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Annie should have found it comforting, but instead she seemed to be having a delayed reaction to Dave’s accident. The images kept playing back in her head exactly as she’d captured it in her camera. The second-by-second still frame in her mind of the cars bumping and spinning. Except this time she knew Dave was the driver of the car.
She felt the impact and jolt as the seat belt held him in place and then felt the car spinning out of control. She started to hyperventilate again, and pushed herself away from the table, mumbling some excuse to Jared.
What was wrong with her? She made it as far as the hallway leading to the bathroom before she sank down on the floor, burying her head in her hands.
She’d forgotten about this. Forgotten in the years she’d been away photographing other drivers that she hated watching the men in her family race. Annie didn’t like the worry that seized her whenever Dave got behind the wheel and didn’t let go until he was safely out of that car.
It had been the same with her father. For years she’d been able to hide and push those feelings aside, but not anymore.
She felt a hand on the back of her head and glanced up at Jared. “Want to get out of here?”
She nodded as he tugged her to her feet. They left the restaurant, but he didn’t direct them to his car. Instead he twined their fingers together and led her down the historic district of old Cocoa Beach. The buildings stood like silent sentinels of time. They’d weathered hurricanes and population booms, and witnessed the birth of the space program.
She wanted to be like that?a witness to the action going on in her life but not affected by it. But she never had been. Not even with the camera around her neck could she keep the distance she craved. And she had a feeling this racing season was going to be a test for her…one she wasn’t exactly sure she could pass.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
She thought for a moment of playing dumb. Of saying something like “about what?” but she liked Jared and didn’t want to play games with him. So she shook her head. “Not really.”
“Was it me?”
She glanced over at him, not sure what he meant.
“Some women find me so attractive they have a little trouble breathing.”
She gave him a wry glance. His silly conversation distracted her as nothing else could have. “Sorry, it wasn’t you.”
“A man can hope,” he said.
But she knew she hadn’t really hurt his ego. The night air was cool, and slowly she felt the panic that had attacked her at the restaurant fade away. “Sorry about that.”
“No problem,” he said. “It’s been a long day.”
“Were you worried about Tucker? Dave said the two of you are tight.”
“You asked your brother about me?”
He was deflecting her question, but she’d avoided a topic she didn’t want to talk about so she let him. But in the back of her thoughts it reminded her that they were both hiding things. “He was warning me about you.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“Just that no one really knows that much about you.”
“No one knows all that much about you, either.”
She took a deep breath. Either this date was going somewhere or it wasn’t. At this point she could keep up the silly chatter and never go out with him again or she could push deeper and see if there was anything worth knowing beneath the facade of the charming man.
He said nothing in response and she knew this was a test for him?her way of gauging him to see if he was the kind of man she wanted to spend more time with or not. She liked him. Liked his smile and his laugh.
“I’m not sure you’re the right man for me. And?” she took a deep breath “?I’m afraid to trust my instincts when it comes to men.”
Jared drew her to a stop, pulling her into the shadow of the storefront and wrapping one of his big hands around her waist. He drew her into his body, putting his other hand on her face and tipping her head back so that their eyes met.
“You’re not like the other women I’ve dated,” he said, so softly she almost couldn’t hear his words.
She started to speak to apologize for not being what he wanted, but he put a finger over her lips, then rubbed his thumb back and forth over her lower lip until her mouth tingled and she wanted more.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins and anticipation tightened her skin. She leaned forward, going up on her tiptoes, and met his mouth as he descended toward her. His lips weren’t light or tentative, but were firm and forceful as he opened his mouth over hers and kissed her.
She braced her hands on his shoulders and threw herself into the maelstrom that was Jared. She forgot all the warnings from Dave and her own internal fears that she was drawn once again to the wrong man for her. She’d never craved a kiss from a man the way she wanted this kiss from Jared.
