Page 44 of Can't Get Over You
“It would be less embarrassing if I wasn’t.”
Wow. Wow, wow, wow.He’d just changed the entire landscape of her heart. “I wish I’d known.”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Believe me, it would’ve changed the world for me.” All the confusion, the longing, the pain… Yeah, it would’ve healed her.
“I still wouldn’t have asked you out.”
“Why?” It made no sense. “We liked each other.”
“I told you. You were the good girl, and I was a troublemaker. In a high school as small as ours, reputations don’t change. No matter what you do, they’ll never see you differently.” He seemed resolute. “The only way to reinvent yourself is to leave.”
“And you did that?” She took in his black jeans, biker boots, and long-sleeved T-shirt. Her fingers brushed the tips of his silky, shoulder-length hair. “You reinvented yourself?”
“Okay, Ducky. Calm down. Outside of Calamity, no one remembers me putting dish washing soap in the Wild Wolff Village fountain, so they can’t throw it in my face. I call that a win.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” She really could.But…he liked me. The beauty of it swirled inside her. She wanted to live in that dreamy space for the rest of her life.
“My little obsession with you got me through a lot of hard times,” he said. “I needed it.”
“Is that all it was for you? A distraction?”
“No, of course not.”
“How do you know?” She’d often wondered that about herself. Was her obsession a way to fill the loneliness?
His chest expanded as he drew in a deep breath. “Because even after I left town, I never stopped thinking about you.”
She might need to record this conversation and replay it a hundred million times until it sank in. “What did you think about? My moose slippers?”
“You know.”
“No, I don’t think I do.” She gave him a sly smile.
He grew impatient. “Us.”
“What about us?”
“This crazy fuckin’ attraction.” He stiffened. “That we’re not going to act on.”
Even if she accepted it was true, she still needed to hear it from him. “Because you don’t want to ruin my reputation?”
“Sure. But also, you just said sex means something to you.”
“And sex with me wouldn’t mean anything?” She was pushing too hard, making him uncomfortable. But today, her entire life had gotten dismantled. She had nothing left to lose.
“I think you know it would, but it’s not going to lead anywhere. I’ll be gone in six weeks, and you haven’t even talked to the man you were supposed to marry.”
“Ouch. But yeah, that’s fair.” She’d talk to Matt. Of course, she would. She just didn’t like to have big confrontations until she could think clearly.
When she plucked the fabric of her T-shirt again, his hand shot out, wrapping around her wrist. “Is the shirt uncomfortable? Do you want one of mine?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Then why do you keep pulling it away like that?”
“Because I have big boobs, okay?” Nothing a man with a perfect body could ever understand. “And I’m not wearing a bra.”
