Page 23 of Pucking Never

Jensen’s gaze is steady on me, waiting for a response. The intensity of the moment is cut by the waitress bringing our orders over.

“Here you go, darlings,” she places our plates down, smiling warmly before walking away again.

We both remain silent, just staring at each other while the aroma of our food fills the air around us. “I…” My voice sounds small even to me. “I’m starving. Let’s eat."

His jaw clenches again. It’s clear he isn’t going to let me dodge this conversation, but I dig into my cheeseburger and act as though it has my full attention. After several moments of stony silence, he tucks into his burger as well.

We don’t speak as we eat, which is good. It gives me time to gather my thoughts and try to calm down. I know the moment we’re done and back in his car, he’s going to try and talk about us again. There’s a buzzing in my ears as his no-labels proposal plays over and over again in my head. It’s a stark reminder that he doesn’t really know me, otherwise he’d understand why that idea is such a turn-off for me. I get that part of the way he worded his offer is probably because of me. I’ve been resisting him so hard, but really, I don’t know why he won’t just let the whole thing go. If our circumstances were different, yes, I’d absolutely want to pursue something more with him. But it just wouldn’t work between us with things as they are now. I just don’t know how to make him see that.

When we finish our meals, Jensen pays and we head back out to his car. I brace myself as I settle in my seat, anticipating he’ll launch into an argument to try and convince me we belong together or something. However, to my surprise, he doesn’t say a word and just starts driving. Confused, I almost ask him what’s wrong but then catch myself and press my lips together to stop the words from slipping out.

We drive in silence to my neighborhood and I feel a wave of relief wash over me when I spot my building. However, he doesn’t drive up to it. Instead, he maneuvers into the parking lot for the building directly across the street from mine.

“What are you doing?” I ask, shattering the quiet that’s engulfed us.

“I live here,” he answers. “I figured I’d park and I’d walk you to your building.”

He lives across the street from me? I bite back a groan. Of course he does. Why am I even surprised?

“That’s okay,” I assure him, opening my door to climb out of the car. “I’m a big girl. I can make it across the street.”

I slam the door shut and try to make a break for it, but I hear his door slam and he barks, “Grace, hold on. I still want to talk to you.”

I stop and roll my eyes to the sky in frustration. Haven’t we talked enough? What game is he playing now?

Reluctantly, I turn back around to face him and cross my arms over my chest.

“What is there left to say?” I demand to know.

He moves around the car to stand in front of me.

“You still want me,” he growls. “You want me as much as I want you and we both know it. If you’d just stop being so damn stubborn, we could have something really great between us.”

I grind my teeth as a hundred different emotions flood through me. At the forefront, though, is anger. “Why do you keep pushing this?” I snap. “I keep telling you, Miami was a fling, nothing more. Anything we’re feeling now is just a result of the lingering nostalgia we’re feeling.”

“That’s not true and you know it. Grace, I want to be with you!”

“No, you want to be with Lynn!” I shout. I’m stunned by my own words. I hadn’t realized until this moment how tightlyI was hanging onto that fear. “You fell for a girl who doesn’t even exist. You don’t want me. You don’t want Grace. You want who I was pretending to be back then.”

His shocked expression confirms that he didn’t see that coming.

“Is that what you think this is?” he asks, a hurt frown pulling at his lips. “Do you really believe I fell for a facade?”

“You tell me, Jensen,” I spit out. “It’s clear you’re living in some fantasy world where you think we can just pick up where we left off in Miami.”

“I’m not,” he insists, shaking his head vehemently. “I know things are different now, Grace, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have something special.”

I scoff at his words. “Something special? That’s not what this is, and you know it.”

He looks pained, like he’s struggling with what to say next. For a moment, neither of us speaks.

“Grace, I?—”

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “Save it, Jensen. You’ve made your thoughts all too clear. But this… us? It can’t happen.”

I turn to storm away but I feel his fingers wrap around my upper arm to stop me.

I whirl back to him. “Jensen, let me?—”

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