“I appreciate that so much,” he said softly. “But you kind of got in the way of my apology.”
“What?” she asked in disbelief. “What do you have to apologize for?”
“For ghosting you,” he said, smiling. Casey laughed a little. The weeks of forlornly looking at her phone came back in a rush.
“I kind of get it,” she said. “I’d be pretty pissed to hear anyone talking smack about me behind my back.”
“I know why you did it,” he said, looking into her eyes with an open expression. “You had already explained it to me. The only reason those words hit me so hard was because of my own issues.”
“Oh?” Casey asked, surprised. Jake seemed so calm and confident all the time. It was hard to imagine him having any issues.
“I’ve never fit in with my family,” he said. “I’ve got this chronic feeling of being left out of anything, especially if it’s fun. The thing is, I built that barrier. It’s not real; it’s only in my imagination.”
He turned his face away, shaking his head and sighing. Casey realized they had stopped moving and were standing completely still in the center of the dance floor.
“If I had my shit together, I would have laughed it off, walked right in there, and fought for you. Instead, I ran like a damn coward and decided to call off the whole thing.”
“Without telling me,” Casey said, laughing softly.
“Without telling you,” Jake agreed. “Ghosting you was immature. Even if I decided to end it, I should have been man enough to talk to you in person. But the reason I couldn’t do that was because I knew, if I ever saw you again, I’d never be able to let you go.”
“Oh,” Casey whispered, her hands tightening on his shoulders as she pulled him closer.
“I should have fought for you,” he said softly. “I should have marched right in there and told you I’m the ride of a lifetime, so good, you’ll never want to get off. I should have shown your friends I know how to get down. For fuck’s sakes, weren’t any of them at the poetry reading?”
Casey laughed, remembering the night. “No, I don’t think they were, but that’s an excellent point. You do know how to get down and dirty.”
“So,” Jake said, slipping his arms around her waist. “How do you feel about us? Do we part ways now?”
Casey felt his strong arms pulling her close, and they began to sway, their bodies in perfect harmony. She felt like her skin was singing, and her soul was making the music. She was so happy just to be with him again that the conversation almost felt like an afterthought.
We both know what’s in each other’s hearts now, though.
“No,” she whispered. “I want you. I want to give us another chance.”
The smile that broke across Jake’s face was the purest expression of joy Casey had ever seen. His blue eyes lit up, and there was a flicker of flame that reminded her of the lion that lived within him.
He kissed her, just a soft touch of the lips. She shivered, feeling the heat and the promise behind that kiss. Somewhere deep inside, she knew that the two of them were meant to be. They would continue to be drawn together, no matter how hard they tried to fight it.
“Do you want to go out tomorrow night?” he asked.
Casey nodded eagerly. “Just the two of us,” she said.
He nodded. “Of course.”
For a few minutes, they swayed to the music. Casey rested her head on his chest and sighed with pleasure as she felt his heartbeat thudding against her cheek. When she blinked her eyes open, she realized that other couples were slowly moving away, and the music had stopped.
“The music stopped,” she said softly.
“Not for me, it didn’t,” Jake said.
Casey sighed with pleasure, holding him close. She didn’t want to stop dancing. They made their own music, which was obvious to her.
The intensity between them grew, and Casey looked up to see Jake was watching her, almost as if he was waiting for her to look up at him. She knew that he could feel the heat rising between them. It was mystical, maybe even spiritual, but it could not be denied…they could feel each other’s emotions, especially when it was love and desire.
He kissed her again, and it was so soft, gentle, and chaste that it made Casey’s body scream for more. She understood he was restraining himself with great effort, and she didn’t want him to…she wanted to make love to him right here and now.
She couldn’t just go home with him, though. As much as she hungered and craved for him, she’d been through too much over the last few weeks to jump straight back into where they had been before. He intoxicated her, and Casey worried that it blurred her judgment.