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“Huh, that’s interesting.” I bring my finger to my lips, tapping. “You see, I was stuck in an elevator once with a guy who, I’m pretty sure, after we were rescued, stood on the sidelines and dared me to sing.”
He flicks water at me this time, his small smile warming me. “It’s funny how things turn out sometimes.”
Something stirs low in my belly. It’s as if something is awakening, stretching, and it has me holding my breath. At this very moment, a big part of me wants to glide across the water and close the space between us to find out what it would be like to press my lips to his. But the other very real part of me is utterly terrified.
It’s been a long time since I let a man in like that, and before him, there wasn’t anyone. I don’t want to lose whatever this is with Sean, but I’m also finding it difficult not to want more. To explore whatever is happening and find out all it could be.
When I married Josh, I thought it would be forever, that he’d be the only man–always. But these feelings surfacing with Sean are new all over again, or maybe new for the first time. I’m notsure, and it scares me. I don’t know what to do with them or even if I should do anything about them.
The problem is when he pulls me close or tells me the exact thing that I need to hear and says things like I’m not alone anymore, I want to believe him. I want to hold on to him tightly and not let him go. I want to be brave and let that be true, believing that neither of us has to be alone anymore.
I release a long, slow breath.This is the last freaking thing I need to think about right now.
I avert my eyes from his heated stare and the ideas swimming in my head about what could be. I need a minute or maybe two to think about this and all the other things swirling within me.
Having an unusual loss for words, I smile back, wanting to believe that things really do turn out sometimes, and not only that, but when they do, they actually last.
Chapter 48
SEAN
“That isn’t even a word.”
“The hell it isn’t,” I challenge.
Andie’s lips pull to the side, studying the few letters she has left in front of her. Her hair is spilling out of the top of her head, and one lonely curl hangs just to the side of her face. She picks up one of her letters and chucks it at me, hitting me square in the chest.
“You suck, you know that? I can’t believe you think you can win with that.”
“Want me to get my phone, and we can look it up?”
She rolls her eyes and huffs as the corners of her perfect lips curve upward ever so slightly. There she is. My girl. She’s finally coming back to me.
These past few days, I’ve seen her slowly climb out of the despair and heartbreak she’d been drowning in. Her strength and resiliency inspire me, but if I have any say in it, no one will ever break her heart or hurt her again.
When I showed up at her house and asked her to come with me, I knew I had feelings for Andie. Strong feelings. But having her and Ax here in my house has shown me that this is how I want it to be. Always. There’s no going back to a life withouther, and I’m terrified that if this trade goes through, I’m going to have to figure out how to.
There hasn’t been a time in my life where I’ve spent this much time with someone outside of Shane and Mark. Waking to the sound of Andie singing to Ax, laying on the floor watching him learn how to crawl, sitting with her at night as she strums her guitar, talking about nothing and anything. It’s been the absolute best time of my life.
I don’t want it to end.
There have been moments over these past days where I’ve felt like she might be ready to explore more between us, and it all started in the hot tub. Andie’s eyes told me she was thinking exactly what I was thinking, but yet neither of us moved. I don’t want to push her too far or too fast, especially right now, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore it.
The question is, what do I do about it?
She picks up her remaining three tiles and throws them at me.
“You’re a sore loser.”
She stands, her hands on her hips, taking offense to my comment. “You’re the loser.” She grabs her mug, moving toward the kitchen, and I pick up the letters she pelted at me. “You big, fat cheater.”
“Baby, you and I both know I don’t cheat.”
In my peripheral, I see her stop dead in her tracks. At the pace of a sloth, I force myself to meet her gaze, knowing what I might find there and wondering if I can ignore it.
Those vibrant green eyes stare into mine, and there’s a level of intensity in them I’ve not seen before. One that stirs the fire in my belly that’s been blazing for a while, but I know if I make any move, it will spook her, so I keep my ass right where it is on the edge of the couch.
She doesn’t move, just stares at me, into me, and I need to know what she’s thinking because she’s a risk worth taking.
