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“I owe you an apology,” he said next, and it took me by surprise.
I raised a brow at him, but he stopped dancing.
“Would you like to go for a walk?” He held out his hand.
My eyes darted between him and Mayor Callahan.
“I’ll tell you why I went behind your back.”
Damn him. I liked answers, so I took his hand. He led us outside to the gardens of the gala. He didn’t stop walking until there was enough space between us and the party.
I crossed my arms because it was chilly. He instantly took off his jacket and wrapped it around me.
“You look nice,” I admitted against my better judgement.
“The only reason I came was because I had a feeling you would be here.”
That certainly took me by surprise, but confused me even more in the process.
“You knew I would be here?” It was more of a statement than a question, but it had to be said.
He gave me a playful smile. “It’s kind of my job to figure things out, you know.”
Right. When I didn’t say anything, he kept going.
“I’m sorry about what happened at my parents’ house.” There must have been something in my face, because he quickly added, “Not about the kiss, but about the rest.”
“You wanted to kiss me?” The words slipped out before I could filter them.
Instead of answering, he tipped my chin up and then brought his face down to meet my lips. The kiss was soft, but his hold on me was not.
“I want to kiss you,” he said while looking down at me. “Regardless of everything Ori, I feel like there’s something between us, and I want to explore it.”
My lower belly exploded into chaos. My heart kept strumming even more violently than before.
“I thought I was like an annoying fucking little sister?”
Clark grimaced. “Babe, I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings. But I’m not sorry that I did it. You were infatuated, and it was wrong. I couldn’t let you keep throwing yourself at me.”
“And now I can?”
He sighed. “It’s different now, and you know it. And to be clear, you haven’t thrown yourself at me once, although I’d welcome it.”
Not thinking twice, I raised on my tip-toes, held onto his shoulders, and kissed him. It was the most nerve-wracking thing I had done, but I figured that he had already rejected me once and data showed that he wouldn’t be doing the same tonight. My blood hummed, electricity flowed, my knees shook as soon as I felt the warmth of his lips. Teenage me wouldn’t have survived this. It was everything I could have wished for and more when he kissed me back. I may have started the kiss, but he instantly took control of it. It wasn’t possessive, but it was passionate, much like Clark was. Everything about him screamed protector, and I had always adored that about him.
“What was that for?” he asked when I pulled away.
I shrugged. “Just testing to see if what you said was true.”
His shoulders seemed to lose some tension. “I was wrong to go behind your back and make your editor make you back off, but judging by the fact that you’re here tonight, I don’t think it worked too well.”
“This is my job. Just like you go out and catch the bad guys, my job is to report on them, and I’m not sorry about it.”
Clark took hold of my hand once more and led us to a bench, where he motioned for me to sit, then he crouched down by me as he took both my hands in his.
“I know it’s your job, so I want to make a deal with you.”
I bit my lip.
