Page 12 of Lovers at Seaside
“Fine,” she snapped. “I was admiring you. Okay?”
His lips curved up in a gratified smile. “Fine with me.”
“Of course it is. Just tell me this—do you kiss all your friends?”
He shrugged and shifted a brief, serious stare to her before returning his attention to the road. “Don’t you?”
Unexpected disappointment gripped her. “No, I don’t kiss all my friends. Not that I have that many, but…No. That’s weird. Why would you do that?” She should shut up, but her brain was spinning and her pulse was racing, making it impossible for her to keep anything inside. “That felt like an intimate kiss. A lover’s kiss, not a friendly kiss. I don’t even kiss like that when I’m acting.”
He chuckled, which infuriated her.
“You’relaughingat me?”
“Relax,” he said so casually she wanted to slap him.
She was too busy fuming over the idea of him kissing other women to say a word.
“You never askedhowI kiss my friends.”
She scoffed but couldn’t suppress her relief. “You’re a big pain in the butt.”
“Probably so. If you’re asking if I kiss my friends the way I kissed you, the answer is no. That was a kiss reserved for only myspecialfriends.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of which you probably have a harem.”
He opened his mouth to respond, and she held up her hand, silencing him.
“Don’t say a word. I don’t want to know.”
He shrugged again. “You did great in there with Abe, by the way.”
“Why didn’t you stop me from going in?”I hate the idea of you kissing other women!
“Because youneededto do it.”
“Right.” He had no idea what she needed; that much was clear. “There is no way I’m going back tomorrow. That was so stressful. No stinking way. Never.”
“Yes, you are. Tomorrow, same time, just as he asked.”
“No, I’m not. You don’t know me very well yet. I’mnotgoing back.”
“I know you well enough.”
She picked that apart as they drove back to her house. He had gotten a pretty blatant glimpse of her losing her mind last night, but that didn’t mean heknewher. And she’d told him about Bert, and he knew she had a big slobbery dog, which not many people knew. But that wasn’t really knowing her, either, was it? She cringed inwardly, recalling that he’d also seen her morph into her actress persona. Okay, so maybe he’d gotten a fairly good glimpse at parts of her, but still. He didn’tknowher.
He pulled the car into the garage, and before she could gather her thoughts, and her bag, he opened her door and offered a hand to help her out. The designs he’d had with him earlier were in his other hand. She’d totally forgotten about them.
She looked at his outstretched hand, realizing she was as attracted to the gentleman in him as she was to the stubborn guy who’d jumped in her car and the possessive man who’d taken her in that incredible first kiss in the elevator and pressed her against the wall.Oh, that was nice. You felt so goo—
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Friends help friends from cars. You overthink everything, don’t you?”
“No.”You just get me all hot and bothered.She snagged the keys from his hand and unlocked the door to the house, hoping he couldn’t tell that she was still having trouble cooling her jets.
Christmaswoofedand bounded over. She loved him up, kissed the center of his big head. He pushed from her hands and lunged at Grayson. Grayson laughed as Christmas’s paws landed on his chest. Why did seeing him with her dog make her heart go all sorts of crazy?
“Hey, buddy. I missed you, too.” He let Christmas lick his face, and her heart melted even more. Christmas gave him one last lick and trotted out to the yard.
Grayson followed her into the house. “Overthinking. That’s why you’re always making design changes. It’ll hold you back.”
