I’m just another middle-aged man in a suit and tie. She probably found someone else to flirt with after I was gone.
My insecurity settled like acid in my stomach and I felt uneasy. I didn’t want to prolong the rejection for much longer, so I took a step back and let her arms go. Just as I was getting ready to tell her it was fine and I wouldn’t bother her again, Rylee finally spoke up.
“I… I did wonder what had happened to you,” she admitted in a quiet, timid voice. “After you never came back, I started to think…” She shook her head and began speaking a little louder. “I wanted to know why you stopped coming to the coffee shop and if you’d ever come back again… It’s a shame I was already gone before you turned back up.”
Her expression held a hint of the insecurity that was hidden in her words. She had thought that I’d left because of her. Perhaps, she thought that she wasn’t good enough for me that night. It made sense since she was inexperienced, but no, that wasn’t the case. The night I’d taken her virginity was the very best night of my life.
“I promise you that I didn’t leave because of you or anything you did,” I assured her and took a step closer to her again. “I loved that night when we made love. I’ve thought about you ever since. No matter what other woman throws herself my way, I always ended up thinking about you, Rylee. I thought about your lush, long blonde hair and those bright blue eyes of yours that remind me of the morning sky. Oh, Rylee, I’ve not been able to get you off my mind. That’s why I’m here today. I want to pick up where we left off.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw Rylee close off. She looked alarmed, like a deer caught in the headlights. I wasn’t sure how to calm her down again, so I just carried on being honest. “Rylee, I know it’s all a little sudden, but I feel a real connection between us, one I’ve never felt with anyone else before, and I think I’d be a fool if I didn’t try to give it a real shot. Don’t you?” I explained, my heart pounding faster and faster in my chest.
The expression on Rylee’s face changed then. “That’s kind of hard to answer right now since, in case you forgot, you’re meant to be dating my mother,” she pointed out with a jab of her finger to my chest. “How would it look if you suddenly decided to date me instead? Have you even thought about what people might say?”
I stood there thinking her words over for a moment. “No, I hadn’t thought about that,” I finally admitted and let out a sigh. “I was just so excited to see you again.” I cursed myself. I couldn’t believe that I’d not thought everything through. I was usually a pretty logical person who was good at problem-solving, but right now, I felt like a lovestruck teenager again.
Rylee turned away from me, her long, golden hair blowing in the breeze. She looked out over the calming river and let out a breath. “Things are just too complicated for this to carry on, Spencer,” she began to say. “There are too many things to think about and I don’t want anyone to get hurt, especially not anyone I care about.”
I wondered if she included me in the people she cared about, but I guessed probably not. Still, the way she closed herself off to me and became much more guarded after I explained everything made me feel like there was something she wasn’t telling me. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just didn’t believe she was being a hundred percent honest with me.
I approached her and stood by her side. I pressed my finger to her chin and raised it, forcing her to look at me once again. Her expression was soft and conflicted. I could tell she was having a hard time dealing with all of this and I wanted to be able to reassure her. “I just don’t understand why fate would bring us back together like this if it wasn’t because we were destined to try again, Rylee,” I confessed in a whisper. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met and I want to be with you. Won’t you at least try?”
She tried to turn her head away, but I stopped her. “I don’t believe in second chances,” she told me in a mutter. Then she looked at me again and our faces were so close that it stole my breath away. Her deep sapphire eyes connect with my own and I could feel the palpable tension in the air between us. It was like our bodies were desperate to connect once more, pulling toward one another like magnets.