Page 26 of Succeeding Love

No one had ever kissed me like this before. It was just a kiss, but it felt so much deeper somehow. I felt it burning all over my face, and my knees were getting weaker by the second. He overwhelmed my senses, leaving me faint and breathless. All the icy fury I just felt was being melted away.

“Wow,” I gasped as he pulled back. His crooked smile shone in the dim streetlight. I could take my eyes away from his lips.

“Your neck okay?” he husked, rubbing the back of it. I held my head in a tilted position for him. His height and mine must look comical right now. “I’ll have to get you a step stool for next time.”

Next time? My already hot face grew even warmer at the implications. I bit my tingling bottom lip. It tasted like him, like popcorn and soda.

“Goodnight, Lynn,” he whispered roughly, kissing my lips one more time.

“Night, Vin,” I breathed out.

His eyes sparkled, mesmerizing me for a moment. Then they grew hard as he looked back at Nick. “Have a safe drive back to the kids,Mr. Ex. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon, too.”

Wow, wow, wow.

I pressed my hand to my chest, still feeling breathless as I watched him walk across the street with much more pep inhis boots. His broad shoulders leaned as he walked, showing his confidence. I don’t think I have ever felt more attracted to a man in my life.

My action hero.

Nick left soon after that. I was still a bit dazed, and he just mumbled something about the returned presents. He said he’d bring them back later, then got in his car and left before I could fully refuse.

Oh well. Whatever he was here for, it must not have been too important. He was probably just shocked seeing me on a date for the first time since the divorce. I know it was like a knife to the gut the first time I saw Arlene hanging off him after he left me, so I imagine he felt something similar. Even if he moved on, we were still married for fifteen, almost sixteen years. It’s still a bitter feeling.

I felt anything but bitter for the rest of the night. As I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, I was smiling and giggling to myself, replaying the kiss repeatedly in my head. Kevin kept whining every time I squealed, laying his head over my legs to tell me to quiet my excitement and go to bed. I was disturbing his sleep. I couldn’t help myself. I had never had a first date like that.

Honestly, I had very few first dates in my life, so that’s probably not saying much to most people. After Nick and the two boys I dated in high school, my bar might be really, really low. Something tells me it wasn’t just me, though. It had to be Vin. Everything from the moment he picked me up, to the dinner and deep conversations, to cuddling against his firm body as we watched an action movie I now couldn’t even remember. Then that kiss……

Everything about the date was amazing. Even when I thought my ex ruined the night, Vin blew me out of the water when he came back.

~

Nick

“Where did you go?” Preston asked the moment I walked back into the hotel room.

I almost jumped out of my skin. It was almost one in the morning. I thought he and his sister would be asleep. Jessie was nodding off before I left in the bedroom where they were watching TV. I thought Preston wouldn’t be too far from sleep, either.

“The bar,” I muttered, walking to the ice bucket to retrieve a glass as I kicked off my shoes. I went to the bar for a few drinks after getting back to the hotel. I wasn’t ready to face my son after everything that transpired tonight. I need water to sober up.

“You went to the bar? For four hours?”

“What are you still doing awake?” I deflected his question before taking a long gulp of tap water.

He watched me with the same distrust and wariness I’ve received from him since the day he learned of my affair. I deserve no less, but it still hurts. Preston and I were as close as a father and son could be when he was little. Now he tolerates me at best.

“Mom texted me,” he said as I filled my glass again at the sink. “She asked me if we were alright. Do you know why she would do that?”

By his tone, I’m sure he knows the answer already, and I’m tired of pretenses. I don’t have the strength right now to pretend.

“I went to go see her,” I told him honestly, dropping my heavy, tired body on the chair beside him where he was sitting on the couch.

“You went to go see mom?! Why?!”

“Because I miss her, Preston.” I dragged my hand down my face. “I miss my wife.”

That hasn’t changed. Even after witnessing her getting home from a date, and after seeing her thug-looking date kiss her breathless, I still miss her. It feels like there is a hole inside my chest that just gets bigger and bigger by the day.

“Ex-wife,” Preston muttered.

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