Page 13 of Dance in the Light
She sighed, still not talking.
“Or do I have to tickle it out of you?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” I lifted my hands into the air in preparation. “I’ve had a few years’ practice getting giggles out of my little rosebud, so I’m pretty sure we can classify these fingers as lethal weapons.”
At least that produced a snort and chuckle out of her. Then she appeared wistful.
“You used to callmerosebud.”
I dropped my hands. “Uh, yeah. I did.” The fact I nicknamed my baby girl after the woman who left me behind years ago was probably my only regret. Every time I said rosebud, it only kept the memory of my feelings for Cindy alive. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something new to call you.”
She chewed her cheek, another telltale sign of hers that she was ready to talk. “Fine. After I earned my degree, James Hunter recruited me to join his architectural firm. He was married. I knew it, and he didn’t hide it. The way he nurtured my abilities and mentored me, we grew close.”
Shit. I was sorry now that I asked. I steadied my pulse by flattening my palms against my wet jeans, already pissed at where this was headed.
“We were on a trip, scouting a location in Chicago for a client, and um, I don’t know. I didn’t intend to have an affair with amarried man. Things just happened. He promised he’d leave her over and over.”
She shot up from the bed with crossed arms, pacing the floor. “God, I sound like one of those pathetic women in the movies who get involved with a married man thinking they’ll leave their wife and kids for her . . . but they never do.”
Cindy was way too matter-of-fact about this, while I wanted to find this douchebag and kick his nuts up into his skull.
“I broke things off a year ago, and supposedly he’d entered therapy with his wife to keep his family together. I was in the middle of a huge project with our biggest client, so I tried to stay professional since we still had to work together. But he made my life miserable, criticizing my work. Finding fault with every little thing I did. I should have left, and that was my mistake. His treatment wore me down, until one day I really made a big mistake for a client, and he fired me.”
“Christ, Cin. He’s a fucking asshole.”
“Yes. I know. But I should have known better than to get involved with him. What’s worse, he’s been calling and texting me everyday begging me to come back and work on another project for the same client.”
I stopped her pacing with my hands on her arms. “You’re better off without that guy, you know that, right? Both professionallyandpersonally.”
She nodded, but didn’t respond, until her eyes lifted to mine. The torment there blew me away. “Ryan… Help me forget him.” Her hands ran up my chest and around my neck, pulling my lips to hers.
I groaned. She deepened the kiss, whimpering into my mouth. Her with me like this was better than anything my teenaged Ryan’s brain could have conjured up. It took everything in me to pull away.
“Cynthia, I’d do anything for you, but I won’t be just your rebound fuck.”
“I’m not looking for a rebound guy. I’m looking for a reasonnotto go back,” she whispered.
Fuck yes, I had one big reason in my pants. “Baby, I can think of a million reasons, but there’s only one that matters. It’s time you stop running from us—you and me—because we’re inevitable.”
Sealed with a kiss, soft and sweet, my cock begged to be let out, and I wanted more. But not here.
“Come with me. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of us getting together a million times.”
“Where to?”
“I think you know where.”
TEN
DANCING IN THE LIGHT
RYAN
I drove through the fields in Bessie, stealing glances at Cindy in the seat next to me, and trying to contain my excitement.
She was here with me, begging for a reason she should stay. With any luck, I wouldn’t blow this second chance with her.
