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“I’m touched by your concern about my career, but walking you a few blocks won’t make me late for work.”
It’s only three blocks, I can survive standing next to John without my lady parts taking over my brain and making me act even more out of control than last night. Still, I quicken my pace until I make it to the front of my office building. “This is me,” I say in a too-high-pitched voice. “Will you go now?” I make a shooing gesture.
“Before I go, a goodbye kiss is encouraged but not mandatory.”
A shiver runs down my spine, and my lips tingle at the offer. I’m a loose cannon. “I’m not kissing you.” I make a futile attempt to resist.
John takes a step closer. “Would it be acceptable if I kissed you?”
My lips part in a breathless gasp as he takes another step toward me.
I should swipe my badge and run behind the glass doors where he can’t reach me. Instead, I stay glued on the spot, my lips parting further.
He moves even closer, eyes searching mine, probably for any sign of resistance. He won’t find any. All he’ll see is begrudging capitulation. Reluctant admission. But no opposition.
John closes the last of the distance between us, saying, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He cups the back of my head and kisses me.
I close my eyes and give in to the kiss. He’s an expert teaser, simultaneously demanding and giving. His lips brush softly against mine at first, then his fingers move to tangle in my hair as he deepens the kiss.
I respond, tasting his lips, the hint of coffee still lingering on them. My mind is muddled, but my body is very clear on what it wants. I don’t even care that I’m standing right in front of my office where all my colleagues can see me. I get lost in the kiss.
Too soon, he pulls back, resting his forehead against mine. “I’d better go now.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “You should.”
John looks down at me, our noses almost touching. “What a shame, though.”
He gives me one last peck on the lips and goes. I follow him with my gaze until he takes the first steps down to the subway station.
He stops, turns, and looks at me. When he finds me still watching him, his lips split in a smile with the power of a thousand suns and he waves goodbye.
I don’t know why, but that simple wave makes my heart race and my stomach bottom out.
Johnny Raikes is back in my life, and it looks like he’s staying.
36
JOHN
I show up at Marissa’s doorstep every day for the next three weeks, slowly making her initial semi-hostility turn into acceptance. She’s beginning to rely on me. So much so that one morning, when I’m disastrously late, I find her waiting for me seated on her front steps, despite the hour, despite the biting November cold.
When she sees me arrive, her face breaks into a huge smile and she hops down the last steps to come meet me. She grabs the coffee cup from me and gives me a peck on the lips. “I was beginning to think my coffee service wouldn’t show today.”
“Sorry,” I say. “Nora had a major wardrobe crisis.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“She threw all her clothes on the bed screaming she had nothing cool to wear to school.”
Marissa chuckles. “How old is she again?”
“Six.” I point at her still-flat belly. “I hope this one’s a boy. We’re much simpler creatures.”
That statement earns me a scowl. “Mmm, if he’s as mule-headed as you, we might be in for bigger troubles.”
“I prefer to refer to myself as consistent, reliable, prime husband material.”
