Page 33 of Bachelor Remedy

He had no idea how much time had passed when she pulled away, just enough so that her mouth still hovered over his. She was breathing as hard as he was, and after a few seconds, her raspy chuckle worked into him like a caress. He would have kissed her again, but she was talking…

It took a moment for her next words to compute. “Stop worrying about my age and tell me how you really feel.”

Bees were swarming through his thoughts. Slowly he tuned out the buzzing and focused on her lazy-lidded eyes and swollen lips. Ally. So, so beautiful. Wayward strands of her silky black hair stirred in the breeze. She looked thoroughly…kissed. No, it was worse than that. A sick feeling rushed in, dousing the heat that had been muddling his brain only seconds before. What had he done?

“Ally, we…” We what? Not we, I. How could he make things right? Apologize? She’d kissed him, yes, but he’d let her. He’d more than let her; he’d kissed her back without an ounce of restraint and precious little self-control. And that wasn’t like him. He’d never lost his mind quite like this before, not even back in high school when he was young and reckless and…and she made him feel things he’d never felt before.

Languid brown eyes stared back at him without any regret or hesitation reflected there. Which made him feel about a million times worse.

“Oh, no…” Shifting, she sat up straighter. The fingers of one hand burned into him where they still clutched his shoulder. Her other hand rested on his forearm. “You’re not going to say we shouldn’t have done that, are you?”

Reaching up, he removed the hand on his shoulder so he could think. One deep breath later, he did the same with the other. Another breath and words still weren’t coming to him, not rational ones, anyway.

He went with “Yes, I am. That’s exactly what I’m going to say. Except it’s I… I shouldn’t have—”

She interrupted, “You mean I shouldn’t have? I kissed you.”

“No, I mean, I know you did. But I shouldn’t have let you.”

“Let me? You seemed to enjoy it. In fact, you kinda took over there at the end. Which is no surprise. You’re used to being in control, huh? To having things go your way?”

“No! I mean, yes, of course, I enjoyed…kissing you. Obviously. But we shouldn’t have. And we’re not going to do it again. I should have, I mean I shouldn’t have…and, yes, I like being in control of…certain things. But what does that have to do with this? I don’t even know what I’m saying…” Words lost, thoughts jumbled, he scraped a restless hand along the bench beside him.

Eyes sparkling, she watched him, her mouth a perfect, satisfied half grin, and he realized just how ridiculous he must seem.

He chuckled, but it sounded painful even to him. “You have this singular ability to leave me tongue-tied.” It was this way she had of not saying anything and then finally saying exactly what she thought. And this complicated, intense, amazing, uncomfortable thing that had just happened between them wasn’t helping.

She beamed. “You want me to untie it for you? Bring it here again, and I’ll give it a shot.”

Like that. He groaned. “Ally, please don’t…” Her eyes were fixed on his mouth, and he wanted to kiss her again. And again. And forever, maybe. What was he thinking? He couldn’t. This was insane. “You.” A long moment stretched between them while he stared at her and tried to come up with words.

“Me?” she finally prompted him.

Beside him, his phone chimed. He snatched it up, grateful for the reprieve. Coward that he was. Reading the text, he practically leaped to his feet.

“I need to go. I told Bering I would meet… We’ll talk about this later, okay?”

She reached over and patted his arm. “Okay, but just so you know, I’m going to hold you to that.”

* * *

“YOU SET A date yet?” Bering quipped when Tag joined him. They walked toward the house, where the senators were due to be arriving soon.

Tag chuckled because it was all the response he could manage. He needed to get a grip.

“Ally-oop!” Bering called and then took a moment to laugh at his joke. “Did not see that coming. She’s barely over five feet tall. She played you like a violin.”

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