Page 185 of From Rivals to I Do

She moved so close to him that they were almost nose to nose, her blue eyes mesmerizing him. He smiled nervously, his heart beating so loudly he could swear that she heard it, too.

“I know this is forward,” she said, looking coyly back down at her hands, “but…we didn’t have a lot of time together yesterday and…I wanted to make it clear to you how I feel about us getting closer.”

She looked into his eyes, and he melted. Whatever he wanted to say to her emptied out of his mind in an instant. He was being pulled in, and it felt like he was stuck in a whirlpool. But it was one that he could get out of. All he had to do was step away. Just step back and tell her…tell her…

Tell her what again? He couldn’t think. Looking at her in that moment, she was all he wanted.

“I want that, too,” he said softly. “But I…” He closed his eyes, breaking the spell for a moment. It was just long enough for him to remember why he’d asked to speak with her. He pulled away, turning his back on her to get himself together.

“Abel?” she asked, her voice thick with concern. “What’s wrong?”

He took a moment and took a deep breath to shake away his nerves. “Camilla,” he said. “There’s something I need to say to you.”

She didn’t speak. He turned around to face her again and saw that she was looking at him with large, worried eyes. With every second, this felt like the biggest mistake of his life.

“Listen—”

“Stop,” she said. “I don’t want to know.”

It was as though a record had scratched in his mind. The brakes had been put on in what little momentum he had and he was stuck. “Wh-what?”

“I don’t want to know what you did,” she said, her voice soft. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

It was. Sort of. He didn’t know how to say that, though. She stepped up to him again until her hands were resting on his chest.

“You did your time,” she said. “Ten years. You lost an entire decade and a big part of your youth. There’s no reason you need to keep paying for it.”

She’d rendered him completely speechless. He just stood there, wrapped in her sweet scent, lost in her crystal blue eyes.

“This job and this time is supposed to be yours to start fresh. So…let’s do that together. I don’t want to know, so…you don’t need to tell me.”

She smiled up at him, the pink in her full lips tempting him. Then, without warning, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. The soft, sweet taste of her lips pulled him in. Her hands pressed against his chest for a moment, then slowly traveled upward, gently touching his face and running through his hair. Abel fell into her, embracing her and wrapping his arms around her waist. As he pulled her close, his body buzzed with passion.

The kiss was like nothing he’d ever felt. He’d kissed girls before when he was young. He’d even had the opportunity to sleep with a couple of them. Nothing had felt like this before. Abel’s heart beat in time with hers as his hands found the small of her back. He breathed in her air and savored the taste of her lips.

When they parted, it was entirely too soon. She pulled him down so that their foreheads were pressing together. He closed his eyes, the feeling of her lips still with him. He smiled and said softly, “Wow.”

“Yeah,” she said with a giggle.

They stood in each other’s arms for a moment, enjoying each other’s warmth. Finally, she said, “This can be good. For both of us. I want this to be good.”

He smiled. “It will be.” It occurred to him that this was the solution. She didn’t want to know, so now, he didn’t have to tell her. It was a better plan of action than he could have hoped for.

“Do you dance?”

Abel opened his eyes and pulled back from her. “Um…what?”

She smiled. “Do you dance? Do you know how?”

He didn’t know whether she was serious or not. “I…can dance, yeah. I haven’t in a long time.”

“I want to go out dancing with you.”

Now he was laughing. “Where is this coming from?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t danced in a long time either. I used to go at least every other weekend when my husband was still alive, but…” She pulled away, letting her arms drop down to Abel’s chest again. “When the restaurant was doing better, we started going out every month, and then when he got sick…well, I haven’t been and I want to go again, so…do you want to go dancing with me on Saturday?”

Abel started to wonder where the uptight version of her had gone. “And what about this place? Who’s going to mind the store while we’re kicking up our heels?”

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