Page 52 of The Reading

“How many women have you gone to dinner with?”

I started choking on my answer.

Chanel grinned. “I’m actually talkingdinner,Wyatt. Not anything…else.”

“Oh…uh…uhm.” I had to think about that answer for a second. Hockey had been all about getting laid, and college had been about fun. Plus, the decent guy in me hadn’t wanted to get serious with another woman when I knew that I’d always be comparing her to Chanel.

“Too many or none?” she asked, and I could see the corner of her lips twitch.

“Well, there were a couple of girls in college that I’d taken to dinner a time or two,” I finally answered. “But…I think that’s it.”

“I get that…hockey might not have been the idea time in your life to date, but what about since you’ve been back home? No dates?”

“Is this an interrogation?” I hedged, wondering where she was going with this.

“Can I be honest with you?”

“I’d prefer it,” I told her truthfully. “Good or bad.”

“I’ve liked you since high school,” she confessed, and her words hit me like a hockey stick to the nuts. “I had the biggest crush on you, and I think I still do.” Her face was turning red, and I thought that it was endearing how she was trying to be honest and brave through her embarrassment. “I just want to know if…I don’t want to run into a fan club at the supermarket or post office.”

“I haven’t dated-or anything else-since before I retired and came back home,” I told her. “The plan had always been to come back for you, Chanel. There was no way that I was going to let other women fuck that plan up for me.”

Her gold-colored eyes widened. “Uh…uhm…okay…”

*****

Chanel~

This was bad.

Like, really bad.

Instead of feeling special or wanting dinner to mean something, I wanted to strip the man naked and have my dirty way with him.

When I had first opened the door, it’d been hard to keep my tongue from hanging out. Wyatt had been gorgeous when we’d been younger, but the thirty-three-year-old man standing in front of me now was beyond gorgeous. He was a combination of gorgeous, sexy, confident, and delicious masculinity.

Screw dinner.

“What would you say if I told you that I wasn’t interested in going to dinner anymore?” I asked hesitantly.

His jaw clenched, but he said, “I’d respect that. I wouldn’t like it, but I’d respect it.”

“I…uh…”Go big or go home, right?“I think you’re misunderstanding me.”

Wyatt’s blue eyes flared. “I am?”

“It’s been fifteen years,” I reminded him. “I…it seems cruel to hold this off any longer.”

Wyatt took a tentative step towards me. “Putwhatoff any longer?”

“Kissing me,” I answered, and I’d never felt so anxious in all my life. I was taking Alessa’s advice and making the first move, and it was an unnerving thing to throw yourself at a man.

“Can I be honest now?” he asked.

I nodded. “Of course.”

“I’m afraid if I start kissing you, I won’t be able to stop.”

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