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Silence passed. Their gazes locked and didn’t waver. Sunny had looked into Pete’s eyes so many times, but not once had she noticedthis. Had it always been there? This tension? Thisache?
“You’re messing with me.” Sunny’s voice seemed thin and high.
“My crush on Cici was always the kind I could show. My crush on you is the kind I don’t want anybody to see.”
Sunny became aware of her shifting feet only after Pete glanced down at her sandals. The world felt unreal and unstable all of a sudden.
“Look, Sunny, I’ve been around you guys a long time. Like, all my life. I’ve watched you grow and turn into women. I’ve watched you go from little backwoods thugs who could build a tree house better than any boy to taller backwoods thugs who steal dogs from abusive owners. I’ve seen Cici get her heart broken and I’ve seen you break about a million others. I’ve seen how your father raised you tough as nails and what good and bad came from that, and I’ve seen you both break in half when he got cancer and died. I’ve seen it all. I know you in and out.” Pete paused and drew a deep breath. “Friendship like that doesn’t come around every day. Women like you two don’t come around every day. I’ve never wanted to muck it up by pushing for more.” Pete stripped off his baseball cap and swiped his forehead, like he might be sweating, too. “But dammit, Sunny. With you, I want more.”
“You know—” Sunny’s voice came out sounding less joking than she’d intended “—if you kissed me, you’d probably feel like you were kissing your sister.”
“Well.” Pete tossed his cap on the couch. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Sunny swallowed the giant lump that’d formed in her throat. What was wrong with her? Why wasn’t she laughing this off? Why wasn’t he?
“Unless you feel like you’d be cheating on the cop. You just said it wasn’t serious, that you’re not dating. But if it is...”
“It’s not.” It wasn’t for her. Was it for Sean? After this morning, she wasn’t so sure. Still, they had no promises, no exclusivity. What harm would come from kissing Pete, then dissolving into laughter when they realized how silly they’d been?
Pete smiled at whatever expression arrested her features. “C’mon, Sunny Skye.” He took her hands and drew her in, against his chest. “It won’t be so bad.” He pushed the hair back from her face, his fingers calloused and knuckles bruised from all the outdoor work.
Sunny was suddenly aware of all of her body parts, like she was a million pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. She didn’t know where to put her hands, so she just rested them on his biceps, which were firm. Images of Pete last summer, in a T-shirt, sleeves rolled up and sweat on his brow as he built a new structure for his dogs, flashed through her mind.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Sunny whispered as he drew her closer and his breath passed over her lips. She’d never fantasized about Pete in the past, not even as a teenager. He’d always just been Pete. Good ole Pete. Or, as Cici said, Pesky Petey.
He didn’t feel like that now. He didn’t feel like a comfortable shoe or a pesky neighborhood boy. He felt warm and arousing, the nearness of him getting in Sunny’s blood and under her skin. Maybe he’d been doing that for decades, and only now was Sunny realizing just how much of him she’d absorbed.
His fingertips were on either side of her face, gentle, like the way she’d stroked his beard. “Last chance,” he whispered.
Any reply Sunny had was swallowed up in the sensations that enveloped her body once Pete’s lips touched hers. Her words melted and her body dissolved against the soft tease of his mouth and tongue. His kiss wasn’t greedy or forced, but drew her in, an invitation to peek inside, to know him differently. She felt different layers of him come alive beneath her touch. Some were familiar, but heightened, such as the tender and selfless man who spent his time working tirelessly for others. And some were strangers, the owner of deep desires kept under careful control for a long, long time.
Sunny’s knees buckled, and she held fast to his arms. Pete slid one around her waist to steady her, then kissed her once more, soft and deliberate. He drew back slowly. “Well, I don’t have a sister,” he said, his breath ragged. “But I don’t think kissing her would feel like that.”
Sunny touched her fingertips to her cheeks, then her lips. Her heart thundered in her ears. Only one thing was going to happen if she didn’t leave, right this second. “I have to go.”
She expected Pete to get angry or ask her a million questions, but he only gave that half smile. “Was it that bad?” he said. “Or was it that good?”
“I have to go,” Sunny repeated, the words coming too quickly. She grabbed her purse, didn’t even pause to pet the puppies and bolted toward the front door.
Behind her, coming through the raging pulse in her ears, she heard Pete say, “Okay, Sunny Skye. You know where I am.”
