“Plot twist,” I said, making him laugh. “Go on.”
“I played football in high school. I was pretty good. Not that I needed it, but I had college scouts looking at me and stuff. I had who I thought was the woman of my dreams and a bright future considering. Then one day, I went to her house to surprise her with flowers. We’d been dating a while, so I’d walk into her family’s house as if it was my own. I went into her bedroom and found her and Devin fucking.”
My heart twists and squeezed, feeling the pain he must have felt at that moment. I closed my eyes against the hurt, and when I opened them and looked at him again, I was seeing him in a whole new light.
He had once been young and in love. He had once thought of his future, one that included sticking with one woman and making plans. To walk in on something so heartbreaking had altered him, and I could understand why he kept his distance from commitment. We all had our issues. We all had our reasons, and now I knew his.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t believe Devin would do that to someone.”
“He didn’t know we were together. I found out later from a friend that she had just met him the night before. She wasn’t the person I thought she was. Anyway, I blamed Devin. I became his friend so I could get revenge. Believe it or not, Devin’s never cared about anyone but his family until Lilly.”
All the puzzle pieces fell into place.
“And so you went after her to hurt him.”
He nodded. “I thought it would make me feel better.”
“And? What happened?”
“I realized it no longer mattered. I am who I am now. Hurting someone who had no clue they were hurting me isn’t going to change anything. Plus, I lost a friend. I mean, we weren’t best friends, but Devin’s an all right guy.”
“Maybe you guys could be friends again?”
“I doubt it,” he scoffed.
“I’m sure he’d understand if you explained. You said yourself he didn’t know about you. You should tell him.”
He nodded. “Maybe one day.”
Silence slipped over us as we stared at the water, both pushing the swing slowly with one leg.
“I’ve never told anyone about that.” His voice cut through the silence. “I trust you. Is that weird?”
Technically, it shouldn’t have been weird, but considering I wasn’t sure I trusted him completely yet made me feel guilty. There was still so much I wanted to know about him. And although I’d gotten a glimpse of him as a heartbroken teenager, that didn’t say anything about the man he was today.
“Not weird at all,” I responded, wishing I could return the sentiment.
He was a nice guy inside, and on the outside, he was breathtaking. I couldn’t understand why a man like him would wait for sex from a woman like me. Especially not when I was sure he could get sex anywhere. We had discussed it before, but still, none of it made sense. I wasn’t special at all, and even standing next to each other, it was obvious he was much too handsome for me.
“Tell me something about you,” he said, turning my way a bit more.
The breeze off the water caught his hair, and the dark locks twirled. He looked at me as if I was the only person in the world. His blue eyes ate away at my skin, making me feel as if he was stripping my flesh away at the same time.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I told you I’m boring.”
He reached out slowly as if he was about to pet a wounded dog and ran a finger over the top of my hand. I stilled, allowing him to slip his fingers between mine.
“You’re the most interesting woman I’ve ever met.”
When I looked up at him, I could see in his eyes that he meant it.
He was traveled, cultured in the ways of the entire world, and I was just me. Boring country girl Shannon with no experience whatsoever and a crappy paying job at a jewelry store.
“I’m not.” I shook my head, knowing he misunderstood the person I was.
His other hand moved up, skimming the side of my face before he captured my chin between two fingers and forced my eyes to his.
“Of all the things you’ve learned about me over the past few days, the most important one is I’m upfront and honest with you. It’s obvious I’m not a one-woman man. I love women. I have no desire to settle down. I know I don’t have to sweet talk you to get what I want from you. When I say you’re the most interesting woman I know, it’s because I mean it. You’re special, Shannon.”
I swallowed hard, feeling as though the breeze from the water had turned into a heated wave of humidity between us.
His thumb stroked my cheek and his eyes captured mine.
“Would it be okay if I kissed you?” he asked.
My nervous system misfired, making me feel off-kilter. My shoulders went tense, and my spine shifted painfully into a straight line.
I wanted it.
I didn’t want it.
I was so confused.
But somehow, my head moved up and down, and I nodded that it was okay.
Technically, I had never been kissed. My prom date bypassed sweet kisses and went straight for my panties even though I begged him not to.
But I couldn’t think about that. If I did, I knew I would pull away, and honestly, pulling away from Matthew at that moment was the last thing I wanted to do.
He leaned forward, his eyes remaining on mine as he measured my reaction. And then they fluttered closed, his long dark lashes resting on his cheeks. I followed his lead, closing my eyes and preparing for an unfamiliar feeling.
Soon his lips were on mine.
Soft.
Sweet.
Simple.
No pressure. Just a light slide across my lips.
Sucking in a breath, I was filled with his scent. His nose brushed against mine when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. His tongue slipped along the seam of my lips, but no matter how much I wanted to open for him, I couldn’t.
My attention focused on my mouth. The sensation of him. The scent of him. I locked onto my other senses and almost didn’t feel the touch of his palm sliding up my knee. His thumb skimming across my leg, gliding along the inside of my thigh.
I gasped, and he used that moment to deepen the kiss.
His tongue swept inside my mouth, pressing into mine and sending a sensation I had never felt before rocketing through me. The sensation exploded like a firework’s display of happy nerves, fluttered inside my chest before dropping and melting into arousal between my thighs.
On instinct, I moved closer to him, my arms going around his neck and my fingers tangling in the hair on the back of his head. He moaned into my mouth, making the singular heartbeat between my thighs intensify.
And then it was over.
As quickly as it had started, he pulled away, pressing a soft kiss on my lips once more. I opened my eyes, and he was staring back at me. His breaths were hard and fast, his lips moist and swollen.
“I don’t want to stop,” he whispered. “But we probably should.”
His voice was raspy and shaking, and a tiny bit of confidence slipped over me knowing my kiss had shaken him.