Page 35 of The No Try Zone
“Alright. Enough.” He steps forward and wraps me in a bear hug, his eyes darkening.
I’m breathing hard, my chest heaving even as his hold tightens, forcing my hands against his pecs. His gaze darts down as he wets his lips. Not that I’m looking.
“Do you remember the kiss?” he asks.
I don’t answer.
“The one in the bar, on the dance floor?” he continues. “Your hands were in the same position.”
I swallow, forcing myself not to react. That kiss has appeared more than a few times in my dreams, and only now do I know that it was real. It was…spectacular.
His voice gets even lower. “I remember it. And I remember the way you felt in my arms.”
I do, too.It’s on the tip of my tongue to say it. But I stay silent, because for as amazing as that night was – what I remember of it, anyway – it doesn’t erase the fact that he was gone the next morning. He left, and he took my trust in myself with him.
“You know what else I remember?” he prompts.
I raise a solitary eyebrow.
“The way you looked when you lied and said you’d had better kisses.”
I scoff. “I wasn’t lying.”
His lips tip up. “You’re adorable when you lie.”
“You said that already.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true.”
I can give in.The thought reappears in my consciousness like a bomb. And I can’t. I absolutely can’t.
“Let me go, Colin.”
He releases me, but not before I see the regret that passes over his face.
My gut twists. None of this feels right. Every part of me wants to melt against him, consequences be damned. But I step away and lift my chin. “I have paperwork to do. You can clean this up.” I gesture at the fallen towel and bottle of cleaner and do what I’ve made sure to do every time since I saw him again: be the one to leave first.
Chapter13
Colin
“THERE’SNOTHINGAVAILABLE?” I repeat, unwilling to believe what the gate agent is telling me.
“I’m so sorry. The early winter storm is making it impossible to get any planes out or in.” To her credit, she looks genuinely apologetic. Which is something.
But it’s still not getting me to my sister’s to see her and Mom for Thanksgiving. Shoulders drooping, I mumble a thank-you and push back through the throngs of grounded passengers. I’m no better by the time I make it back to my car and pull up my sister’s number to call her.
“How bad is it?” Erin asks by way of hello, her voice humming through the speakers.
“Bad.”
“But you’re still coming, right?”
I sigh. “I’ve looked at every possible flight, Erin.”
“Well, damn.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
