Page 104 of Banter & Blushes

“No, not at all. Quite the opposite.” I resist the temptation to pull her against me because I don’t want to influence her decision. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone so fast before, Mia. But I don’t intend to start something with you that doesn’t have a future. If my team moves, I have to move with them.”

She studies me for a moment, then surprises me by closing the distance between us and pressing a kiss to my lips. “I think you deserve an entire sheet of stickers.”

I laugh softly. “Why?”

“Because you are the kindest, sweetest man I’ve ever met.”

“I think I’d rather have another kiss.”

“That can be arranged.”

But I stop her when she tries to kiss me again. “If we do this, we might regret it later.”

“Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?”

I cup her face, falling for her more and more by the second. “Is this love?”

The warmth flooding her blue eyes washes over me like the waves lapping at our feet. “I’d like to find out, Ethan.”

The sincerity of her tone rocks me. “And if I have to move?”

“We’ll figure things out.”

I lean in and kiss her, starting soft, just a brush of lips, before deepening it with a need that catches me off guard. And she meets me every step with her own.

She’s right.

Whatever comes, we’ll figure it out.

CHAPTER 16

MIA

“Do you think this is a good idea?” Sophie pins me with a pointed stare that makes me squirm in my seat at the restaurant. Just like we do every Saturday morning, we’re sitting at the window table at the Last Bean, drinking coffee and eating pastries while we people watch.

I point to Mr. Brady and his little Chihuahua named Penny, whose tiny legs move so fast they’re a blur. “Oh, look, Penny has a pink bandana around her neck today.”

I’m not above diversion tactics, especially when I don’t want to answer a question. And I really don’t want to acknowledge Sophie’s because I know what she’ll say.

Because I’m already thinking the same thing. This is crazy. And I’ll probably wind up bawling on her couch at some point, missing Ethan and wishing the universe would get with the program and make things work out for us.

Over the last two weeks, we’ve spent every evening together, going out for dinner and then walking on the beach at sunset. One evening, when I had too much work to catch up on, he came over and helped me grade papers by reading them out loud when my eyes grew too tired to make sense of any more second-grade scrawl.

I sigh. “I don’t know how to answer that, Soph.”

“Because you already know it’s crazy.” She says this without judgment, just compassion.

“Maybe, but all I can think about is how I’d always wonder what could have been between us if we never even tried.”

She doesn’t say anything. Just nods and sips her coffee.

“I could find another teaching job.” I throw the statement out, verbalizing what I’ve only fleetingly considered.

Sophie’s big eyes widen, making her look like an anime character. “But you waited forever to find the position you have, Mia. And you’ve worked so hard to establish your classroom.”

“I could do it again.”

She considers me for a moment. “Is that something you’d really consider doing?”

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