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Chapter18
Jace had wanted to kiss her since the first time she took a seat at his bar and smiled at him. He’d wanted to kiss her before she said a single word to him, and the more he got to know her, the more he’d wanted to kiss her. When he’d realized she was the one advertising the room for rent, he’d been torn because of the overwhelming attraction he felt for her.
What the hell, he thought. Why not tell her that?
“I almost didn’t move in because I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time we met.”
“That long?”
“Yep, and every minute since then.” He kissed her again, because they had a lot of time to make up for now that the kissing portion of the program had begun.
“Jace?” a voice called from outside the doors to the bar. “Are you still here?”
He released Cindy so quickly that they both stumbled as they parted. Taking hold of her arm, he helped to steady her. “I’m still here,” he called to Matilda, the night manager. “Just leaving now.”
“Ah, okay,” Matilda said when she came into the room. “I was going to lock up.”
He took Cindy’s hand and headed for the door, handing a bag of cash and credit card receipts to Matilda. “Have a good night.”
“You do the same.”
This was already shaping up to be the best night of his life since his kids were born, and it wasn’t over yet. At least he hoped it wasn’t.
Still holding hands, they walked through a dark, quiet town that they had mostly to themselves at that hour. He wanted to say something to her, but he wasn’t sure what, so he stayed quiet while wondering what she was thinking and feeling. Had that kiss rocked her world the way it had his? Was she dying to do it again the second they got home?
It’d been years since he’d been anywhere close to something like this. The last time had been when he was first seeing Lisa and had been completely overwhelmed by feelings he’d never experienced so intensely. Unfortunately, those feelings had been exacerbated by his rampant drug addiction. He’d screwed that up royally, which worried him as he started something with Cindy. She’d already had more than her share of grief. The last thing she needed was more.
“You’re very quiet all of a sudden,” she said when they were almost home.
“So are you.”
“That’s your fault.”
“How’s that?” he asked as they approached their place.
“You kissed me senseless.”
“Did I?”
“You know you did.”
“You did the same to me.” Jace used his key in the door and stepped aside to let her go in ahead of him.
During the summer months, when the doors to the bar were open, he would’ve wanted a shower immediately after sweating his balls off for hours. But with the weather turning cooler, the doors had been closed, and he hadn’t worked up a sweat.
Now that they were in the house, he felt uncertain about how to pick up where they’d left off in the bar. Until Cindy turned to him, dropped her purse on the floor and put her arms up around his neck.
“Okay, then,” he said, smiling.
“Are we going to pretend that we don’t want to continue the conversation from the bar?”
He placed his hands on her hips and smiled down at her gorgeous face. “I’m not pretending.”
“Neither am I.”
“And this is what you want? I’m what you want, even with everything you know about me?” he asked.
“You’re what I want because of what I know about you.”
