Page 108 of Just Like Home

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I do think she was really happy here. She met Connor a few months later, and they dreamed up this studio together. She had a great life, one I really don’t think she would’ve traded.”

“Really?” Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears, as if she needed the assurance for herself.

“Really.”

She looked away, giving him ample time to study the curve of her shoulders, the slant of her nose, the smoothness of her skin.

She looked up at him.

Caught.

And yet, he couldn’t look away. A tear slid down her cheek, and instinctively, he reached over and wiped it away with his thumb. Their eyes met and he pulled his hand away. “Sorry.”

She gave her head a slight shake. “It’s okay.”

Neither of them moved for several seconds, held in place by an unnamed, invisible force. His gaze dipped to her lips, then back to her wide eyes, which seemed to be watching him a little too intently.

What would she do if he kissed her right now? Her lips were right there, full and so inviting. He pressed his own lips together, searching for common sense to talk him out of it, but his mind was empty.

“Well, I should go,” she said after several seconds.

Her words snapped him back to reality, and he took a step back. “Tomorrow, then.”

“Yep,” she said.

He hurried off, simultaneously feeling like a first-class idiot and the luckiest man in the world.

After all, he had a standing date with a woman more interesting than anyone he’d met in a long time, and even though nothing could ever come of it, it gave him something to look forward to.

Seeing Charlotte would be the highlight of his day.

And that was as terrifying as it was exciting.

32

Charlotte drove home without checking her voicemail, without turning on any music, without making a sound.

Had she and Cole just had a moment?

Her heart had been beating so loud and so fast she could hardly breathe, and if that had been a scene in a movie, she would’ve been the girl on her couch chanting, “Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Something inside her had shifted toward Cole the instant he handed her those flowers. Why had he done that? Was he trying to get on her good side?

But that moment they’d shared only minutes ago had nearly done her in.

Dancing with him had been utterly unnerving. The way he smelled, the way he held her, the way he moved—all of it was new and different—and so was the effect it had on her.

She’d fall asleep replaying the moment on the sidewalk. Never mind that she’d ruined it. What would’ve happened if she hadn’t said anything? If she hadn’t backed away?

What she wouldn’t give to find out.

She’d played a role the whole time, the role of an in-charge dance instructor, but truth be told, it was an act. Inside, her nerves seemed to be having a party.

Her skin tingled when he touched her. What was that about? And not just that either. Her heart raced when she tried to talk to him. Maybe because he wasn’t quick to respond. Instead, he watched her with such intensity it set her completely off-kilter.

He was terribly handsome, unfairly so, and she got the impression that if he’d ever known that about himself, he’d forgotten it now.

Something about him was broken. Something inside, maybe deep inside, and she wondered if he had any idea what it was or how to fix it.

---