Page 6 of Sunday

I chuckled and grabbed another strip of bacon, but he grabbed my wrist and stared at me. My body grew warm and flush at his touch, but when I looked up and saw him staring into my eyes, my inner thighs squeezed together.

“What?”

“Tell me what’s on your mind. Don’t say it’s not anything either, Sunny. You can tell me anything.”

I sighed and set the bacon down. I grabbed my spoon and scooped up some cheese grits.

“You,” I mumbled before shoving them in my mouth too.

“What about me?”

I waited until after he chewed his pancakes so that I didn’t cause him to choke or anything. My eyes dropped to his full, heart-shaped lips, and a tingle spread all over my body as I recalled what they felt like.

“The kiss we shared at Tiff’s wedding. We need to talk about it.”

Cedar grabbed the carafe of juice and poured him some.

“What about it?”

His tone was gruff, and he wouldn’t make eye contact anymore.

“I mean, I know that it was for the sake of your family and the deejay basically calling us out?—”

“He called everyone out.”

“Right, but people were already out on the floor doing what they were going to do, including Taylor and Monica.”

At the mention of his ex-wife’s name and her girlfriend, thunder clouds rolled across Cedar’s dark, handsome face. Those deep-set, chestnut brown eyes narrowed even tighter than they were, and his broad nostrils flared wider than before.

“Listen, I’m sorry. I know that I asked you to act like my girl that day, and I shouldn’t have dragged you into that shit. I should have stood my ground with my mama and my aunts like I always do, refusing to allow them to set me up with anyone. I should have been more courageous in facing Taylor. You didn’t deserve that.”

He genuinely looked remorseful, and it caused me to pause for a minute, but I plowed ahead. I reached out and touched his hand. I made tiny circles with my thumb on the back of it and stared at the veins and tattoos on his large hand.

“It wasn’t about whether I deserved it or not, Cedar. You did nothing wrong. In fact, I liked it.”

Cedar scratched the back of his neck before he resumed eating.

“Honestly, I thought you liked it too. Just the way that you reacted to me, the look in your eyes, the way your body . . .” I broke off, not wanting to mention that I noticed his erection when he kissed me.

“It was a kiss, Sunny. Don’t make it into more.”

“I know what it was.”

Frustration and impatience filled me because he was being so damn nonchalant and stubborn. I knew that he knew what the hell I was talking about.

“What are you getting at, Sunny? It was a kiss. It happened for the benefit of my family, and it was over with just like that. It hasn’t happened again.”

“Yeah, but . . . I kind of wanted it too. And I think you did too. Like, when we kissed, it didn’t feel like two friends acting. It felt like more. I know that you felt it too, Cedar.”

He sighed and pushed his chair back. I watched as he grabbed his mostly full plate and took it to the trash.

I jumped up and followed him. “Why are you throwing that food away?”

“Not hungry.”

“Why? Because I mentioned the kiss?”

He sighed and turned to face me full-on. “What is it that you want from me, Sunny?”

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