Page 24 of A Beginner's Guide to Forever
“I have to go,” I blurt, and my shaky legs begin moving before I even know where I’m headed.
I make a wrong turn, though, and end up in a small alcove with a bronze statue resting on a pedestal.
Hart appears, his expression troubled. “Why do you keep running away from me?”
I’m quiet and look down at the floor between our feet.
“It’s not the usual effect I have on women.”
I meet his eyes with a smirk. “You don’t datewomen. You dategirls.”
“Exactly.”
He lifts my chin with the press of his fingers to my jaw. We kiss again—slowly, leisurely. The touch of his tongue to mine stirs something inside me. He places his hands on my hips and draws me a step closer.
“I need to get back,” I say, fighting to catch my breath. Kissing him is like being thrown in the deep end.
“Okay,” he says softly.
We walk through the gallery, back in the direction we came from.
“What else did you do today?”
He shrugs. “Besides piss off my father? Just the gallery.”
My brow creases. “How did you piss off your father?”
His voice drops lower, and he leans closer. “He’s having an affair. I found out last year. I keep pushing him to end it.”
“Oh.” I blink at him. “That sounds ... complicated.”
“Yes,” he agrees. “He and my mother are trying to work through it.”
“Will she leave him?” It’s not any of my business, but I am interested, curious.
He weighs the question, then shrugs. “I’m not sure. Winthrops don’t often get divorced.” He smirks ironically. “It’s too expensive ... and too newsworthy.”
Theirs is certainly a world I’m not familiar with. But it’s not lost on me the way we move with ease from topic to topic, laughing one minute and then sharing secrets the next.
When we reach my hotel, Hart opens the car door and steps out with me.
“Are you going to invite me in?” he asks, bemused.
Emotion swirls inside me.
It’s easy to be confused around him. When I was back in my hotel room, I was more clearheaded. No, I could absolutely not, under any circumstances, date a twenty-five-year-old. But here, in his presence, that feels shakier, like absolutes don’t matter and the only thing that does matter is the crackling chemistry between us.
Finding common sense, I shake my head.
He chuckles. “I didn’t think so.”
It’s funny to think he knows me already even though we haven’t spent that much time together.
“Where are you off to next?” he asks.
“My friend Scarlet that I told you about convinced me to come home and go to her baby shower.”
“Back to California?”
