Page 28 of Choosing You

I’m going to a virtual stranger’s house with an overnight bag. What could possibly go wrong?

It seemed like it was a good idea—after all, she wanted to get to know Will, and she blocked off the entire weekend so she could find him.

It just so happened that she found him sooner than she thought she would!

His house was an older Craftsman-style bungalow—two bedrooms, one bathroom—that he’d been doing some renovations on. The kitchen was all new, as was the bathroom, but the rest of the house was showing some signs of its age. Still, it was a whole lot nicer and homier than her apartment back in Fort Lauderdale. It just looked like a guy lived here and needed some help with the decor.

“I put your bag in the guest room,” Will said as he walked back into the living room where Sloane was sitting on the sofa.

“Thanks.” Why was she suddenly feeling so nervous?Oh, because you’re spending the night in a stranger’s house, she reminded herself.

Will sat down beside her and looked as ill-at-ease as she did. Finally, he looked at her with a lopsided grin and said, “This is a little awkward, right?”

She nearly sagged with relief. “Yes!” she agreed. “I thought it was just me, but…”

“I was a little impulsive, I’ll admit. But…I don’t know, it just seemed like a good way for us to get to know each other. I mean…it’s been three years and…”

“And we’ve only just officially met today,” she added. “But we’ve kissed…”

“A lot…”

Then they both laughed and when Sloane met his gaze, she relaxed. “I’d like to get to know more about you other than your kissing skills.”

“Which are dreamy…”

She rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but laugh. Despite their stilted conversation at the restaurant, she learned a lot about him today. And, other than his dislike of floating and her dislike of cars, they had a lot of things in common. They had similar tastes in food, books, and movies. They listened to the same style of music and neither of them had traveled beyond the East Coast.

“Maybe we should have just planned on having a date night rather than committing to me spending the rest of the weekend,” she said after a minute.

“If that would make you more comfortable, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Huh. She had expected him to try to talk her out of it. Color her surprised. “I was already staying with family,” she began, as if she needed to explain herself. “I had no idea I’d find you and meet you so soon. Every time I thought about coming here, I figured I’d at least find out your name, but I never thought I’d get to talk to you.”

He looked at her curiously. “Why not?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. It just seemed like…I’m certainly no detective and in my mind, I figured I’d just be driving around aimlessly, hoping to see you from a distance.”

That had him smiling again. “And did you think about what you’d do if youdidsee me?”

Oh, Lord. There was no way she could admit to the things she thought about in that scenario. In every one of them, they did very little talking and a whole lot of kissing. And then touching. And then…well…

Sloane’s cheeks felt heated, and she knew she was blushing.

“If your thoughts are anything like mine were, I’d say we just found one more thing we have in common,” Will said, his voice deep and gruff and serious.

Without even realizing it, Sloane found herself slowly closing the distance between them. He drew her in with nothing more than the sound of his voice. Well, that and the fact that he smelled so damn good and looked even better than she’d remembered and fantasized about.

And that’s when she knew she was in trouble.

Not the bad kind of trouble, but the kind of trouble that turned your world upside down in ways you never imagined.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Will said softly, his gaze locked on her lips.

“Like what?” she whispered, still moving slowly toward him.

“Like you’re thinking about having me kiss you again.”

She swallowed hard, her gaze now narrowing on his lips. “But I am thinking about you kissing me again.”

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