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Urgh.
I’d flirted with him relentlessly since I’d become a woman, and he’d ignored every advance I’d made.
Laughing me off at every opportunity.
Until last week.
My stupid body throbs with need at the memory of our closest encounter, and I replay it in my mind.
FLASHBACK
The way he’d looked at me when Ivy and Griffin left, like a rabbit in the headlights. Was he scared to be alone with me?
“I’ll help you clean up,” I said, swallowing a mouthful of beer.
“It’s okay, you head home.” Kevin waved me off, and I summoned my bravery from deep within, grabbing empty beer bottles and following him into the kitchen.
Kevin was heavenly to look at, and as usual, I took my time in drinking him in. His skin was beyond its natural olive color, now a deep brown after years of working outside in the sun. His deep blue eyes avoided mine as he wiped down the counter, stacking the leftover food in the fridge.
He looked tired, a different sort of tired than usual.
“Are you okay, Kev?” I asked, reaching for his arm when he tried to move past me. “You look tired.”
Kevin, at well over six feet, stared down at me, his lips parting as though he was going to say something. I moved closer, and he didn’t move a muscle. Usually, he backed away, but this time, he stared down at me. I lifted my hand to his cheek, stroking it slowly, my fingers tracing over the stubble I’d longed to touch. He exhaled, his hands hanging limply by his sides as I moved closer. His head dipped as mine lifted, and dizziness overtook me. Centimeters kept us apart, but I needed him to narrow the final gap.
I couldn’t do everything; he had to show me he wanted me too.
For a second, I thought he’d do it.
I even closed my eyes, tilting my head to the right and hoping he angled his head too, his lipsso closeto mine.
Then…
“I can’t.”
And he was gone.
Just like that.
CURRENT TIME
In the days that followed, I was on cloud nine. It didn’t matter that he didn’t kiss me; henearlydid, and that was something. Kevin didn’t sleep around; not in this town, anyway, so I felt special.
But then… his disgust today at the thought of me sleeping around.
I was protecting Ivy, but I couldn’t tell him that. Better for him to think that of me than know the truth, that his daughter is with his best friend behind his back.
Fuck.
What a mess.
2
Shelby
“Did you know?” Kevin rasps a few days later, staring at me over the counter as I stack the bar’s dishwasher.
I don’t want this conversation, but clearly, Kevin does.
