Page 62 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

He didn’t respond and I turned to find him giving me a pained kind of stare.

‘Was that a bad question to ask?’

‘It’s not that.’ He scrubbed at his hair. Pushed his glasses up his nose. ‘Shit, I don’t know what to do.’

I stepped in his direction, pulled forward by the ache in his voice. ‘Do about what?’ I asked softly.

‘I came to Ivy Falls to kill time until I go back to Senegal. Not in a million years did I think I’d meet someone like you.’ He ran his hand over the back of his neck. ‘It’s kinda freaking me out.’

‘Good freaking out or bad?’ I inched closer and he sucked in a thready breath.

‘Good,’ he hissed as my hand slid into his.

It was like time stopped. Holding us in a place where the only people who existed in the world were the two of us. I tried not to let my body shake. Give away how much this moment was messing with my heart and my head.

I’d sworn that my only focus over these last two years was to get sober. To create a stable life for myself. Dating, intimacy, were never part of the plan, but as I stood in front of Ford while he gave me a look that spoke of quiet kisses and more slow dances, I questioned what I wanted.

Only hours earlier I’d told Maisey I wasn’t ready for this, but Ford made it too damn easy. He was sweet, kind and had an instinct for when it was the right time to speak. The right time to be quiet and listen.

He stared at me with gentle eyes and all I could think was that he could be my test case. The bike with training wheels I needed to experiment with before I was ready to get back on the road to dating again. It was almost too perfect. We could be together for the rest of the summer and when Doc Sheridan returned, he’d leave. No worries. No regrets.

Face. Forgive. Forward.

This was forward and if I wanted it I had to let him know.

‘Tell me what’s spinning through that beautiful brain because your silence is killing me.’ He dragged a hand over his mouth like he was keeping himself from saying any more.

I let my fingers walk down his collar and my hand stopped over his heart. Another shaky breath escaped his lips.

‘What if we made a deal?’ I said, stepping in between his legs. The heat of him pressed against my skirt making my blood freaking sizzle.

‘What kind of deal?’

‘While you’re in Ivy Falls, we go to dinner. Maybe the drive-in. Have a little fun in the dark. Nothing serious. No commitment. When it’s time for you to leave, we part as friends.’

‘Are you sure?’ he said with a stutter.

I curled my fingers into his expertly starched shirt. ‘Yes, Ford.’

‘Okay, but I need a little clarification about the fun-in-the-dark thing,’ he said roughly.

‘Do you?’ I stood on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on the hollow of his neck, dragging my tongue over the top of his collarbone and chasing that with a line of kisses up to the corner of his ear. ‘Am I making things clearer?’

‘Repeat your question from earlier.’

I liked how his voice went gritty. ‘Ford, do you want to go to my apartment?’

He gave me that boyish smile that set my skin on fire.

‘Yes, please.’