“It was just a kiss.”
When he’d left on Monday night, I’d been five seconds away from inviting him inside and into my bed. He hadn’t pushed when I’d put a stop to things. Thank goodness. I would have given in.
The kiss had been . . . more than just a kiss. I’d felt it in my bones and it had stayed with me for hours afterward. Perhaps it was just because I hadn’t kissed someone for so long. But maybe it was the way he’d held me so firmly, possessed my mouth so entirely, that seemed to elevate it to something more.
“Who with?” she exclaimed, jolting me back to our conversation.
“Oh, the guy next door.”
“The corporate rental?” She sounded confused. “How did that happen?”
“We watched a thunderstorm together, and then things just sort of . . . evolved.” I hadn’t noticed the storm once he’d touched me, hadn’t heard anything but his breath on my skin, his moans against my ear.
“I didn’t even know you’d met him.”
I grinned as I remembered Matt’s complete confusion as I’d yelled at him by the bandstand. I must have looked like a total crazy person.
“Yeah, just a couple of times.”
“Did you have sex? Are you seeing each other again? Or was it a one-time deal?”
I sighed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to think about any of her questions. I liked the memory of that night—the thunder and lightning, the wine, the kissing. But for me, it had started and ended on my porch along with the storm. And I was happy to let things stay that way. Why ruin a perfect evening?
“No sex, and yes, it was a one-time deal.”
Silence, which was never good where Ruby was concerned. She was either plotting or thinking up impossible-to-answer questions.
“Okay,” she said.
“What do you mean, ‘okay’?” It couldn’t be that simple.
“I mean, okay.”
“You’re not going to interrogate me further, overanalyze every detail and completely wear the whole thing out?” Maybe she was still too wrapped up in her breakup.
“Nope.”
“Nope?” There was no way I was getting away so lightly.
“I’ve made a vow to be more patient and anyway, it’s obvious.”
“What is?”
“He’s the man Mrs. Wells said was going to come into your life this summer.”
I laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you.” He was just passing through town. And it had only been a kiss. “It was hardly a storm he caused.”
“But is he tall? And handsome?”
So tall and so, so handsome. The way I’d spread my fingers as I tried to grasp his upper arms, his hard, bronzed chest, his dark, dirty-blond hair. My heart was beating faster just thinking about him. “We’re not having this conversation—we’re not fourteen anymore.”
“So? You never grow out of appreciating a hot guy.”
Hot? He was five miles ahead of hot. “I’m not going to discuss his ranking on the hot-o-meter with you.”
“Which means he’s hot. I knew it,” she said, and I could almost see the fist pump on the other side of the phone. “You’re living next door to each other—something else is bound to happen.”
“I don’t think so.” Matt had seemed content to walk away—he wasn’t chasing a fleeting hookup. And I wasn’t chasing anything.
“Well, aren’t you full of news today? I bet you find that kiss sets a fire in your loins. It will happen again soon, trust me.”
“Don’t say ‘loins’.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s the sort of thing your grandmother would say.”
“My grandmother is dead, so she’s not saying much to anyone. This might be the start of something, Lana.”
It was nice to feel attractive, to have a man’s arms around me. But it wasn’t like it changed anything.
“You know not every guy is the asshole your ex was. And probably still is.”
“I know,” I said. “What happened in New York with Bobby was a long time ago.”
“Exactly. So be open to new possibilities.”
I hated the way Ruby made it sound like I’d not done anything since New York. I’d had my hands full to overflowing. I surveyed my boutique. Sunlight slid through the floor-to-ceiling windows and lit the whole shop, giving the light-pink carpet a glow, and creating an Alice in Wonderland feel. This place had taken dedication and focus and although I wasn’t selling the high-end, handmade pieces I’d thought I’d end up making in college, I was still designing beautiful jewelry. And people were buying it. I’d accomplished so much. I’d taken advantage of a thousand possibilities.
Nine
Matt
I finished off the last of the grilled cheese, picked up my plate and glass and took it to the sink. More washing up. I was pretty sure Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t wash his own dirty dishes, but for now I was still enjoying the novelty of it. It was certainly real and that’s what I’d been after when I came to Maine.
Tonight was the first time since the first evening that I’d made it back to my rental before midnight, and considering I was up at five, it made for a long, exhausting week. I needed a break, and thankfully, tomorrow was my first day off.
Acting wasn’t hard work, no matter what my over-privileged, work-shy contemporaries might say. I’d seen my dad work thirty-five years in a steel yard. That was hard work. Seeing friends die or become disabled because of the risks they took at work—that was fucking real. I knew my gig was a walk in the park, but the long hours on set waiting for shots to be set up, scenes to change and lighting to be right sapped my energy.
I hadn’t switched any of the lights on and the only thing that lit my way to the kitchen was the muted television. I turned on the faucet and ran my finger under the water, waiting for the heat, lingering at the sink, I glanced up to see Lana in the window lit up from behind. Even just her blurred edges were beautiful.
Our kiss had been sexy, tempting, and dangerous. Thank God she’d put a stop to it when she had. I wasn’t sure I would have been able to hold back. I washed the plate and my coffee cup from this morning, all the while watching Lana as she seemed to draw something on a desk-top easel.
She sat back, raised her hands over her head and stretched and then she stood. She checked something at the other end of the room and then crouched. I lifted up on tiptoes to try to spot her. When she rose, we came face-to-face. I wasn’t sure if she could see me until she gave me a little wave.
I tapped two fingers to my forehead in a casual salute and she turned back to her desk.
She looked like she was on her own.
Did she want company?
I pulled my phone from my pocket. It was only just nine, and I liked the idea of hanging out with someone who had nothing to do with the film industry, who didn’t even know who I was. Someone who smelled like the summer ocean. I could go over, ask to borrow a cup of sugar. I glanced back up, but her light was off. Damn. So much for that thought.