Page 53 of You, Me, and Forever

And then he leaned down and did the most unexpected thing.

He kissed me.

Chapter FourteenMyles

This was quite possibly the best time I’d ever had at a family event.

Even my father couldn’t get under my skin, because I was too enamored with my date.

She’d been completely unaffected by my father or Gigi.

And here I was slow dancing with her, where I’d normally be brooding over an old-fashioned ... or fourteen.

“How are you so good at this?” she asked, tipping her head back to look at me.

“I’ve been attending black-tie events since I was in kindergarten. I can cut a rug on command. How about you? Have you spent a lot of time dancing with moose and porcupines?”

She rolled her eyes, but her lips turned up in the corners as a wide smile spread across her face. “I’m a wedding planner. I can’t very well help my clients if I don’t know everything about weddings. So I took dance lessons. I could probably hold my own in a ballroom dancing competition. I had Bella, my amazing hair girl, teach me how to fix a fallen braid or attach some loose extensions. I know how to fix broken heels, broken nails, and broken hearts.”

“You’re the fucking CEO of romance, aren’t you?” I chuckled.

“The ‘CEO of romance.’ That’s the best title ever.”

“Thanks for being here tonight. You’re making this tolerable, and I’m grateful.” My hand found the side of her cheek, my thumb stroking her jaw.

“You made last night tolerable, and I’m grateful.”

“And you handled my father and Gigi like they were a mild inconvenience.”

“And that surprises you?” she asked, her hips swaying with mine as I moved one hand down to the small of her back.

Wanting her closer.

Needing her closer.

“Yes. My father and Gigi probably eat kittens for breakfast without blinking an eye.”

“Yet you dated her, right?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t call what we did ‘dating.’ We’re old family friends, and we’ve attended some events together over the years, among other things.”

“Ahhh ... ‘among other things.’ So you’ve had sex with her,” she said as her tongue swiped out and ran along her bottom lip. It wasn’t a question; it was more of a statement.

“I have, yes. But it’s been over six months since anything’s happened between us. She wanted more, and I wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship with her, so I cut things off. I’d always been honest about what I had to offer. And that was a sign that we weren’t on the same page.”

“I told you, ‘sex’ and ‘casual’ don’t always go together.” She chuckled. “And she doesn’t seem over it.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because she keeps looking at me like she wants to scratch my eyes out,” she said. “She has no idea who she’s messing with. I could totally take her.”

Now it was my turn to bellow out in laughter. Had I ever laughed this much?

“I wouldn’t let her put a hand on you,” I said, leaning down close to her ear. “The only hands I want on you are mine.”

I could feel her heart pounding against my chest.

I wanted her so bad I didn’t know how to handle it.

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