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“You never planned to sell your condo.” She nodded. “I get that now.”
“But it’s not that simple. I didn’t stop and consider that I was going to pretend to be interested in selling. All I could think was that I didn’t want to lose you from my life.”
Now she was really staring at him. He couldn’t read her expression at that point. If she could just give him a clue as to whether or not he was off base, it would help.
But no. He had to get this out. Even if she turned and walked away, he’d know he said what he needed to say. He’d put himself out there.
No regrets.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “If you’d found something amazing, I might have been open to it, but being around you was never about looking at properties. Looking at properties was about being around you.”
There. That said it better than anything he could say. It summed the situation up perfectly. He wanted to be around her. Whether it was looking at condos or watching the game or enjoying happy hour on this very rooftop, it didn’t matter.
But now he had to wait for her response.
10
Kimmie couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of Jesse’s mouth. If she’d dreamed of what could happen, it wouldn’t be this amazing. But she felt frozen as she tried to craft a response.
She had to say something.
“It had nothing to do with selling condos for me either,” she finally blurted.
The words didn’t seem adequate, but it was too soon to say the L-word. All she knew was that she felt this attraction to him. It was more powerful than anything she’d experienced before.
Kimmie took a deep breath and tried again. “Last night, I wasn’t mad at you about not wanting to sell your condo.” She stared down at the ground to avoid looking at him. If she looked at him, she’d feel intimidated by those intense brown eyes. “I was worried about my career, but I just felt like you’d been playing some sort of game for the past week. For me, it wasn’t a game.”
And now she knew it hadn’t been a game for him, either. He’d said he wanted to spend time around her. To get to know her better. And last night, she’d pushed him away.
“I wanted to help you,” he said. “And I still want to help you. But I hate that you may have lost this country star’s business.”
Kimmie shook her head. “We’ll find Luke a place. If we don’t, he’ll move on. But I’ve jumped in with both feet. I’m hoping to help sell that condo next to you and the one in Green Hills and all the others I’ve identified the last day or two.”
She had to do this on her own. Although she was touched that Jesse wanted to give her a boost, she’d only feel good about things if she found her way herself.
“At least let me introduce you to some of my friends,” Jesse said. “I make the introductions, and you work your magic.”
Biting her lip, Kimmie stalled. She couldn’t turn down an offer like that. Making connections was an important part of the work she did. But all she could think was that if Jesse was introducing her to his friends, that meant they’d be spending loads of time together.
That was all she wanted.
“Can we enjoy some alone time first?” she asked. “I feel like there’s been something in the way of us really getting to spend time together from the start.”
This condo thing had been in the way. Trying to figure out if he was going to sell and how to find him a place that would make him happy. She wanted the business to be separate from getting to know him. She wanted to go to dinner and take a long walk and really learn more about who this fascinating man was.
“I’d like that.” Smiling, he took a step closer to her, his laptop still clutched in his left hand. He settled his right hand on the small of her back and she moved toward him, smiling up at him. “But first…”
He lowered his mouth to hers, drawing her into a slow, breathtaking kiss that released all the pent-up longing of the past week. She rose on tiptoe and returned the kiss as his arms went around her, pulling her closer to him. It wasn’t just the kiss—that was electrifying enough—it was just how right it felt to be in his arms, on top of this building, with the entire city surrounding them.
Kimmie knew, in that kiss, that this definitely was where she belonged. She’d found her home.
EPILOGUE
Everything was going wrong.
It had been a full three months since he’d met Kimmie Hart, and this was supposed to be the most romantic night ever. But the caterer was late, there was a woman sitting by the pool reading a book, and it was due to start raining at any moment.
Jesse’s phone buzzed, jerking him from his thoughts. He stared down at his screen.
