Page 115 of Another Girl Lost

“That’s nice.” I’d never been a great sleeper, and I often woke at 2:00 a.m. and found myself staring at the ceiling.

He came around the counter and stood inches from me. He didn’t touch, but he could grab me in a second. “Tonight has to be a dating record for you.”

“We’ve set a very high bar.”

“I like breaking records.” His fingers flexed and relaxed.

He wanted to kiss me. I wasn’t so lost in my own head as not to recognize male attraction. His natural reaction normally was enough to turn off my brain. But I didn’t want to shut down, so I struggled to stay present.

“Do you want to kiss me again?” he asked.

The stretch of silence was short. “I do.”

“I’ll let you take the lead on this one. If you want to kiss me, then do it.”

I’d broken many of the bindings Tanner had wrapped around my emotions over the years. I’d created a business that was doing well. I volunteered. I displayed my art at the festivals in the NEON district. But I was completely bound when it came to intimacy. Generally, a step forward meant a step back.

I moved toward him. I was so close I could feel the energy emitting from the rise and fall of his chest. The scent of his aftershave wrapped around me. Heat radiated from him. He stared down, as still as stone. My fight-or-flight response was sledgehammering against my chest.

I rose on my toes and carefully pressed my lips to his. They were warm, soft but not soft. He was clean shaven, which meant he must have shaved for a second time today. Tanner often didn’t shave. The hair on his face was rough, and he liked rubbing his stubble over the tenderest parts of my body.

Luke was not Tanner.

Not Tanner.

Fear slowly seeped into my bones, but I ignored it. I placed my hands on Luke’s sides. Lean muscle remained steady, and his breath didn’t hitch or speed up. I leaned into his body. I teased his lips with mytongue, and a growl rumbled in his chest as he leaned into me. When I pulled back, I realized his hands were on my hips.

“That was a G-rated kiss,” I said, understanding full well what the dirtiest X-rated versions entailed.

“It’s nice.” His voice had deepened and developed an edge.

At twenty-five, I had more experience than a sex worker and less than most teenagers. How long would a man like him put up with me? This was going to end. He would realize I wasn’t normal. And that would be that. G-rated kisses only sustained a relationship so long. In the past I hadn’t been disappointed by men who ran from me, but I suspected this time I might be sad.

“I should probably get going,” I said softly.

He didn’t move his hands. “Okay.”

“It was a great evening.”

“It was.” His voice was rough with desire as he dropped his hands to his sides. He followed me toward the door. “Do you want to do it again sometime?”

“Do you want to see me again?”

He chuckled. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Yeah, actually. I’m a lot of work. Eccentricities coming out of my ears.”

The hard lines of his face softened with a smile. “I don’t mind a few. I’ll text you?”

“Okay.” I leaned in and kissed him again on the lips and left.

Chapter Thirty-Two

DAWSON

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

9:30 p.m.

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