Page 43 of Make Your Shot
My lips slow against hers, until we’re breaking apart, both of us coming up for air. I open my eyes,searching her face as she carefully lifts her own eyelids. Her gaze collides with mine, the moonlight shimmering on her glassy eyes once more. I untangle my fingers from her hair, releasing the back of her neck as her hands fall away from the back of my shirt.
My left hand lingers on her hip, my eyes traveling to her mouth and back to her eyes. I crossed a line by kissing her, but there isn’t a part of me that wants to take it back. “Mia,” I whisper, my voice breathless and hoarse, throat bobbing as I swallow hard.
As much as I don’t want to take it back, it doesn’t extinguish the guilt that suddenly compounds inside my chest. I can’t help but feel like I just betrayed the memory of my wife.
“It’s late,” she tells me, her voice soft. Her tongue darts out to wet her swollen lips. “I should probably head home.”
“Are you okay to drive home?”
I saw her with a drink during the game, although she doesn’t seem drunk or even like she’s under the influence. Then again, I don’t know. It’s a difficult thing for me—to keep my mind from flashing back to the accident.
The corners of her mouth twitch. “I am.”
Anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
“You’ll let me know that you get there safely?”
Her expression softens, emotion engulfing her eyes as she bobs her head up and down. “Yeah, of course.” She takes a step back and my hand falls away from her hip. Conflict mingles in her gaze as she stares at me for a moment. “Goodnight, Caleb.”
The muscles in my chest tighten. “Goodnight, Mia.”
She lingers for another second, her gaze still on me, her steps faltering before she quietly turns around, heading back into the house. There’s a part of me that wants to call to her, to tell her to stay. To do anything other than watch her walk away.
But I know I can’t.
Regret washes over me, but it’s not the kind I expected to feel. I regret the conflict in her eyes, as if I’m the one who put it there. The last thing I want is for her to feel bad about that kiss, because it was anything but a mistake.
She’s not the first woman I’ve kissed since my wife passed away, but she’s the first I didn’t pretend was her. She’s the first person I’ve kissed without a single thought of Amelia and the guilt begins to creep in along the edges of my heart. Guilt because not once did she cross my mind and in a way, it feels like I’m letting go of the memory of her.
I run a ragged hand through my hair, blowing out a breath as I tilt my head to look up at the sky. I have to let go of the guilt. I can’t betray someone who isn’t here. Kissing Mia wasn’t betraying Amelia’s memory, even if it feels like it is.
A commitment to someone else will never be on the table, but maybe exploring whatever these feelings are isn’t.
Even if it is with the one woman who should be off-limits.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MIA
Willow
How was last night with Steven? Did he behave himself?
Sitting cross legged on the end of my bed, I lift my fingertips to my lips, my mind reeling back to last night as I read over Willow’s message a second time. I’m transported back in time, back to the very moment when Caleb’s lips crashed into mine.
Even though we had almost kissed before that moment, it was still unexpected. The last thing I expected was for that incident with Steven to trigger a reaction like that from him.
He was good.
I had to leave early though, so I can only speak for him for the firsttwo periods.
What happened?
I had to go get Tella from Andi so she could head home.
Noah had the game on and I saw your man get into a fight.
My heart crawls into my throat as two words glare back at me.
