“What was that you said once about being able to relax just like any other person? I get nervous. Just like any other person. I usually just hide it well.”
My one hand was in my pocket but the other brushed against hers every so often while we walked. As I said it, she wrapped her little finger around mine and squeezed softly before withdrawing it again. “It sucks that you have to hide it.”
“Nah. I don’t have to hide it. I just do because it’s easier to pretend it’s not there than to give in and let myself feel it.” I shrugged, pulling up short and looking down at her.
Her face was softly lit by the light of the moon as she lifted her gaze to mine.
“Whatdoessuck is that I can’t kiss you right now.” I reached up to cup her jaw and my thumb trailed along the soft, smooth skin on her cheek. “I can’t kiss you, right?”
“Right,” she said after a long moment of staring up at me, her tongue coming out to swipe across her lips. “We really do need to keep our relationship professional. Things have been much too messy between us.”
“Right,” I repeated, but I couldn’t deny that I was disappointed despite not being surprised. “Just so you know, I want to kiss you again. The only reason I didn’t take a chance is because I think John flirting with you like that was beyond disrespectful, and I don’t want to be anything like him.”
“You’re not anything like him,” she replied immediately, then sighed before she turned her head to look out at the navy water. “Should we sit? I just want to stay here for a while and breathe it all in. If you don’t want to get sand all over your suit, though, I understand.”
“Fuck the suit.” I grinned and sank down, stretching my legs out in front of me as I got comfortable.
As she settled in beside me, I was still disappointed but I was also strangely content. Just sitting here talking to her was more than good enough for me after the last few days of separation. Funnily enough, I’d missed her. All of her. Isabella and my Bella.
She was a little bit of both of them tonight, and I found I liked her like this, too. Maybe even more now because she was made up of all those parts and there wasn’t one of them that I didn’t want to get to know better.