Chapter 13 #2
But how do I forget the desire in his eyes? The praise that tumbled from those same kissable lips makes my core throb.
I plunk my forehead against the table. It was one kiss—well, make-out session. I’m giving it too much importance.
He said he wants me to want him.
But then what?
Was he just having fun?
If that’s the case, why is he at the beach every morning?
Does he want to make-out with me to pass the time?
Is he horny and none of his normal hook up partners are available to visit a tiny town in Washington?
Imagining Landon with another woman makes my palms sweat. I rub them across my thighs. My emotions can’t be trusted. My heart shouldn’t get involved, and my head is cloudier than a summer thunderstorm.
Emberly hitches her eyebrow and stares Kelsey down.
“I’m looking out for her. She likes commitment and stability before she lets her heart get involved, but if she’s already kissing him, something’s wrong.
” She squeezes my hand. “Your ducks are out of alignment, and you have the potential to break your heart before the house is finished. What then? You still have to work with him. Then he’ll finish and disappear, and you won’t know what to do with yourself because everything happened too fast for you to think it through. ”
“I hate that you’re so smart.” My ducks are scattered like Mardi Gras confetti. As a rule, I don’t kiss on a first date. Usually not even the fifth. When I go on dates, which doesn’t happen very often.
Not a lot of opportunity in our tiny town.
Landon and his praise sneaked past my carefully crafted defenses. If I let him, he’ll creep deeper and deeper, storming my internal castle, and leaving me in ruins.
Someday I want to do the married-with-kids thing, but my career is more important than ever since Dad had his heart attack. The town needs me at my best, and my best doesn’t go around making out with strangers I barely know.
My best keeps all hormones, pheromones, and attractions in check and thinks through the consequences of my actions and how they will impact the town and my career.
I want to be mayor.
A great mayor doesn’t kiss billionaires who can’t be trusted.
Kelsey waves her hands across the table like she’s clearing smoke from a snuffed-out candle.
“What if she jumped into making out with him because he’s the one?
Did either of you ever think of that? His soul might speak to her soul on a subliminal level, so she doesn’t need extra time to get to know him. ”
“Do we believe in soulmates?” Emberly crinkles her nose like the idea is akin to rotten garbage left in the sun for a week and a half.
“Why not?” Kelsey says.
“Hon, if Sebastian were your soulmate, wouldn’t your souls have spoken already? You’d be living your happily-ever-after instead of sneaking time with him by being his daughter’s nanny.”
Kelsey reels back like she’s been slapped. “I love Abby. I’d babysit her without Sebastian in the picture.”
“I know, but still, it’s a little backwards, loving him by taking care of his kid. Some people might think you’re using her to get to him.”
“Can we get back to Zoe and Landon please?” She nudges me with her elbow. “Go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“She falls in love with him, but he doesn’t love her, then leaves.” Emberly taps the table again with each bullet point. “Lucky uses that information to gloat for all eternity while Zoe looks at the estate and remembers Landon and her broken heart every day.”
When the consequences are listed with military precision, it’s even more important that I keep my lips to myself.
“Wow. I knew you were pessimistic, but that takes it to a whole new level.” Kelsey sticks out her lower lip. “I worry about you, Em.”
Emberly shakes off Kelsey’s concern. “I’m fine. Worry about Zoe. She’s the one destroying her life.”
“That won’t happen. You’re right, Em. I’ll keep my lips to myself, and nothing will change.”
Kelsey’s face falls. “That’s boring.”
“I’d rather be boring and safe than risk ruining my reputation over a man who can have any woman he wants.”
“He wants you.” Kelsey tugs on a stray hair by my ear. “That means something.”
My heart blooms under her observation. Landon wants me. I mean something to him. Enough that he chased me down the side of the cliff begging me to spend more time with him, to kiss him again, to share the things I’m most passionate about with him.
I can’t let any of that mean anything. Not if I want to protect myself. “I don’t know him. He might be a player with a new woman in every town. I might be another name on a growing list of make-out partners.”
Kelsey chews the corner of her lip, opens her mouth, then shuts it again. A sigh shakes her chest. “If you believed that, Zo, you wouldn’t need us to convince you not to make out with him again.”
Well, crap. She’s got me there.
It all comes down to what’s more important to me: a possible love connection or the town’s respect.
Will the town ever respect a mayor they call Baby Girl?
What kind of relationship can I have with Landon?
My brain skips back and forth between how amazing it felt to kiss him and fear that it was just a kiss. If I didn’t rock his world like he rocked mine, all this worrying is for nothing.
Besides, what can I offer a man like Landon besides a fling?
I’m not a fling type of woman.
But I don’t want to be Baby Girl either.