Page 53 of Forbidden Kisses
Jack gently peeled one away. “He’s right. We should come clean with everyone. I’m tired of hiding. I like you. I want to date you, Grace.”
She slowly lowered her hands. “I like you, too.” A smile lined her very kissable mouth. He’d give his left nut to kiss her again right now.
He blew out a breath. “I’m glad we’re on the same page. Now let’s go see if we can catch one more fish for the day. Make you a pro before nightfall.”
She nodded, although she still looked as if she’d seen a ghost.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered, resisting the need to take her hand. “Everything will work out just right.”
But as he passed over to the front of the boat, something clenched his gut and he wasn’t so sure. Maybe he shouldn’t make promises that he couldn’t keep. Maybe this thing between them was destined to fail, no matter how much he wanted it to go forward.
Or maybe it was destined to work, which maybe scared him more.
—
Grace crawled into her bed later that night and pulled the covers over her. This was the first night in a long time that Jack wasn’t with her. Which was fine. She’d been with him all day and it’d been wonderful. And awful.
Pete Sawyer had caught them together. It wasn’t like he’d caught them with their clothes off—which would be exponentially worse—but still. Someone else knew their secret. Which made this thing between her and Jack real. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it to be real yet. There was some charm in living out her fantasies. In her experience, if the fantasy turned real, it usually quickly turned to shit.
Grace peered into the darkness of her bedroom. Despite her mother’s move, her apartment hadn’t felt lonely until now. Tonight, the quiet was piercing. Her brain was on and it wouldn’t shut up.
She got up and walked through the darkened hallway to get a glass of water. Stubbing her toe on the kitchen island’s corner, she cursed out loud. Then she froze at a sound behind her front door. Someone was out there. There was a bump against her door. And maybe someone rubbing against it?
Her breath and heart screeched to a halt inside her. She strained to see through the dark room. She should really get a night-light. And some mace. Maybe a baseball bat, too.
“Grace?” someone called behind the door. “Hey, sis?”
Grace released her breath. “Noah?” What was Noah doing here? She hurried to the door, fumbled with the lock, and yanked it open. Noah, leaning against the door, nearly tumbled over as she did. Judging by the smell of him, he’d been drinking. “What’s going on?”
“I’m drunk,” Noah confirmed, then laughed out loud. “Krista’s brother just dropped me off here because I need to talk to you, sis.”
“Okaaay.” Grace helped him to stand upright and ushered him inside her apartment. “How much did you drink?” she asked as he plopped down on her couch.
“A few.”
She took that to mean a few too many after the first few. She sat down beside him. “Is there a reason you went out and drank tonight? That’s not like you.”
He shook his head, then winced. “I’ll regret it in the morning. I know that.”
“Was Krista with you?”
He looked up. “She’s mad at me.”
“Oh.” Grace wondered if it had anything to do with the woman she’d seen Noah with the other night. The one he was too ready to ditch in order to take Grace home when she had a pretend headache. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“No, it’s my fault,” Noah said. “I was supposed to meet Krista for drinks tonight and I was late. Because I was buying drinks for another woman at the bar.”
“Oh,” Grace said, nodding to herself. Yeah, that would definitely upset her friend.
Noah looked over. “I’m not a complete jerk, though. Once I realized what time it was, I promptly told the woman goodbye and went to find Krista in the crowd. She’d already been waiting for forty-five minutes, though, and apparently a couple guys kept trying to buy her drinks and sit down with her.”
A laugh escaped Grace’s lips. “No wonder she’s mad.”
“It wouldn’t hurt her to allow a guy to buy her drinks once in a while. Anyway, she stormed off.”
“And you went back to the bar and continued drinking,” Grace said, filling in the blanks.
“Just a few. Can I get a glass of water?”
