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“Are you okay?” Kent’s deep voice was laced with concern.
She blinked repeatedly and nodded. “I’m good.” Her gaze lifted and met his. “How about us? Are we good?”
“We are. And now I should help you clean up the dishes before I leave so you can get some rest before you have to go to work in the morning.”
They both went to stand at the same time and bumped into each other. Her heart skipped a beat. She should pull back, but she didn’t want to.
As a teenager, she’d wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Kent. When she’d thought her sister was dating him, jealousy had burned within her. She’d done everything she could to ignore the reaction. She’d told herself that Kent was off-limits forevermore. Who knew that she’d been utterly and completely wrong?
Her heart beat so loudly now it echoed in her ears. She noticed he didn’t move either. Did he hear her heart? Did he know she longed to feel his lips pressed to hers?
For so long she’d been fighting her feelings for him because of her sister, but now she had her sister’s blessing to act on those feelings. But did Kent feel the same way? Did he want to feel her lips pressed to his?
She lifted her gaze until it met his. He stared deeply into her eyes. There was desire reflected in them. No one had ever looked at her that way before. She thought her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest.
She wanted to reach up and pull his head down to her, but her body refused to cooperate. It was as though a spell had been cast over her. She stood there with her pulse racing while waiting and wondering what Kent was going to do.
She willed him to kiss her. She’d never wanted anything more in her life. Every cell in her body longed to feel his touch—to feel his strong arms wrapped around her as his lips moved over hers.
And then he lowered his head toward her. Her eyelids fluttered shut. His lips pressed to hers. She couldn’t believe this was happening. It was something she’d wanted so badly when she’d been a teenager and then again when they started working on the inn, but she never thought it would be possible.
If this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. Because his kiss was so much better than anything she’d ever imagined.
The sound of a dog barking on the beach had Kent pulling back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
She opened her mouth to disagree with him but then silently pressed her lips together. What was she supposed to say? That she vehemently disagreed with him? That if the horribleness hadn’t happened with her sister they might have gotten together long before this?
None of that seemed to matter if he didn’t feel the same way about her. And yet there was nothing in his kiss that said he hadn’t enjoyed it too. Maybe there was another reason he’d pulled away.
“I’ll get these dishes to the kitchen.” He scooped up their now-empty coffee mugs and headed inside her apartment.
She stood there alone on the deck for a moment, gathering her thoughts. How was she supposed to go in there and act as though nothing had happened? She didn’t know if she was that good of an actor.
She drew in a deep breath, hoping it would calm her racing heart. She held it for a moment and then slowly blew it out. She repeated the process. And then she walked inside, hoping when she spoke that her voice didn’t betray the most unsettled feelings he’d evoked in her.
When she found him standing at the sink with a soapy cloth in hand as he washed one of the dinner dishes, she was touched. She’d never had a date where the guy hung around to do the dishes. She thought of telling him that she had a dishwasher discreetly tucked away behind the cabinetry, but she didn’t want to do anything that might upset him.
And so she picked up a drying towel and set to work drying the dishes and returning them to their proper spot. It was all very domesticated, except for the part where they weren’t speaking to each other.
When the last dish was washed, dried, and put away, he turned to her. “Thank you for dinner. It was the best I’ve had in a long time.”
“You’re welcome.”
He turned and found the kitten sitting there. “Goodnight.” He paused and glanced over at her. “What are you going to call him? You can’t keep calling him kitty.”
“I…I don’t know.” She had been procrastinating. She’d been thinking that the cat’s family would have come for him by now. But with each passing day that was becoming less likely. “What do you think I should call him?”
“Shadow?”
She shook her head.
“Blackie?”
She shook her head again.
Kent was quiet for a moment, as though giving the idea some serious thought. His gaze moved around the room, as though he were searching for an idea. Then his eyes widened as a smile lifted the corners of his lips. “I know.”
“Are you going to share?” She was really curious to hear his idea.
