Page 42 of Sunny Skies Ahead
Now that I knew what her lips felt like, how she tasted, that awkwardness was even more apparent.
Imogen gave me a soft smile and leaned against the doorframe, her black curls falling over her shoulders with the movement.
“Hey yourself.”
Some of the tension leached from my shoulders. She hadn’t left the house, nor was she screaming in my face or calling me a creep.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry for earlier,” I said, swallowing tightly. “With what happened at the dock.”
I wanted to smack myself.
Imogen’s soft smile remained, and she shrugged.
“There’s nothing to apologize for, Kam.”
“I asked to kiss you,” I said with a grimace. “I crossed a line, and I shouldn’t have. If I made you uncomfortable in any way, you have my sincerest apologies.”
Imogen’s expression softened even further, and I felt like the biggest dick on the planet. The last thing I wanted was to put her in an awkward position.
“If I’m remembering correctly, I was the one who dared you to,” Imogen said. “You’re not entirely to blame. And I’m sorry for running.”
I let out a small laugh, crossing my arms over my chest with a shrug. If she could be casual about this, I could too. Some of the anxiety dissipated from my body as I looked at her.
“I guess you did.”
“As crazy as this sounds,” Imogen said, “I’m glad we kissed.”
The floor damn near fell out from under me.
Tell me it’s not all in my head. Tell me there’s something here.
Tell me you’ve been thinking about our kiss all damn day the way I have.
Tell me you feel it too.
“Now that we’ve gotten whatever weird thing exists between us out of our system, things can go back to how they were.”
Oh.
I tried not to feel the soul-crushing weight of Imogen’s dismissal for what it was. It was far better this way, for us to chalk this connection up to a mutual crush that had now run its course. We’d kissed. There was no going back. But we could move forward professionally.
No need to jeopardize our friendships or working relationships over a silly crush.
“Right,” I said, feigning a relieved sigh. “Thank goodness for that.”
Imogen’s smile widened into a grin and she shook her head slightly, as if trying to convince herself she wasn’t a complete idiot for letting me kiss her.
I decided at that moment I was going to go back up to the farmhouse and ask Lucas to bury me alive in the backyard.
“I was thinking tomorrow we could head down to the barn and the pasture and film there. I’ve got a cute idea for a video introducing the horses.”
I nodded my head, that familiar smile whenever I was in Imogen’s presence returning. I hadn’t completely screwed this up. I might not have everything I wanted, but I still had her in my life. It would be enough. I would make it enough.
“Sounds good. Meet you at the farmhouse for breakfast in the morning?”
Imogen nodded and turned to head back inside. She hesitated at the threshold, and that ridiculously hopeful part of me perked up.
But whatever Imogen might have wanted to say, she thought better of it, giving me a quiet “good night” before stepping back inside the house, closing the door behind her.
