His brows hitched up when I shook my head. “None at all?” he pressed.
I rolled my eyes. “No, and this is why you didn't even recognize me at first.”
He looked affronted. “That's not fair. I graduated from high school fourteen years ago.” I opened my mouth to argue some random point, but he shook his head. He reached over, curling his arm over my shoulder and sliding his fingers into my hair. “Don't give me hell for not recognizing you. I would have. It's just I didn't expect to see you here in my family's home over the holidays.”
Heat flared in my cheeks when his thumb teased along the side of my neck right behind my ear. It sent a hot shiver through me. “Okay,” I managed to reply, hoping it wasn’t too breathy.
“Plus, you were a freshman when I was a senior.”
“Right, that's decades,” I countered dryly.
Ian rolled his eyes, his intent gaze on me. There was something about being encompassed in his attention. He was thorough, very thorough, and I knew that intimately now. I also sensed I'd underestimated him. He was a perceptive man, and I suddenly felt skittish under his gaze as if he could read more into me than I could read into him.
“I was focused on my grades in high school, not sports. I probably should’ve done some sports,” I said finally.
“What would you have done?”
“I have no idea. Maybe swimming. I’ve always loved swimming.”
His eyes shifted to look out the back window into the darkness. It had started to snow. Again. “No swimming right now,” he commented.
I laughed. “No, definitely not. It's freezing out.”
“We'll have to come back in the summer.”
“We?”
ChapterFifteen
Ian
I shifted my attention back to Jane, away from the darkness with the snow illuminated by the lights out the window. I hadn't been thinking when I said we should come back in the summer.
My heart twisted in my chest as I looked over at this girl beside me. She was a woman now, no longer the girl I didn't pay much attention to in high school.
It was true that I had made a point of not paying attention to any of Thea’s friends. We'd been at odds for most of our childhood, the two youngest in the family and frequently clashing. We were close now, and our relationship was different, but I didn't know any of her current friends. I didn't like thinking that I probably wouldn't have noticed Jane, even if she hadn't been Thea’s friend.
Now, I couldn't stop thinking about her at all. I recalled more details about her from high school—always wearing glasses, always quiet. She even worked part-time in the library at the school.
“Yes, we,” I finally answered.
“Us being here at the same time now was just a chance,” Jane replied.
“I call it serendipitous,” I offered, not sure why I was pressing this. It chafed at me that she was trying to compartmentalize me.
“Oh, how?”
I hadn't been planning any of this with Jane. But here we were now, and I’d just had the best night I'd had since I could remember. Tonight brought back memories of when I was younger, but not because I had amazing sexual experiences. Most guys didn't. We were all fumbling and probably careless, but I recalled the hum of anticipation, the kind of excitement that came from something new that you couldn't replicate.
This night with Jane was filled with new moments, though perhaps not new for me in the way it was for her. I still kind of couldn't believe she was a virgin and was no more. I'd fallen into a pattern when it came to sex, treating it solely as a way to meet needs, the way someone might grab dinner or take a quick shower when they were in a hurry.
I’d savored every second of tonight. I'd forgotten what that was like. I didn't want this to be compartmentalized to only tonight.
Jane’s eyes dropped from mine. She lifted her wine glass and took a swallow. I couldn't seem to take my hand away once I had touched her. Her skin was soft and silky along the side of her neck.
The fire in the fireplace cast a flickering glow over us. The basketball game carried on, with the sounds of cheering and the announcers following the game receding into the background.
When her lashes lifted and her eyes met mine again, my heart gave a swift kick. She had her glasses back on, and I wished I could climb inside her mind and read her thoughts. She was good at keeping her thoughts shuttered away.