Page 101 of Second Time Around
She got it. “You were still reacting to their expectations, not finding your own road. But it was the first step. And now you’re taking the next step. Congratulations!”
As she swung her backpack onto her shoulder, a disturbing thought struck her. “You don’t plan to teach here, do you?” she blurted out.
All the animation vanished from his face, replaced by a stricken look that made her feel as though she’d kicked one of the dogs in the K-9 Angelz.
But Will stood his ground, his gaze still burning into her. “We were good friends before. I miss that.”
Kyra shook her head, even as temptation plucked at her heart. “We already had this conversation. I can’t do it, Will. Not with the way I feel about you.”
He jerked as though she had struck him. “I don’t know how to change that.”
“You can’t. I can’t either.” She kept her hands fisted by her thighs to stop herself from pressing her palms against the warmth and solidity of his chest. Not even because she wanted to kiss him but because she wanted to take comfort from him. “I was in love with you at Brunell. Seeing you again in New York brought it back to life.” She tried for a smile. “You should be flattered. Most college crushes don’t survive the fifth reunion encounter.”
“I’m the one who screwed this up with the job offer. I want to make it right.” His voice was surprisingly raw.
“It wasn’t right from the very beginning. It couldn’t be. The job offer just made that crystal clear. Don’t blame yourself. It’s just as much my fault.”
“No!” He chopped his hand through the air in denial. “There is no fault in loving someone honestly. I’m the one who’s missing something important that keeps me from loving the most extraordinary woman I know.”
She squeezed her eyes closed to shut out the passion lighting his face as he called her “extraordinary.” If she listened to him any longer, she would stop caring whether he loved her or not and let him draw her back into his life. Until he found someone who could reach his heart.
The agony that seared through her at the thought of Will lighting up in the presence of another woman ripped away the haze of temptation. She opened her eyes and slid sideways so she had a clear path to the door.
Then she braced herself to meet his gaze. “I’m not strong enough to be friends with you. No matter how much I’d like to be. For my sake, please don’t ask me again.”
She watched the struggle on his face. Will had never given up easily but his innate gallantry would make it impossible for him to refuseher request. What she hadn’t expected to see was the cloud of loss in his eyes.
He stepped aside in a movement of chivalrous acquiescence, the slight lowering of his head pure elegance. “My apologies. I understand your position. I wish ...” He shook his head. “I wish you all the best.”
“The same to you. Always,” she said, finding it hard to force the words past the fist squeezing her throat.
She felt him in every molecule of her body as she walked past him, knowing she would never again be able to claim him even as a friend. She had cut the ties between them with a finality that felt like a sword slashing through her heart.
Will watched Kyra walk out the door, her backpack swinging from one proudly squared shoulder in a way that somehow signaled how firm her decision was. How many women would have the bone-deep honesty to admit to loving a man who couldn’t return that love? How many more would be able to say it and then walk away? Her strength knocked the breath out of him.
He heard the front door close with a solid thunk that cut him off from her forever. An ache of loneliness rolled through him, almost worse than what he’d felt Saturday morning because then he had still hoped for her friendship. Now that had been taken away.
He slumped back against the counter, his hands braced beside his hips.
How had she become so important to him in such a short time? If he’d thought about her half a dozen times since college, he’d be surprised. They’d met again by pure chance, yet she’d somehow shifted his whole perspective on his life. She’d challenged him, shaken him out of his rut, made him smile, according to Greg, and heated up his nightsin a way he hadn’t realized he was missing. She’d even changed his relationship with his father.
“Mr.Will?” Isaiah appeared in the doorway, followed by Jayden, Zion, and a couple of other kids. “I put Khonsu in his crate, so we ready to hear about the Spartans.”
Will must not have straightened away from the counter fast enough because Jayden asked, “You okay?”
He had to look like crap if an eleven-year-old kid would ask him that. He put some steel in his spine and smiled. “Just a tough day at the office. Let’s go back upstairs where the chairs are more comfortable.”
“My brother got me a DVD of300but my mama say it’s too violent, so I can’t watch it,” Zion said as they headed for the stairs.
“How does your mother feel about you reading a book?” Will asked.
“She always trying to get me to read stuff.”
“Well, I brought some books for you, so you can read all about the Spartans with her blessing.”
As they trooped up the stairs with the boys chattering about Leonidas and the Persians, Will felt a thrill of exhilaration about his new future.
But without Kyra, it seemed to echo in the hollow spaces of his chest.
