course they’re not.” While she had stopped a couple of steps up, he stood on the ground, putting them at eye level. This time, she was determined not to look away, no matter how his cop’s training would interpret her stare. No matter how shaky her reaction to his blue eyes left her feeling. “I accidentally bit my lip and it hurts. Not as much as your knee must, though, I’m sure.”
“I don’t need your pity, Andi.”
“That wasn’t pity. It was a not-very-smooth attempt to find out what happened.”
“Why? So you can fix it?”
“I never said—”
“You didn’t have to. There’s nothing wrong with me a few weeks of rest won’t cure. And maybe this.”
Before she could blink, he had cupped the back of her head as gently as he had cupped her cheek, urging her toward him. Once his mouth met hers, she had nothing but the memories of another time and another place and all the feelings that came with them.
For this one long, heart-stopping, teenager-in-lust-again moment, she loved Mitch Weston as desperately as she had the last day they had been together. She kissed him as desperately, too, without a thought for her tender lip or her obligations or anything but how she’d always felt when Mitch held her. He was broader now, sturdier, more muscled...and an even better kisser.
Reluctantly, she pulled herself together, resting her hands on his wide shoulders to anchor herself. No, to prepare herself. Finally, she pushed away.
Her legs trembling, she went down the rest of the steps, fighting the urge to raise her hand to her mouth. To touch the warmth he had left against her lips. To hold back the words she would not and couldn’t afford to say.
With unsteady hands, she smoothed her hair as she attempted to catch her breath. “Are you crazy? It’s broad daylight and we’re out here in the open and anyone could have seen us. I told you I don’t want to fix you.” Liar. “So just what was that supposed to prove?”
“I thought it might help speed the healing.”
“Of my lip?”
“No, my knee.” His chest rose, as if he were struggling with his breathing, too. He gave her a crooked smile. “All right, that was also to prove you haven’t forgotten me any more than I’ve forgotten you.”
“Maybe I haven’t. They say you never forget your—” first love “—first kiss. But I’ve had other kisses since then.”
He whistled. “That’s cold, Andi.”
“That’s the truth.”
“All of it?”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“C’mon, don’t play dumb with me.” His laugh sounded strained. “You kissed me back just now.”
“Like I had a choice?”
“We always have choices.” For a moment, his face hardened and his eyes looked bleak.
“I don’t think so. Not always.” He was remembering their past. Good. She wouldn’t have to lay things out for him. And hopefully, once she had finished here, she would never again have to face a sneak attack on her pitifully weak defenses. “When I left you that summer, it wasn’t my decision. But I am making the choice to walk away now.”
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