Page 20 of Love Like Ours

Her head tilted. “What about you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think he was that into me.” She slapped his shoulder playfully.

He set his drink down and turned slightly towards her. “What about you?”

“Max is…” She paused and he quickly wondered if she was going to continue or change the subject like he remembered her doing every time she was uncomfortable. “It’s complicated,” she finally finished after a very long heartbeat.

He went back to eating. “Tell me about school,” he said, deciding to switch up the conversation himself. “What was your favorite part?”

Her entire demeanor changed as she chatted about her classes. She seemed to love the computer programming and graphic design classes the best and went on and on about creating animated characters now that she could no longer use her cats. Then she showed him a short film she’d created using the school computer systems, and he realized just how talented she was. He’d watched hours and hours of the older stuff she’d created with her cats and could see how far she’d come since then.

“It’s a far cry from my secondhand camera.” She laughed as she looked down at her phone.

They had finished eating and were huddled around her cell phone, watching all the cartoon shorts she’d done.

“You have great talent for creating characters but also storytelling. I bet that not a lot of students in your class had that.”

“No. It’s why Max and I got along so great. Him being the storyteller and director that he is.”

“You really like him.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Shit.

“He’s… not like the other writers and directors we worked with. I was only there for a little over a year, but some of them were so full of themselves, it was almost cliché.”

“Do you think he really moved to Pride because of you?” he asked, kicking himself. He wanted to change the subject. No. What he really wanted to do was kiss her. Damn.

“No. His mother and sisters live just outside of Portland. I think he wanted to be closer to them. His father passed away a few years back. His youngest sister… has health issues.” She shook her head.

He nodded. Okay, so maybe he misread the guy.

“His other sister is going through a divorce. She has a kid and the legal battle is… messy.” She shrugged. “He’s been trying to help out with that as well as his other sister’s medical bills.”

Yeah, he had misread the guy. The only thing worse than knowing his competition was famous, wealthy, and good-looking was knowing he was a good soul.

Palmer’s heart sank a little in his chest.

“Sounds like he has plenty of reasons to move to Pride,” he added softly.

Her eyes moved up to his. “Is it sort of strange?”

“What?”

“That at one point, all I could think about was being with him and yet…” She stopped.

“Yet?” he asked when she didn’t continue.

“Right now, all I can think about is how much I want you to kiss me.”

His sunken heart jumped, and he couldn’t hide the quick smile.

“I guess there’s something I can do about that.” He shifted closer until they were a breath away.

“Palmer?” Her hands moved to his shoulders, pulling him closer to her.

“I’ve been thinking about kissing you, too,” he admitted just before he laid his lips softly over hers.

“You make my heart skip.” She sighed as he shifted closer.

“You make mine stop altogether,” he admitted as he brought her to his lips. The kiss deepened and he marveled at the taste and soft feel of her. Her short nails slipped into his hair, holding him, begging him to never stop.