Page 40 of Feels Like the First Time
“On your hands?” He met her gaze. “When did you become so jumpy around me?”
When I asked you to be my pretend boyfriend and you agreed.“It’s been a long night.”
God, it was worse than she thought. He had only been trying to hold her hand and she jumped out of her skin. “And since when did holding your hand become part of the deal?”
He smiled. “When you put on that dress.” His smile faded. “And I warned you, I was handsy. And the way you avoid my touch isn’t convincing anyone of anything, other than you don’t like to hold hands.”
He reached over and gently set his hand on hers. Warm, sturdy, strong. Ali felt her breathing slow. “See,” he said, “not so bad.”
“Not bad.” More like wonderful.
He linked their fingers and pulled her hand into his lap and her breath hitched. “Easy there, I’m taking it slow.”
“What would you do if you were taking it fast?”
“Why don’t we start with basics.” He flipped her hand over and slowly began to rub it. Little soothing, body-melting circles into her palm. “When a man and a woman like each other, they hold hands.”
“They also don’t hide up on the roof.”
He ignored this. “And when they’re dating”—he brought her hand to his lips—“they do more than hold hands. And if we want anyone downstairs to believe we are dating, you have to work with me, sunshine.”
Ali knew how to play her part; she’d been doing it her entire life. And for him to blame her, when he was the one who disappeared, fired her up. So before she lost her nerve, or good sense kicked in, Ali pulled at the collar of his shirt and tugged him close.
“Like this?” she challenged, and pressed her mouth to his.
She wasn’t sure what she expected to come from it, other than teach him a lesson, but she never imagined he’d sit there and do nothing.
Talk about humiliating, for one long terrifying moment, he didn’t move. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that he hadn’t jumped off the ledge either. But when she opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his eyes wide with shock, she considered jumping off the ledge.
She pulled back to say, “Kidding, ha-ha, you should have seen the look on your face,” when Hawk let loose a rough, incredibly manly groan, then took their kiss from a dare to hot-damn with one slip of the tongue.
And man, he wasn’t kidding about his A-game. The guy knew how to kiss a girl silly. He wasn’t a sprinter, more of a going-the-distance kind of kisser. The kind that could last all night long and be over too fast at the same time. He kissed as if he’d been thinking about kissing all night long, and there was nothing else he’d rather be doing.
He felt strong and reassuring, tasted like hot summer nights and long-forgotten dreams, and touched her as if she was precious. Special.
His choice.
“Ali,” he said, and she realized that her name had never sounded so sexy. She thought about telling him, asking him to say it again. Maybe, while taking off her dress. But he was kissing her again and she didn’t want to be rude and interrupt.
Thiswas so much more than she’d hoped, yet it was exactly what she needed. If this was his way of being right, then she’d never worry about being wrong again.
“Ali,” he said again, his tone one of reluctance. And even though she wanted to tell him that she wasn’t flinching anymore, she pulled back.
“I don’t think I flinched,” she said, pleased that his breathing was as ragged as hers. “Did I?”
“I’m not sure.” His lips came down on her hard and fast, pulling away with equal speed and leaving her spinning. “Nope, no flinching, and just in time.”
“There you are,” Bridget said from behind and Ali let go of Hawk’s hand and sprang to her feet. “It’s just like when you were kids, I could always count on you guys hiding out up here,” she said as if she had just walked in on them playing a game of Quarters and not Seven Minutes in Heaven. “Let me guess, you’re seeing who can make the most rocks on Mr. Beamon’s shop roof.”
“Bottle tops,” Ali said, holding up the bottle. “What’s up?”
“Jamie is here and Mom wanted me to get you since we’re about to start Couples Trivial Pursuit,” Bridget said, and Ali could only imagine her sister’s horror at reading the questions.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll tell Mom that we are playing something else,” Ali said, dreadingthatconversation with her mom, but knowing that as the maid of honor, and Bridget’s sister, it was her job to make sure things like this didn’t happen.
Bridget’s eyes darted between the two of them. Smile at full wattage, she said, “Why would I want to cancel the game? It sounds fun.”
“Have you seen the questions sheet?” Ali asked, being purposefully vague for Hawk’s sake.
“Of course,” she laughed. “That’s why I came up to grab you. I couldn’t imagine that walk down memory lane without you guys.”
Funny, Ali couldn’t imagine playing that game with Hawk, knowing it would dredge up a lot of mixed emotions for him. For all of them.
He’d worked hard to move forward, and with one lie, Ali had pulled him right back into the past.
