Page 8 of Fated Midlife Christmas
Now Zoe was laughing, too, leaning on the table. “I wish I’d been there!”
“You should’ve seen her face when he plopped that big hunk of meat on her plate,” Kristy laughed. “I think we knowexactlywhat he was implying with that!”
Their laughter was contagious, and Amanda wiped tears from her eyes. “If everyone else hadn’t been around, it would’ve worked, too!”
“It didn’t seem like either one of you was concerned with who might be around when it was time to say goodbye,” Kristy noted. “Was it a good appetizer?”
Amanda had relived that kiss dozens of times by now. He’d pulled her so easily into his arms, and she’d felt as though she fit there. Electricity had surged through her tongue and lips as soon as she thought there was even a possibility that he might kiss her. Amanda had tried not to let herself get too caught up in thehandsome stranger. He was just a visitor, just someone new and different, but it was hard to fight the truth.
His lips against hers had been incredible, the stubble around his mouth leaving tiny scrapes in her skin. The scent of leather and some deep floral enveloped her along with his arms, and her breath had hitched when she felt the strength with which he was holding her against him.
“No.”
“No?” Kristy and Zoe echoed at the same time.
“Come on,” Kristy encouraged. “You just stood there for a solid ten seconds thinking about that kiss. How can you tell me it wasn’t a good appetizer?”
“Because appetizers are just potato skins or fried mushrooms, something you just gobble up without thinking about it, because you’re dying for the meal to arrive. This kiss was like going to a fancy restaurant and getting an amuse-bouche, that fantastic single bite that tells you the chef knowsexactlywhat he’s doing.”
“Oooo!” the other two women cried out.
“Girl, what are you doing standing around here, then?” Kristy demanded. “Get your ass over to the clanhouse and get that Viking feast he promised you!”
But Amanda flapped her hand in the air dismissively. “Believe me, it sounds amazing. I could definitely stand to satiate my hunger for a little while, but then what? The guy’s got to go back to some remote island that might as well be at the end of the world.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy him while he’s here,” Zoe remarked.
“That’s not really my style.” Amanda checked her watch. “We should get back to this. I’ve got a lot of clients to see today.”
Kristy, however, didn’t lie back down on the table. She was sitting up with her heels on the edge of it and her arms resting on her knees. She twisted her face as she looked at Amanda.
“What?” Amanda asked.
“You tell me what.” Kristy pushed her face a little closer and squinted her eyes. “What’s really going on in there? I know you’re not the kind who goes running off with whatever hot guy you see, but there was real chemistry last night between the two of you.”
“Yeah,” Amanda said, her tone clipped. “Maybe a bit too much of it.”
Kristy sucked in her breath. “Oh, do you think he’s…”
Zoe caught on, and her eyes widened. “Really?”
“I don’t know.” Amanda put her hands in the air, and then she put them over her eyes. “I do know. I mean, I know it feels like it is. They say you know it when it happens, and I can honestly say I’ve never wanted to rip my clothes off at a family dinner before. But it doesn’t really matter.”
Kristy grabbed Amanda’s wrists and pulled her hands away from her face, looking into her eyes. “Why not?”
“Because,” Amanda said lamely. She gestured vaguely with her hands. “I just don’t want to do the long-distance thing again.”
“Oh.” Kristy’s shoulders slumped a bit. “Dale.”
“No. I mean, yeah. Kind of. Not him specifically.” Amanda pulled herself up on the table next to Kristy.
“Dale?” Zoe asked.
“Just this guy I was dating a few years ago.”
“Not ‘just a guy.’ You were pretty nuts about him,” Kristy corrected.
“Because I was an idiot.” Amanda sighed. She didn’t want to relive that relationship, but it wasn’t fair not to clue Zoe in. “We’d been dating for a while, and things were going great. Thenhis job moved him out to Chicago. We decided we’d try to make it work, flying back and forth, calling every night, all that jazz. I really missed him, and after a few months, I decided I’d fly out to surprise him. I sure did surprise him, and I also surprised the woman who was in his bed.”
