Page 40 of Wasted Memories
My lips brushed hers ever so faintly. It was enough to get her breath quickening, trying to reach up for more. I held her abdomen down under my arm, feeling her abs tense as she tried to lift her head to mine.
God, help me.
I licked my lips, the tip of my tongue gracing her lower lip. She tasted like mint and cherry chapstick.
I internally groaned, hating what I was about to do. “Get some sleep, Emerson,” I whispered.
Her eyes flew open with a glare. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
And with that, she turned back over. I could almost feel the scowl I knew she had on her face.
I couldn’t make a move on her, not like this. I couldn’t deny I was attracted to her. I’d been obsessed with her since the moment I saw her in the bar. But that didn’t mean I could take advantage of her in this vulnerable time. She was lonely and lost.
As much as I wanted to know what it was like to kiss her, to be with her in that way, she needed time to figure out what she really wanted. I wouldn’t be some rebound. If she really wanted to be with me, it wouldn’t matter how long it took for us to get that first kiss.
I’d dreamt about kissing her many times, all in different situations. None of them involved her being in my bed. I never would have thought in a million years I’d have Emerson lying next to me in my bed and I wasn’t planting kisses all over her body.
I also didn’t want to scare her away. If we went further than how things were right now, there was a possibility of her overthinking it and running. I wanted her to feel safe in my home, not conflicted about which guy she wanted to be with. If I was going to be with her, it’d be when she was one hundred percent done with Jett.
Right now, I wasn’t sure if that was the case.
Chapter Twenty One
Emerson
Todaymarkedthesixthday I’d been staying at Wesley’s house. That was five days longer than what I had originally planned for.
Who was I kidding? I didn’t plan any of this. As much as I wanted to keep dodging Jett, we needed to have a conversation to give both of us closure so he could stop trying to find me and I could move on without feeling guilty.
Wesley hadn’t been as close to me as he was in bed the night we almost kissed. We were both still sleeping in his bed, but we kept enough space between us that our bodies didn’t touch. As much as I found him attractive, it was better this way. I needed to be smart about getting into something with another man.
I jumped the gun with Jett and moved in too soon before knowing who he truly was. We learned everything about each other while living together, which probably wasn’t the best way to do things now that I thought about it.
I grabbed a handbasket on my way into the grocery store, planning to only grab a few things for the dinner I was going to make Wesley as a thank-you for letting me temporarily live at his house. Hopefully he liked spaghetti and homemade meatballs.
I waved to Betty at register one as I made my way to the pasta aisle. I knew this grocery store like the back of my hand being it was the only major one we had in this town. They never switched around the aisles like most stores did to confuse you so that every time you needed one item, it took fifteen minutes just trying to find where they’d moved it.
My feet stopped in my tracks as soon as I rounded the corner. Luke was at the end of the aisle with a six pack of beer in his hand. As I took a step back to head in the opposite direction, his eyes landed on me.
His gaze narrowed as he headed straight for me. I didn’t know if he had a problem with me, but given what he said when I left Jett’s house last week, I had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to play nice.
I scrambled a few more steps back before he invaded my space. He dropped the beer, the glass clanking together as they hit the ground, and grabbed my shoulders to turn my back toward the shelves, pinning me between him and the boxes of noodles I now realized I should have come to grab last.
I could practically feel the rage rolling off of him like flames. “Back off, Luke.”
“Where have you been staying?” His shaggy blonde hair swooped into his eyes as he spoke.
The basket slipped from my fingers as I tried to push him off me. “None of your business.”
“It might not be my business, but itisyour boyfriends,” he seethed.
“He’s not my boyfriend anymore.” I gave up trying to push him away when he slid his grip to my upper arms. He was less than an inch from my face, causing me to turn my head slightly to the side as I struggled to keep my breaths even so he couldn’t see the effect he was having on me.
Luke never scared me when we would all hang out before. He was always nice and treated all of us with respect. This new Luke frightened me. I didn’t know this Luke. I’d never seen him so unhinged before so I wasn’t sure how to react.
“Guess you forgot to tell him that,” he spat.
