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He moved toward her, took her arm.
She stepped back, gaze slanting to the kitchen. “I’ll…um…see you later.”
“Mel—”
But then she was through the front door, and he was heading after her, following her out onto the porch.
“Mel,” he said again.
And fuck, there were tears on her lashes.
He could no more turn away from her sadness than he could turn off his attraction to Teresa. Quickly, he closed the distance between them, tugged her into his arms. “Mel, honey, I’m sorry. I thought you knew how I felt about Teresa. I-I…I didn’t—I wouldn’t have kissed her if I’d known you felt that way about me.” Lie. “I wouldn’t have kissed her without talking to you first.”
That,at least, was the truth.
But he barely had a moment to sit in it because then Mel was spinning in his hold, glancing up at him in surprise.
“I—”
She blinked.
“You—”
He sucked in a breath, waited for her to get a full sentence out.
And when she did, it was fuck’s all away from what he’d expected her to say.
“It’s—this”—she waved a hand at her face, the hurt, the tears, the flush on her cheeks—“it’s not for you.”
He frowned. “Then who?”
“Asher.”
* * *
He’d rocked back on his heels, momentarily stunned into silence.
But by then she’d already pulled away from him, was walking down the driveway to her car.
“Mel,” he said, chasing after her. “What do you mean it’s about Asher?”
A shrug, her pace increasing. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Mel,” he began again.
“It’s fine, okay?” she snapped. “I don’t need you to—”
“Did he do something…”
“Something?” Her smile wasn’t amused. “Yes, he didsomething.”Now the pain came back into her eyes. “He’s not interested.” A shrug. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I don’t need rescuing.”
“Oh, honey,” he said.
“Idon’tneed rescuing.”
“But you might need a hug considering that it stings like hell when someone doesn’t return your feelings.”
Her protest had already been forming on her lips, but his words had her freezing. “I—”
