Page 20 of A Place to Call Home
He expected Bianca to be surprised. And she was. But her gaze wasn’t on him; it was frozen, wide-eyed on the space behind him.
“She’s right behind me, isn’t she?”
Bianca only nodded.
Craig didn’t look back, though he turned his head just enough to direct his next words at Ada. “You’re probably entirely freaked out now.”
“Could you give us a minute, Bianca?”
His sister-in-law snatched the chips from his hands and fled without a second glance.
Craig pushed out a tight breath and slowly turned around. Tension rolled off of him. He’d managed to mess things up again. How many times could he do that before she just walked away?
Ada stepped up to him. “Craig.”
“If you just want to go, I—”
She set her hands on either side of his face and held his gaze. “I don’t run out on people. I never have. I’m not so easily scared off.”
His shoulders rose and fell with a tight breath. “Even if a guy you’ve known for only six weeks says he’s falling in love with you? Most women would run and never look back.”
“Then it’s a very good thing I’m not ‘most women.’” She slid her hands to his shoulders, very nearly embracing him.
Relief. Amazement. A little confusion. He was feeling all of it. But also a surprising amount of hope.
He wrapped his arms around her. “You really are out of my league.”
“Something to shoot for.”
He bent closer, pulling her to him. His mouth brushed over hers so lightly that his lips hardly felt the kiss, but his heart definitely did. His pulse hammered through every inch of him.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and whispered his name.
His next kiss was ardent. Fervent. And she matched him with exactly the kiss he’d been dreaming of for weeks, a kiss telling him that her feelings ran as deep and passionate as his. That she was falling in love with him too.
Laughter floated in from the house. Craig broke the seal of their lips but didn’t release her. “If we just stay in here, do you think they’ll leave on their own?”
She pressed one more quick kiss to his lips before stepping backward. “You need to go be a good host.”
“Being a good host is not that important to me.”
She laughed. “You’re only saying that because you don’t want to go back inside.”
“You’re going to make me, aren’t you?”
She held her hand out to him.
He took it, but shook his head. “You’re so mean.”
“A good point guard knows when to take her team up the court.”
The metaphor earned her a kiss on the back of her hand. Then the tips of her fingers. Her palm. The inside of her wrist.
“Your guests, Craig.” She tugged him toward the door.
As the night dragged on, he regularly caught Ada looking in his direction. The entire party must have known they were both wishing the other guests would call it an early night. It was hard to be in love in public.
“Peter says he’s gonna come over and practice layups,” Jack said to Ada as the three of them were cleaning up that night after the guests finally left to go home. “And we’re gonna work on three-pointers too.”
