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“You could never ruin this night.” He smiles softly.
“Melting into a puddle of tears in the middle of the dance floor might serve to prove you wrong,” I say as a joke, but deep down I know that it wouldn’t take much to send me there.
“Refer to my earlier statement.” His thumb moves from my cheek down my jaw, and in that moment it takes everything in me not to push up on my toes and kiss him.
I can’t of course. Because no matter what Kam says, that would most definitely ruin the evening, and perhaps even our friendship.
I blink, quickly dropping my face back to Kam’s chest. My gaze once again collides with Kane’s, who’s dancing with Marie, a petite dark haired girl with big brown eyes and full lips. She’s really quite pretty and I can’t help but wonder why he doesn’t see that in her. Or at least not enough to give her anything more than a drunk induced one night stand.
I instantly feel sad for her. Kane is beautiful. Well, in the manly sense of the word. Every inch of him is carved perfection; from his dark hair to his even darker eyes, to the incredible curve of his jaw which is currently clenched so tight I wouldn’t be surprised if his face hurt.
My eyebrow shoots up in question, letting him know I see him and I’m more than a little confused by why he’s glaring at me like I’ve rubbed him the wrong way when in reality we’ve barely spoken.
He turns for a moment before once again facing me. His expression is slightly softer but his eyes are no less intense. His gaze jumps to the side of Kam’s face and then back to me before he abruptly steps away from Marie and quickly exits the dance floor.
I watch him walk away before my eyes dart to Marie who seems even more confused than I do. Poor girl.
Shaking my head, I refocus on Kam–the reason I’m here–and do my best to shove his sexy as sin but jerk brother out of my head. I’ve already got enough on my plate right now. I don’t need to waste my time obsessing over someone I likely won’t see again for another three years–considering that’s how long Kam and I have been friends and this is the first time I’ve ever met him.
****
I wish I could say that was the last I thought of Kam’s brother. I wish I could say I forgot him the moment he walked away, but that isn’t true. The expression he wore when he looked at me across that dance floor had been burned into my retinas and I couldn’t shake the feeling that left me with.
It took several days before the effects of that night finally faded away. But even as they did, even after Kane returned to Chicago and things returned to normal, I would still wake in the middle of the night seeing those eyes.
A part of me thought maybe it was just his obvious good looks. You’d have to be blind not to be effected by a man that looks like Kane Thaler. The same could be said for Kam as well. But somewhere deep down I knew there was more.
I guess you could say I was drawn to Kane from that very first night. A pull I didn’t understand stayed with me for years to come. It lived in the background, simmering just out of sight and it wasn’t until I was staring into those dark eyes again years later that it all came back like a gust of wind, sucking the air straight from my lungs.
Only I wasn’t the same girl. When our eyes met over Kam’s casket I knew none of it mattered anymore. I was heartbroken–devastated–not sure how I was going to go on living knowing I’d never see Kam smile again. Never get to count the blue and green speckles in his eyes or hear him call me butter bean. Knowing his sweet laughter would never fill my ears again, I felt nothing but an empty void where my heart used to be.
Until suddenly it started beating again…
I open my heavy eyes to find Kane’s gaze locked on mine, his face hovering just inches above me.
“You were dreaming.” he murmurs, brushing his lips lightly against mine. “What were you dreaming about?” he asks, rolling me to my side so my face goes to his chest.
“You,” I admit, hanging on the cusp of sleep, not entirely sure if I’m actually awake or still dreaming. “It’s with you now,” I mutter as I slip back under.
“What is?” I hear him in the distance.
“My heart.”
