He wasn’t sure he wanted to get that honest with her but at the same time sort of wanted to. “It’s easier. When I’m like this, people ask questions.”
“Like I’m doing right now. Sorry about that,” she said. “You just make me all mixed-up inside. I mean I know I shouldn’t be talking so much yet I can’t help it.”
She took a breath and he knew she was going to keep talking. She was so close, and that botched kiss in her kitchen hadn’t satisfied his yearning for her. He leaned in, slowly giving her time to pull away, and took his arm from her shoulders so she wouldn’t feel trapped by him at all.
He tried to make himself stop. Told himself if she looked scared, he wouldn’t kiss her, but then her eyes closed and he knew he wasn’t stopping. Damn his soul, he’d trade anything for just one taste of her. One kiss that ended like an embrace should. He wanted that. Not just for her, but for himself.
“I’m going to kiss you,” he said.
“I know,” she retorted. “I want you to.”
Her words tore through the last of his resistance. He leaned in and this time his mouth brushed hers. Knowing her fear this time, he just stayed there for a second and then her lips parted and he felt her tongue on his. Sliding into his mouth lightly. Like everything about Indy, she moved with a quickness and surety that he wondered if she was allowing her passion to override her doubts.
He opened his eyes and noticed hers were still lightly closed; he angled his head to deepen the kiss because she tasted so good. Addictive. Like the first time he’d cooked a meal that had made him famous. He felt her hands brush against his stomach, then slowly move to his sides. She didn’t pull him closer and he kept the space between them, though her fingers were still on him.
He lifted his head. Her lips were moist from his kiss, slightly swollen, and her eyelids fluttered open. She watched him for a long moment. Then sort of nodded, more to herself than to him.
“That wasn’t what I expected,” she said.
“Me either,” he replied. He realized that if he didn’t move and leave this spot right now, he was going to be tempted to kiss her again and again until they were both nude. And that felt like it might be more than she wanted. He needed specifics from her, but this wasn’t the time for that.
And that wasn’t why he’d come to Gilbert Corners. It wasn’t why he’d brought her, which also had nothing to do with his reasons for being in GC. But he’d needed to somehow help her past that fear. Kissing Indy had been the only thing he could do after he’d brought her here to the one spot in this area where he’d always felt comfortable.
Up here, it had never mattered if he’d been an ass because he was too rich, too spoiled, too good-looking to realize that he wasn’t better than everyone else. Up here, he was enough in his grandfather’s eyes. Up here, his parents were still proud of him.
Now he had a new thought for this spot he hadn’t visited in over ten years. Up here, Indy thought he was a better version of himself than he’d ever been.
“Ready to go back?”
No.
“Yes, I think so.” That was the safe answer. And right now when she was feeling all this chaotic nervous energy, that was the only thing she could do. “Thanks for bringing me.”
He didn’t say anything, just extended his hand to her as they walked back down the incline toward his bike. They got there and he handed her a helmet, but before she put it on, she said, “That view up there. The way Gilbert Corners looks perfect. I want people to have that feeling when they are in town.”
He shook his head. “Perfection isn’t what you are looking for.”
“Well graffiti sure isn’t it either,” she said.
“I know. Some happy medium. I like your shop and I like the coffee place, but there are too many abandoned buildings on Main Street. I guess that’s why you’re filming your show here.”
He had a point. She’d been reaching out to businesses, but the uptick had been slow. She knew once she started getting some more of the buildings renovated, she would entice more retailers to town. She wanted Gilbert Corners to match the image in her head. The one she’d create with her television show and her own imagination.
She smiled at him because he watched her with that intense gaze of his. “Now I don’t want to sound like everyone on the town council, but I think that’s down to the curse.”
“Too late—you sound like ’em. But I know what you mean. Dash and I shouldn’t have turned our backs on the town,” Conrad said.
“Does that mean you’re going to move back here?”
He shook his head. “No. But the trust can do more, and they will. Maybe we can get some more shops open on Main Street and offer incentives for remote professionals to settle in town.”
Of course. Despite what he’d said when he’d showed her the town from his favorite vantage point, Conrad didn’t want to be part of the town. It wasn’t something she understood, but maybe as she got to know him better, she would.
“I think I can help with that when you are ready. I have a lot of contacts from the revitalization we did in Lansdowne.”
“I’ll make sure to let Dash know.”
They drove back to town and he pulled up in her driveway. Once she was off the bike, he nodded toward her and then backed up and drove off.