Page 35 of The Summer I First Saw You
“I’m not swooning overhim. I’m swooning over the way he kissed her. It’s romantic—the way he did it. The way he grabbed her face and held it.”
“You just made the case for him to be tried for assault,” Harrison says. “I’ve never kissed a woman like that in my life.”
I shoot him a pointed look, a single brow arched. “Maybe that explains some things. Do not ruin this for me.”
He’s silent. He’s probably creating a list of felonies he’d like to charge Ryan Gosling with.
Or maybe he’s hurt.
Did I go too far with mymaybe that explains some thingsbullshit? Of course I did. The man just got dumped and is probably still looking for an explanation, which I just provided with my big fucking mouth. “I’m—”
“What makes it romantic?” he asks before I can even get an apology out. His voice is quieter, slightly uncertain. He hitspause.
I curl up, tucking my feet beneath me as I face him. “It’s…possessive. It’s like he’d die before he’d let anyone come between them. You place your hand on a woman’s hip when you kiss her and it’s sort of like you’re just trying something out. You don’t know how it will go; you might change your mind; you’re not sure about what you want.Thatkiss? With his hands cradling her face? It’s committed. He wants her, and he doesn’t give a damn if the whole world knows.”
“So, is that what you’re holding out for?” He nods toward the screen. “Someone who basically assaults you, but it’s okay because it shows hecares?”
I snatch the remote and turn back toward the TV. “I’m not holding out for anything. I’m done with men.”
He raises a brow.
“Before you get all excited, I’m not saying I’m a lesbian either.”
He does, in fact, look a bit disappointed.
I shrug. “It’s all not worth the effort. Love isn’t and sexdefinitelyisn’t. Why should I risk pregnancy and disease so some idiot who can’t even find my clit gets off? I can find it myself in way less time.”
His exhale is audible, as if I’ve punched the air out of him. “Ostensibly,” he says, crossing the room to the liquor cabinet, “there’s a little more to it than that. And you choose a man who knows what he’s doing.”
He’s nursed one bourbon through the whole movie but now fills his glass to the brim and remains there while he slams it.When he finally returns, he’s carrying the whole bottle with him.
Apparently, I’ve driven him to drink.
19
HARRISON
Iwake with my head pounding. For a moment, I’m puzzled, remembering only a very wholesome evening with Daisy in which we ate dinner together and watched a violent movie.
Oh. Right.
The end of our wholesome evening hits me like a ton of bricks:
Daisy talking about how no one could find her clit.
Daisy saying, “I can find it myself in way less time.”
And the raving lunatic inside me who wanted to say, “I could find your clit. I could make you come so hard you wouldn’t be able to form words.”
Fuck. I probably drank half a bottle of bourbon in the hour after that.
It’s ridiculous, of course. There’s no way that lush little Daisy with her curves, and her husky voice, and her habit of making everything sound filthy isn’t going to find a man who turns her inside out. Everything about her begs you to try.
But it’s disgusting how badly I want to be one of the lucky pricks who gives it a shot.
I’m packingup my stuff Monday afternoon, eager to get home by high tide, when Aaron Baker, the managing partner, walks in.
“You off to a meeting?” he asks.
