryce,” she finally said, avoiding his gaze. “I don’t want you to think I didn’t enjoy it.”
Was she trying to protect his feelings? Somehow that touched him almost as much as that kiss had. He wanted to kiss her again. She had expressly asked him not to, though, which frustrated the hell out of him.
“Good to know,” he finally answered.
“And, okay, under other circumstances, I might be tempted to... you know.”
Yeah. He knew entirely too well.
“We can’t,” she went on before he could answer. “You and I are not right for each other.
“Emma, you don’t have to explain yourself. You don’t want me to kiss you. I won’t kiss you.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you to. I do. We just... can’t right now. Too much is at stake for me.”
Was she trying so hard to prove something to her mother or to herself?
“Whatever your reasons, I understand. I won’t kiss you again.”
