The door opens again, and Calla’s voice says, “Oh! So sorry.”
The door closes, but it’s too late.
Tatum realizes what we were doing, and she pulls back.
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “We shouldn’t—I shouldn’t have. Um, you know. We can’t.”
Can’t we? I want to ask her why, even though I already know why. We can’t ruin this friendship with feelings.
Especially not now that we agreed to become business partners by co-purchasing a wedding venue.
It’s too messy. Too hard. Too wrong.
But that one single kiss told me everything I needed to know—or confirmed everything I already knew.
I’m hopelessly in love with Tatum Barker, and I’m pretty damn sure there won’t ever be anyone else who could possibly measure up to her.
CHAPTER 13: Tatum Barker
Out of the Question
It’s not as fun to preview various vendors by myself, but it’s necessary today. Ford’s at practice, for one thing, but for another…
We kissed.
He kissed me.
I kissed back.
This is Ford. Ford Bradley! He’s my friend. He’s the one I turn to when I can’t turn to Archer.
Do I havefeelingsfor him?
Only…
The kiss.
Thekiss.
I think back to our first kiss again, back when I’d just finished my freshman year of high school, and I had a little crush on both Archer and his older brother, Ford.
Archer and I had classes together, so we spent moretime together.
But if I was being really honest with myself, back then…it was Ford who I had the biggest crush on.
I swept that crush away when he seemed to sweep me away.
We kissed, and he pulled away. We never talked about it, and I assumed it was because he’d been drinking and didn’t even remember it happened.
Regardless, I was in his friend zone. He saw me as belonging to his brother, and I was probably too young for him anyway. We were only two years apart, but in high school, that mattered. He was a senior, and then he went off to college, and he got busy with football.
Archer and I grew up together during those years, and we grew closer when Ford wasn’t around as much. I pushed aside my feelings for Ford since they weren’t reciprocated, and I got together with the other boy I had a crush on…the one who happened to be Ford’s younger brother, the one who seemed to be the right pick for me.
But those old feelings are simmering at the surface again, and I can’t just set aside this newer kiss like it didn’t happen. Itdidhappen, and it was magical. Thigh-clenching, belly-flipping, butterfly-flapping magic.
It was the first time I’ve kissed a man other than Archer since…well, since the last time we broke up, and I went out to a club with some friends, got a little tipsy, and let some guy kiss me on the dance floor. That had to be five years ago, and it was fairly forgettable.
The kiss last night with Ford was decidedlynotforgettable since it’s basically all I’ve thought about for the last twelve—nope, wait—thirteen hours.
