Brooklyn went completely still. Only, instead of pushing me away as the kiss continued, she allowed herself to relax. By the time I pulled away because we both needed some air to breath, I felt like I’d figured something out. She had her lips parted and glossy from the kiss and our spit, a dazed look on her face as she looked up at me.
I smirked. “Brooklyn, you’re still making that face, you know? The face you always made when we kissed, like it absolutely consumed you until you couldn’t think straight.”
As my words came out, whispered in the space between us, I could see her eyes clear. My smirk just grew wider. She tried to break away from me, but I held her to me gently, leaning down once more. She squeezed her eyes tight and sucked in her lips, but I just chuckled. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, down her nose to the tip, both cheeks and her eye lids, then back to her forehead. When I pulled away, she was gasping, her whole body leaning against me for support.
I was tipsy, or I wouldn’t have had the courage to go this far while risking messing things up with Brooklyn. Still, I couldn’t help the curl of satisfaction in my chest to see her still reacting to me. If I could still make her look at me like that with just a kiss, then…it was possible she hadn’t forgotten about me, either.
That didn’t matter much in the current situation, though. If she really was engaged, I would have been doing something immoral, something that would probably anger both Nora and Brooklyn. But I had an intuition about my hunch, and I didn’t think I was wrong.
“Brooklyn,” I murmured, getting in real close so I could almost whisper the words and she would still hear them. “Does John, or Kevin, make you feel like this with just a kiss?”
She looked at me with wide, surprised eyes, and I smirked with the sudden feeling of triumph, even though nothing was confirmed yet.
I fucking knew that something was up and I had every intention of letting her know that once again she’d be mine.
Chapter Five
Brooklyn
I was feeling a little light headed as I practically ran out of the bar, leaving Abe behind me. My lips were still tingling from his kiss, and my cheeks felt warm, though that could have been from all the mimosas I’d had.
On the street, I held a hand up to hail a cab, and lucky for me, it was just the right time for cabs to be flooding the area, bringing people out to have fun and taking back those that were already done. As soon as a taxi stopped In front of me, I jumped in, worried Abe might follow me, and I didn’t know what I would do them.
Damn. Just…damn.
“Where to, miss?” the driver asked, making me realize we hadn't even left.
I gave him the address I was heading to, surprised at how shaky my voice sounded. I brought my fingertips up to my lips, and felt them trembling. Actually, I felt like my whole body was trembling. And all just because of a kiss from Abe.
Did I really think I could move on from this? I thought to myself with part sarcasm and despair. How the hell could that be possible when he can play my body so easily, like he was born to do it. I’m never going to find someone else like that.
The thought might have been a bit overdramatic. I wouldn’t be the only woman in the world that didn’t end up with her first love in the end, because that was what Abe was to me. He’d been all my firsts, and while I was still too young to be saying he would be my last, in that moment, I truly believed it, and I was scared.
“Miss? We’re here.”
I looked up. I hadn't even noticed the car came to a stop, but right outside was the apartment building Nora got me a place to stay at.
“Um, thanks,” I mumbled, looking through my purse for some bills. I checked the meter then handed the cash over and got out of the car.
I hope Nora left, I thought as I walked inside the building, wrapping the jacket tight around me because of the cold weather. If there was one thing I hated about New York was how much colder it was compared to home. The sun was almost always out back in California, but there, even when the sun was out, I’d still feel like I was freezing because of the wind.
When I got to the apartment, I paused outside, listening. Nora should have left right after me, but she also had a spare key to the place. It was how she could get in and out while I overslept every day. After taking a few seconds and hearing nothing, I pulled out the keys and unlocked the door. I pushed it in, still listening. The place was dark, and I turned on the lights.
“Nora?”
I walked through the rooms, and only when I was sure she really wasn’t there, did I close the door. I leaned back against it, my thoughts naturally going back to that kiss.
Why did he do that…why the fuck would Abe do that to me!
I could feel my whole face burning. Maybe it was the alcohol? Whatever reason, he thought I was about to get married, and he could still do something like that. Had Abe really changed so much since I last saw him?
Or… did he actually regret what happened before?
I shouldn’t be thinking that way, but I couldn’t help hoping for it. I still loved him, after all. Even if we still didn’t end up together, it would make me feel better if he still felt the same way that I did. Thinking we’d both suffered the past six years made me feel just a little better.
At that moment, though, there wasn’t only pain. My body felt painfully aroused, even with the distance I’d put between Abe and me in a hurry, just thinking back to that kiss was enough to get my body fired up.
Since I broke up with Abe, I hadn't dated anyone. The only person I’d ever had sex with was Abe, and I had been celibate after that. I didn’t even touch myself, not like I did before I knew what sex with someone else felt like.