Page 40 of Kiss Me Forever

“It’s not a date.” Dash’s eyes widened. “It’s just Reece. And free dinner. Bella’s with her grandparents tonight, right?” he asked over my shoulder, and I turned to Reece, my heart in my throat. Was my pulse racing?

“She is.” His jaw tightened. “It’s the one evening for the night where she has to stay with her grandparents. I’m not really too excited about it. We were just getting into a rhythm, and after camp I have to pick her up and drop her off there.”

Without thinking I reached out and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. You two seem to have been getting along recently. Finding your routine.”

Reece looked down between us, but didn’t let go of my hand. “We have. It’s been working. At least I think so. You’ve been helping.”

At Dash’s pointed cough I let go of Reece’s hand and took a step back. What was going on with me?

“I’m sorry. But you’ll have her back tomorrow, and you’ll be able to get to know each other some more. It hasn’t been that long.”

“No, it hasn’t. And our lawyers are still going through the final paperwork and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I don’t want to think about that right now, not when I have to drop Bella off at her grandparents—with people I don’t fucking know. When is this gala tonight?”

“At seven.”

I glared at Dash. “I can handle this on my own.”

“Seems to me you’re handling something,” he mumbled.

Reece didn’t say a damn thing.

“Dash. Go schmooze someone else. I can handle this.”

“Again, with the handling. We’re going to talk soon.” And with that, Dash shoulder bumped me, narrowed his eyes at Reece, and moved down the hall.

What the hell had that been about? He was the one who had wanted Reece to take me tonight, and suddenly he’s growly about it. It doesn’t matter. It couldn’t.

“Don’t worry about it. I can go alone. I’m a big girl.”

“You can. But I’ll go with you. To say thank you for helping Bella.” He tacked on that last thing, and it was like a kick to the chest. It shouldn’t be. We were just friends. And yet I wanted to feel his lips on mine. I wanted him to hold me close.

And this was the worst possible timing.

“It’s really okay.”

“Is Duke’s sister going to be there?”

I stiffened. “Yes. And their parents.”

“Then I’m going with you. You don’t need to do this alone. I’ll even wear a fucking suit.”

The thought of Reece in a suit nearly undid me, but I shook my head.

“I can do this on my own.”

“You keep saying that.” He reached forward and pinched my chin. I stiffened, my mouth parting. “But you don’t have to. So we’re doing this. To get it out of our system.”

As soon as he said the words I knew he regretted them, but I clung to them, wondering what the hell we were doing.

“Fine.”

“I’ll pick you up at six thirty.”

“You don’t even know where we’re going.”

“I know. I’ll do this, I won’t have to spend my night freaking out about my kid, and you don’t have to face them alone.”

“Reece...”