Page 40 of Don't Forget Me
Or the way he didn’t want to.
“This situation…” He pushed to his feet, looking down at her. “We say we’re going to be friends, but that doesn’t mean we know each other. In the real world, someone like you would—”
“Would what?” Now, it was her turn for anger, and he couldn’t blame her. He was a jerk, always had been a jerk. She shimmied the rest of the way onto the dock and stood, water dripping from every inch of her. She didn’t seem to notice as she stepped forward.
“It doesn’t matter.” He turned on his heel. “It’s nothing.” There was a distinct silence behind him as he walked up the small hill to the deck, climbing the steps and crossing the dark wooden planks before yanking the door open.
There was no escaping her, not when they were both trapped in this bizarre house.
Her footsteps sounded behind him, but he didn’t turn. “Don’t get the house soaked.” He cringed at his own words but didn’t have the nerve to take them back as he tried to make a break for his room, the one place that didn’t remind him of Stephen or of this girl he didn’t know.
But she followed him, using her foot to prevent the door from shutting. He looked from his blackout curtains to the lamp near the door and flipped it on.
Finally, he turned to find her standing in the doorway, water pooling at her feet as her chest heaved. “In my world, Nick, we don’t let things go unsaid. Because if they do…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but there was something sad about the words she said, the way she said them.
Nick wanted to reach out to her, to smooth the crease between her brows, to ease the tension in her shoulders. Each of those actions would have required a bravery he’d never had. Nick Jacobs, Hollywood superstar, didn’t confront the world. He hid from it.
Whatever courage he lacked reflected in Liz’s eyes, and he knew she was so much better than him, braver. This wasn’t a woman who ever did the easy thing. As she’d stated, she didn’t let words go unspoken.
“You can say it, Mr. Superstar.” Irritation coated her words. “People like me aren’t good enough to be friends with you. You aren’t the first person to think it, you know. You’re just the first to be so open.” Her jaw clenched. “But let me tell you something, you arrogant jerk, I am magnificent.” She lifted her chin. “You think this stupid coma is the worst thing to happen to me? You’re wrong. I’ve overcome so much worse. I am a single mother of two beautiful, kind children. I have survived the worst that life has to offer. My job might be beneath the likes of you, but when I’m not serving coffee to the doctors who save lives every single day, I take care of other people because unlike you, I know what I’m worth. It’s a whole heck of a lot, but it’s not more than anyone else. I—”
He didn’t know what he was going to do before his lips cut off the words spilling from hers. Every word she spoke made him need to feel her, to see how she could view the world through those beautiful eyes of hers.
She made a sound in the back of her throat, and he pulled away, thinking it was a protest.
One finger rose to touch her lips as her eyes met his. “Was that just to shut me up?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what it was.” It was the most honest thing he’d said to her.
“Why did you stop?”
“I don’t know that either.”
He stood frozen as she stepped toward him, moving one foot and then the other, not stopping until her chest bumped his and the cold water seeped into him.
She peered up at him through long lashes, and he got what he’d wished for before—the ability to study the shades of blue winding together in her honest gaze. The soft yellow glow of the single lamp held them in a halo of light, the only bright spot in a world of darkness.
“Nick?”
“Hmm?” It was the only sound he could get out.
“Just so you know… I still think this is a dream. You and I… we aren’t really here. None of this is real.”
He lifted a hand, tracing the curve of her jaw before brushing wet hair back from her face. “And what would you do in this dream?”
Indecision faded from her face as she rose on her toes, hesitating only a moment and fitting her lips to his. Her body shook, but Nick didn’t know if it was a shiver or something else.
Her kiss was warm where the rest of her was ice cold underneath his hands. As he kissed this girl he barely knew, all worries, all fears and thoughts of long-gone family raced from his mind, leaving room for only Liz.
He closed his eyes, letting himself feel every moment, every bit of pain that existed between them.
She’d been wrong before. He wasn’t going to tell her she wasn’t good enough. She was too good, too honest and open for the likes of him.
But he couldn’t keep himself from wanting to be right for her, for this moment to stretch out before them, giving him the hope he’d so rarely felt, the hope she seemed to exude with everything she did.
Liz had been through a lot in her life, and he didn’t yet know exactly what, but whatever it was made her into this person who smiled through the pain and wanted nothing more than to help others do the same.
His hands framed her face. If she was right, if this was a dream, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to end.
