“This hasn’t been home for ten years,” she said, finally tilting her head back to stare up at him, stubborn expression in place. “And I’m—”
“Don’t say engaged.”
“Well, I am still in possession of the ring so—”
“A ring you don’t wear on top of the fact he’s not here when you need him, no one has met him… Want me to continue?”
“Facts are facts, Oz. Maybe it’s semantics or—I don’t know what it is but until I hand over the ring I feel as though I am still…entangled. I’m not going to argue about this with you. I just wanted to say that… there can’t be a repeat of last night. Ever.”
“Got to you that much, eh?” A huff of frustration left her and he grinned. “You can’t deny it, sweetheart. I felt it, too.”
“I am denying it.”
“Oh? Let’s try it then. One kiss,” he said, lowering his hands and stepping toward her. “So you can prove there’s nothing left of the chemistry we’ve always had.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you. Besides… we would never work.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that, and if it’s not enough, let me remind you that I’m en—”
He lowered his head and trapped the word between their lips, the cap she wore hitting his temple in the process.
She stood with her back to a piling, and with him in front of her, it afforded them all the privacy possible on the summer-crowded beach.
Until Devon apparently came to her senses and shoved him away.
Her lashes fluttered and he saw the effect she’d never been able to hide from him. The kiss had stirred memories, feelings, emotions from their past together.
A child’s happy shriek sounded nearby, but he didn’t take his gaze off of Devon. “Looks like things with us work just fine,” he said softly. “Why don’t we—”
“Don’t.”
“Devon—”
She wouldn’t look at him but turned without another word, tugging the cap back down over her face once more from its kiss-skewed position.
Short of chasing her down the beach, there was little he could do except let her process what had happened and go from there.
Still, he couldn’t help but wonder where it could go when she was right—nothing had really changed…
Unless he could get her to see she was needed and wanted—loved—here more than anywhere else?
“What are we going to do?” Dara asked Devon that evening.
Devon blinked, drawn out of her dazed state and the memory of the kiss with Oz that had shattered her in so many ways.
She’d finished her run and come back to the house to shower and change, avoiding the television crews still parked outside by walking several streets out of the way so that she could sneak down alleys and yards to enter from the back door unnoticed.
After the shower, she’d texted Ted the details for her father’s funeral but nothing else. His attendance would tell her what she needed to know.
Especially since he still hadn’t responded to her voicemail.
The Babes had stayed until dinnertime, then left to care for husbands. As the only single amongst the Babes, Tessa had stayed a bit longer, until time for her date.
Now the moon rose high over the ocean and the house was eerily quiet. “Do about what?” she asked.
“The funeral. The fact that it’ll happen day after tomorrow? What’s going on with you? Have you heard a word I said?” Dara asked.