Page 13 of Teach Me to Laugh

That much I knew. It was that soft I knew she had that I wanted. Every inch and more.

“She’s afraid of me.” I admitted under my breath. I heard Kaiden’s low hiss of breath and I wondered why I even said the words. I hadn’t thought of them. I hadn’t meant to say them. They’d just sounded.

“What?”

“I was teasing her in the kitchen one morning and I got a little close. Not real close. Well, I wasn’t touching her. Anyway, she got freaked. Locked up tight and trembling. Her eyes were wild and . . .” I shook my head. “Man, I wouldn’t hurt her. I’d never hurt her.”

“I know.” Kaidendidknow. Yeah, I went through my fair share of ladies and never turned down the offer of a good night, but I wasn’t an ass. The girls I played with knew the game. They knew what one night meant. Honestly, I think they wanted attachment even less than I did. I didn’t consider myself a true player, but I’d never deny that I liked the game.

“Guess after that morning I haven’t known how to proceed.”

“Gently?” Kaiden made it sound like a question. “She’s been hurt. Don’t know how or from whom, but she’s been hurt. That much isn’t in question. Take it easy and maybe, if you’re serious about her, she’ll let you in.”

“Yeah.”

There was another long pause. “Are you serious about her, Beck?”

If there was a question I hated more, I hadn’t found it yet. “I don’t know. I don’t know enough to know whether I can be serious about her. She barely talks to me and when she does it’s never about anything serious. Kinda hard to know if you want serious when you never get anything real to go on.”

“Give it time.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s only been a month and a half.”

“Yeah.” I said again. As far as I was concerned, the conversation was over.

But I’d ended up with more concerns and questions than I’d begun with.

Who had hurt Amara? And if she were so wounded that she didn’t allow herself to trust, would she ever trust a man like me? Teasing was second nature to a guy like me. I liked to laugh and date; I’d never even seen the girl smile. Never.

Who went through life without smiling?

It killed, but no matter how hard I knew it would be, and how I couldn’t yet admit it to my best friend, I was serious about Amara. I wanted her, past hurts and future smiles included.

I just had to figure out how to build a bridge between the hurt of her past and the laughter of the future I intended to give her, because I knew if she walked across that bridge to the other side, she’d be mine. She’d be safe.

Amara was home when I opened the front door. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch with a book in her lap and a bowl of cake on the coffee table. When I say cake, I mean cake. She’d already scooped off all the icing.

“Hey,” she said, lifting those big blue eyes to me. I swear those eyes could weaken the toughest of men to falling to their knees. And her lips, I won’t even get started on her lips.

“Hey,”

“Tough day?”

“Tough workout.” I smirked, dropping onto the couch beside her. Consciously, I didn’t sit too close. “You gonna eat the rest of that cake?”

Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t think so. I already ate the good stuff.”

“Blasphemy!” I accused, snatching her bowl and shoveling a big chunk into my mouth. She watched as I let my lips drag over her fork and to my surprise and enjoyment, she blushed. “This is the best part right here. Fluffy and moist.”

“I beg to differ.”

I chuckled, continuing to down the icing-less cake. “Each to their own, eh, beautiful?”

“I suppose so.”

“How was class?”

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