Page 53 of No Place Like Home
“Mmm?” Uh-oh. Had she been reading his thoughts?
She looked into his eyes, making him wish he had an excuse to slide his shades back on. “When did you see me perform?”
Oh boy. He ran a hand through his damp hair, now sticky with wet gel. “You weren’t supposed to ask that again.”
“I kind of feel like this entire day has had a lot of ‘not supposed to’s.”
“Fair.” Besides—at this point, what could it hurt? He took a deep breath. “It was a several months back, in Dallas. I was going to surprise you after the show, but…”
She frowned. “But?”
Now for the hard part. “I went to find you backstage, and saw you kiss this guy. I’d brought you flowers, and sort of figured that would be awkward for everyone. So I…left.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal. Like it hadn’t weighed on his chest for weeks after.
Like he couldn’t still picture those mangled rose petals lying in the bottom of the trashcan outside the theater.
Her eyes softened with compassion. “You brought me flowers.”
“I did.” He winced. “I also threw them away.”
She nibbled her lower lip. “You were going to ask me out, weren’t you?”
Full confession time. “I hadn’t stopped thinking about you since that night at the Lazy Spoon.”
Her brows shot up.
Too far. He backpedaled. “I mean, I dated other women over those years, of course. But you were always in my head as this what-if. What if I had asked you out that night the alley, before your friends took you away? Before you ran off to join the circus.” He laughed. “It’s stupid.”
She frowned. “It’s sweet.”
“It’s pointless…friend.” There. It was out.
She straightened her shoulders, turning slightly to face the rain. “For the record, I regret that kiss.”
“Why?”
She kept staring forward. “A lot of reasons.” Then she abruptly turned to face him, her eyes teasing. “Mostly because it was a pretty bad kiss.”
Her smile untied the knot in Cade’s stomach. “It looked pretty bad, honestly.” Back to banter—their friendship safety net. Security flirting. Also, he had to admit—hearing the guy wasn’t a good kisser was a nice way to end their shared day together.
Rosalyn smirked at him, looking way too cute for her own good with her rain-slicked hair. “Like you could do any better.”
He lifted his chin, pretended to brush something off the shoulder of his shirt. “I haven’t had any complaints so far.”
The wind picked up, blowing rain into their private alcove. She inched toward him, close enough again to send citrus waves of torture his way. “You know something?” she asked. “Maybe I don’t even remember that kiss.”
He should step back, give her more room to get away from the rain. But her eyes held him hostage. “You just said?—”
She looked up, pretending to think. “No, I’ve definitely forgotten about it.”
She’d moved closer. That, or the magnetic pull between them had finally activated and taken matters into its own hands. And speaking of hands, his were back on her shivering arms, fully by instinct, wanting to keep her warm.
Even though their cozy little spot by the door suddenly felt like a furnace.
He rubbed her shoulders, her skin cool under his palms. “You forgot, huh?”
“You’ll have to remind me what the kiss looked like.” Something flirty and uncertain flickered in her eyes. She tilted her chin up in invitation.
Despite the gray rain drenching everything in sight, the city streets flared in vivid Technicolor as Cade’s senses spiked. This wasn’t real. It was a dream. The splashing of puddles and the low rumble of thunder echoed as if through a faraway tunnel. His heartbeat thudded in his ears.
