Page 59 of His Temptation
The brush of our fingers sends electricity buzzing through me. I wish I could pull her against me and get a taste of her lips. It hasn't been a week, and I miss them.
She turns away quickly. I wonder if she felt it too.
“I need to call my brother first,” she tells me.
“How are things going with him? Is he adjusting okay to you staying out and working longer hours?” I ask, suddenly worried I’ve occupied too much of her time.
She smiles. “No, he tells me I’ve hovered over him enough. He likes the space. He joined a basketball team and even asked me to stop calling him by his nickname.”
“You don’t look too thrilled about that,” I point out as she grabs her phone out of her purse.
“It’s just hard to see him growing up. I know I need to let him, but it’s been the two of us since our parents died. I’ll be right back.”
She leaves the room to call her brother, and I take a seat on my couch. My hands are sweating. Shit, why am I so nervous? I feel like I’m about to ask a girl to prom. What am I exactly planning on doing here? Am I going to ask her to … date me?
She comes back in the room a minute later and takes a seat next to me. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem. Is he okay?” I ask.
“Yes, he’s fine. He said he’s tired from basketball. He’s just going to eat some leftover pizza and head to bed.”
“Glad to hear it.” I take a sip of wine and watch her.
She sits stiffly in front of me as her fingers tap against her glass impatiently. She won’t look at me, but I can’t take my eyes off of her. The space between us feels tense but also charged with heat.
“I’m sorry,” I find myself saying, not able to really remember the last time I apologized to anyone other than this woman.
She finally looks over at me. “You could have apologized outside of the bar. You didn’t need to do that here. Why’d you drag me all the way to your place?”
“I suppose it was a selfish motivation. I just saw you with him and needed to get you away from there.”
“What I do and who I do it with is none of your business,” she snaps.
I wince at her words, but she’s right. It’s not my business. Not anymore.
“I thought I was doing the right thing—ending things between us. I thought it would be easier.”
“And is it?” she asks softly.
“No,” I answer reluctantly. “It’s not easier.”
She shakes her head but doesn’t say anything back. We sit in silence and drink our wine.
“I didn’t realize I’d feel this way,” I whisper eventually.
She looks over at me. “What way?”
I meet her eyes. “I didn’t know I’d like you.”
“Like me? Like me, as in you don’t mind having me around?”
“More than that. I caught feelings. It took me by surprise. When I realized it, I got spooked and ended it.”
Her eyes open wide. “You have feelings for me?”
I chuckle softly as I look down into my wineglass as a distraction for talking about something that makes me so uneasy. “You seem so surprised.”
“I didn’t know you were capable of feelings.”
