exploded in her head. Heat raced through her body. And the shield around her heart thawed and cracked as she recognised on an instinctive level that this kiss meant more than she could have possibly imagined.
She’d fooled herself into thinking she hadn’t missed him all these years. She’d been wrong. So wrong.
This was much more than a kiss, this timeless melding of two souls meant to be together, a kiss filled with hope and new beginnings. Gentle yet forceful, giving yet demanding, he kissed her with a precision that took her breath away.
As he cradled her head, his lips grazing hers with slow, seductive skill, she knew the explosion of mind-numbing need flowing through her had little to do with expertise and everything to do with the potent attraction still simmering between them after all this time.
They’d always been like this together. Lightning-fast, combustible sparks shooting between them: quick, hot, magical.
‘You’re smiling.’ He broke the kiss to pull back and look at her. ‘Either it means you’re really happy or my kissing technique needs a bit of work.’
Reaching up to lay a hand against his cheek, she smiled. ‘Your kissing technique is as good as ever.’
‘Okay, then, glad we got that sorted.’
His confident grin told her he knew exactly how talented he was in the kissing department and had probably been fishing for compliments.
‘You shaved.’ She ran her fingertips over his jaw, skimming the smooth skin, irrationally missing the stubble she loved so much.
‘You know it’s a lost cause. I’ll have half a beard again by the end of the night.’
‘I like it,’ she murmured, replacing her fingertips with her lips, grazing his cheek in the lightest, barest of kisses, inhaling deeply as she did so, her memory dancing with joy in recognition of his fresh, addictive scent.
‘You still have the power to drive me crazy.’
He turned his head a fraction to slant his mouth across hers in a slow, soul-drugging kiss that had her clinging to his shirt as if she was floundering out of her depth in a sea of desire.
‘So what are you going to do about it?’
She broke the kiss with reluctance, her body telling her to go for it, her head telling her to take things slowly before they got in too deep too quickly.
‘How about we take it each day at a time?’
‘Each day, huh?’
Wriggling back on the sofa to put a little distance between them—she couldn’t think straight with his overpowering masculine presence in her personal space—she decided to give it to him straight.
‘I don’t want you to think me moving in here is agreeing to give us another chance. I’m not ready for that, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready. I understand your rationale for leaving, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it or what it did to us. You did what you thought was right at the time, but everything has changed now. I’ve changed…’ If he only knew how…
She shook her head, trying to read the expression on his face, coming up empty. ‘So if you’re happy to hang out as friends while I’m here that’s fine, but I’m not making any promises, okay?’
Something dark and mysterious shifted in his eyes before they crinkled at the corners, his smile a welcome sign he didn’t think she was completely batty.
‘Phew, that was some speech you just made. Don’t hold back or anything, will you?’
‘You know blunt is my middle name.’
‘Honesty is good,’ he said, but as his gaze dipped to where they held hands, she knew he was hiding something.
She’d worked in the hospitality industry her whole life, first in her parents’ coffee shop in Rainbow Creek, now in the Niche, and if there was one skill she’d developed besides making a great latte it was reading people.
Since he’d strolled into the Niche, he’d been nothing but open and straightforward, always meeting her eye, so what was with the sudden shift? Guess she’d soon find out, considering she’d agreed to live with him till her apartment was done.
Sheer and utter madness, yet she hadn’t felt this alive in a long, long time.
‘So you want to hang out with me, huh?’
His eyes gleamed with anticipation and she wondered if she’d imagined the whole evasion thing a second ago.
Tilting her chin, she flicked her hair over her shoulder, delighting in his tortured expression. ‘Absolutely.’
Leaning closer, he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper and crooked his finger at her. ‘Well, here’s a thought.’
Smiling, she cupped a hand around her ear. ‘I’m listening.’
‘How about a date?’
‘Friends don’t date. And, besides, you’re pushing your luck, seeing as I’m already taking you to dinner.’
He laughed and capturing her hand, dragged it away from her ear to place a soft, hot kiss on her palm. The urge to curl her fingers over it was beyond tempting.
‘Dinner’s about this strong-willed woman demanding she pay me for services rendered. So, the way I see it, a date has the potential to be something else entirely.’
She gulped as a sizzle of anticipation licked along her veins, her pulse picking up speed in pace with her hopes.
Blane had the potential to light up her life again, to give her the buzz she’d been craving since he’d walked out a lifetime ago.
So why was she hesitating?
Kids.
It always came down to her inability to conceive and the ramifications of what that might have on any relationship she’d be foolish enough to enter. Though there was more to it this time, and she knew it.
Was it possible that, deep down, she knew letting him into her life for any length of time could tempt her to want more? Maybe have a marriage for real this time, despite what she couldn’t give him?
The thought terrified her, and her stomach backflipped with dread that she might be silly enough to make the same mistake twice.
But she wasn’t silly. She wasn’t the same person anymore. This time, maybe she’d get to have her tiramisu and eat it, too.
Leaping up from the sofa, she pulled him up with her. ‘Come on, let’s go have that dinner I owe you.’
He laughed. ‘Why the rush?’
‘The sooner we eat the sooner you get to convince me why I should let you take me out on a date.’
Smiling, he picked her up and whirled her around, and she flung her head back and laughed, relishing this amazing, carefree feeling.
