She raised her head and looked at him.Rare and precious?Her?She half expected to see a teasing light in his brown eyes.Instead he radiated sincerity.The handsome lines of his face, familiar and strong, made her heart beat faster.One corner of his mouth tilted up.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”he asked.
“Like what?”
“As if you’ve never seen me before.Did you think I would have asked you out if I thought you were unattractive?”
“No.It’s just…” She folded her arms on the table.“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I’m not a complete jerk.”
“That’s not what I meant.”The night closed around them, making her feel that it was safe to expose bits of her soul.“I never understood why you did ask me out.I always felt so inadequate.”
“Inadequate?In God’s name why?”
His genuine surprise made her laugh.“Thank you for that.”
“For what?”
“Acting shocked.”
“I am shocked.”He leaned back in his chair.“I knew you felt young and inexperienced, but I had no idea you felt…” He paused, searching for the right word.
“How about completely out of my element?”
One dark brow raised slightly.“I can’t believe that.”
“Think about it, Adam.You were the heir to all the Barrington wealth.Too damn good-looking, charming, funny.You always knew what to say and do.Everyone liked and admired you.I was nobody.”
He gave her a slow smile that sent heat coursing all the way to her feet.Her toes curled inside her white pumps.
“I had no idea I was looked upon so favorably.”
“Oh, stop.You knew it then and you still know it.You were the catch of the decade.How could I not feel inadequate?I kept waiting for you to figure out I was just some gawky teenager who’d had a crush on you since she was twelve.”
As soon as the words came out, she wanted to call them back.In all the time they’d dated, even after they’d become lovers, even after he’d proposed, she’d never confessed that to him.A heated blush climbed up her chest and throat, then flared across her cheeks.She started to stand up, but he shot his hands out and grabbed hers, holding her in place.
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said.“Not after that bombshell.You had a crush?On me?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” she said, daring only to stare at their joined hands.His, broad and tanned, next to her paler skin.He turned his wrists so that her fingers rested on his palms.He brushed against the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrists.Electric sparks flew between them.She half expected to see little flashes of light bouncing over the table.
“Iamsurprised.I never knew.You didn’t say a word.”
She risked glancing up at him.“Why would I have gone out with you if I hadn’t liked you?”
“I knew you liked me, but a crush is different.From the time you were twelve.”He drew his eyebrows together in concentration.“Did something special happen, or did you just wake up one morning and realize you lived next door to someone wonderful?”
“Stop!”She pulled one of her hands free and hit him on the forearm.Before she could retreat, he grabbed her hand back.His thumbs began to trace slow circles on her palms.“You taught me to swim that summer.”
“I remember.You were always so serious.All legs and eyes.”
She grimaced.“Skinny and flat-chested.”
“You were only twelve.”
“Some things never change.”
The slow movement of his thumb continued.Jane found herselfthinking more and more about his touch and less about what was being said.It felt good to have a man hold her hands.This man, especially.It felt good to be in his company, talking about each other and the past.
