“So is this.”
She had him there. He supposed they both had run away to rid themselves of the memories they shared. “Right.”
They both went back to playing with their food. Felicity shifted in her chair. “When did you get a dog?”
“About five years ago. Grams got her for me after...” Crud. There they were again talking about the past. He finished with a lame, “You know.”
She stuck a forkful of fish in her mouth and looked at the sconce on the wall. Her way of shutting him out, apparently.
“This isn’t going well, is it?” He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth.
“I’m sorry. Maybe we have too much baggage to try to do this.” She gave him a pity smile.
The words pricked at his chest. He set his napkin on the table. “Maybe you’re right.” He motioned to her plate. “Are you done?”
“Yes.”
They stood and awkwardly stared at each other before Felicity turned and started toward the door. He joined her. As they walked, he put his hand on the small of her back out of habit, and a flood of memories came rushing back to him, along with an attraction that almost knocked him down. It zinged up his arm and he pulled his hand quickly away.
When they got outside, Felicity turned to him. “I’m sorry...for everything.”
Aiden still reeled from the brief physical contact. He wanted to touch her again. Wanted to pull her close and breathe in the scent of her hair. But he couldn’t. “I know.” He swallowed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Me too.”
Neither of them spoke for a moment as the sounds of the night filled the air. A light breeze blew a strand of her hair into her face. Without thinking, he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. He should have kept his hand in his pocket. Even the briefest contact with her skin sent electricity through him. He should have moved his hand away, but instead, he allowed his thumb to brush over her cheek. The memory of the last time he’d kissed her surfaced. They had been standing in the moonlight. Like tonight. She stared up at him, her deep brown eyes silently pleading with him.
He removed his hand and swallowed back the emotions surging in him. He couldn’t touch her. He couldn’t let his heart fall back in love with Felicity. She broke it once. A second time and he wouldn’t live through it.
“Good night, Felicity,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Bye,” she whispered.
He watched her walk down the path until the night swallowed her up.
Chapter 4
Felicity’s fingerstrembled as she slid her key card and entered the villa. All Aiden had done was touch her cheek, briefly at that, and it had sent her heart into a frenzy. Her senses came alive. It threw her right back to five years ago, when she couldn’t imagine loving anyone more than she loved Aiden.