Page 38 of Your Kiss Is On My List

“That’s right—I haven’t seen her over here this week,” Bane says. Then he shrugs.

“That’s cold,” Nate says. I ignore it all because what can I say? Bane laughs.

“You’re an idiot. Anyone can see they’re meant to be.” Bane stares at his cards a second then throws them down and looks up at me. “Whatever little tiff they’re having now is temporary.” He says it with such confidence that I actually get a lift, a twitch in my chest acknowledging the well of hope in me isn’t dead. Fuck. I snort a laugh, but I make no comment. No chance even if I had something to say because the back door crashes open then and Lou and Dani spill inside bringing a wave of heady feminine energy with them, disrupting whatever we have wavering around the kitchen, uneasiness, apathy, anticipation, ennui, you name it, but nothing like the jerk of upbeat excitement that takes over now.

To look at her, to feel her presence is to want her. According to the attention of my dick, very badly. And here we go again with another round of hiding the salami from the innocent virgin, to save her from … Fuck. I don’t want to save her. I want to adore her, worship her body, let my emotions go where they want to go, where they’ve always wanted to go since that first kiss.

Something stopped me then and I have a feeling it was more than her response, because if I’m honest, I can tell she’s into me, just like Nate said.

Then what the hell am I afraid of? What’s stopping me?

The image that pops into my head now is the last thing I expect. It’s of her the day of the bloody accident, staring at me with such compassion when everything else around me was a horror show of chaos. I locked onto her in that moment and then when I got back from the hospital and everything went to hell because Corey died, I continued to hold onto her as my stabilizing force because she made it easy, visited me every single fucking day it seemed.

She saved me as much as dad and mom. Dani and I are irrevocably bonded over the most horrific thing I’ve ever experienced, so maybe it’s that bond that’s keeping us together, but also keeping us apart. Because she’s a reminder of the horror.

Or maybe I need to get over it, need to absorb it and deal, tell people about it, more than Nate. I guess her fucking profile will take care of that for me. Maybe that’s why I’m letting her do it. Maybe that’s why she wants to do it. She’s a very smart young woman. Scary smart.

We go to hang out in the living room and watch TV because I can’t bring myself to invite them up to my room.

“What shit are you making me watch?”

“The Bachelor,” Lou says. “Watch you may learn something.”

“Don’t torture him, Lou. Remember he’s a good big brother,” Dani says and winks. We’re all standing in front of the giant TV and Lou has the clicker, as usual, so we’re doomed.

“Me torture him? You should talk. Go sit down, the two of you and I’ll take care of this.” She pushes us forcefully for a pipsqueak, but she’s always been feisty and with one last shove pushes me backwards into the old recliner that tips back when I hit the edge and I sit abruptly.

Then she pushes Dani into my lap and she falls back just as abruptly, but I catch her in my arms to cushion her landing. Dani’s laughing and I’m too busy basking in the feel of her in my arms to be mad at Lou. She sits on the couch nearby and turns up the volume.

“And don’t you dare get up,” she says to Dani who’s about to say something and ends up laughing again. I whisper to her.

“It’s okay. We can appease her. This once.” Dani turns to me and I give her a playful smile, feeling my flirting juices rise and my pulse pick up.

“Fine with me.” She wiggles her brows and settles in so she’s comfortable sitting across my lap in the crook of my shoulder with my arm wrapped around her. I could watch anything on TV sitting like this and I wonder if it’s Lou’s reason for pushing us together. But frankly, at the moment I don’t give a damn.

Flesh Out conversation. About TV program

“Wouldn’t that be a fabulous date,” Lou says about the Bachelor though I’m not paying attention to the show. “If a guy took me to dinner on a yacht, I might fall for him.” I scoff.

“You would never fall for something so obvious,” I say.

“Sure I would. How about you Dani? Isn’t that a dream date?” Dani looks at me.

“No, I’m more like a take me for a walk under the stars kind of girl.” The way she’s looking at me I can see the stars in her eyes and my chest tightens impossibly. My arm around her draws her closer.

“That’s something I could get into,” I whisper for her ears only and get rewarded with a sultry look. Shit. My dick is starting to take this flirtation seriously, no matter how unsure my head is whether it’s serious or not.

One of the guys comes in the front door and walks through the room then. “Hey it looks like you two are back together—great.”

Before I can say anything in response, Dani’s phone pings and she jumps.

“Let me check that.” She squirms in my lap as she retrieves the phone from her pocket, giving me an accidental lap-dance and encouraging my dick into determined alertness.

“It’s a text from my dad.” She looks at me, excitement dancing in her eyes, but she doesn’t read it.

“Aren’t you going to read it?”

“Should I? Now?” There’s apprehension mixed with her excitement.