I chuckled. “I think he fell in love with you.”
When she smiled, something crackled between us. Our eyes remained locked together. And before my brain could fathom it, she leaned forward and grazed her lips across mine.
Fuck.
My breath left me with a desperate moan as her lips glided over mine. They tasted just as sweet as I thought they would, and I felt my entire body react. From the acceleration of my pulse to the thickening behind the zipper of my jeans. Because Jesus Christ, this woman had me to so turned on I couldn’t think.
But I couldn’t kiss her back. I wanted to. Badly. But I had to stop it, because if I didn’t I would do something stupid like take her beautiful face in my hands and kiss her a thousand ways to Sunday. And I wouldn’t stop there. After losing myself in her lips and the torture of her succulent mouth, I would take her to my room and peel every inch of clothing from her luscious body and spend the rest of the night making love to that amazing body of hers until neither of us could take any more.
I throbbed in my jeans just thinking about it and shifted awkwardly, resisting the urge to adjust myself.
I abruptly pulled away, and she looked up at me, startled.
“I’m sorry, did I misread the moment?” she asked, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“No, you didn’t,” I said, hating myself. My eyes dropped to her luscious lips, and my entire being begged me to kiss them again.
To just say fuck it and dive right in.
But I wouldn’t.
Because this girl deserved more than what she was asking for.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Cassidy,” I said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “But you’re kissing a goddamn frog. You should stick with the princes.”
She looked down and her brow wrinkled with a frown as she considered what I’d said.
When she looked up, the brightness was gone from her eyes. Either I had hit some kind of nerve or she felt rejected.
In a way, I kind of needed her to feel that way. Because if she came at me with that kiss again, I couldn’t be held responsible for what happened next—which would be a whole lot of kissing and a fuck-ton of me exploring every inch of that beautiful body of hers with every part of my body that was capable of getting hard.
I was so lost thinking about the things I wanted to do to her, I didn’t realize her cab had arrived.
“I suppose I should get going then,” she said, climbing off the table and pulling on her denim jacket. I watched her pick up her guitar. “Thanks for tonight. I had a good time.”
I climbed off the table and followed her over to where the cab was waiting. Something hung in the air between us. Something unsaid. A broken kiss. A missed opportunity. An instant attraction. She bit down on her bottom lip, and I fought back a groan, wanting desperately to taste her again.
But the moment passed quickly, and she turned away to open the car door.
“Will I see you again?” I asked before I could stop myself.
She turned back to look at me, those fucking amazing blue eyes sparkling like sapphires in the dim light.
“I don’t think so. I’m leaving town tomorrow.” She held up the cash I’d just given her. “Now that I can afford that bus ticket out of here, who knows where I’ll end up.” She smiled and damn if that smile didn’t crush my heart.
With nothing left to say, she climbed in, closed the door, and the cab pulled away. I watched it leave the parking lot, and as the taillights disappeared into the darkness, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had just let slip through my fingers.
CASSIDY
I was pleased I was leaving town so I never, ever had to see him again.
I was embarrassed. The kind of embarrassed where you wished the floor would open up and swallow you down to Middle Earth.
Thinking he was interested in me, I’d practically shoved my tongue down his throat, when in reality he was just being nice. I groaned and felt my cheeks flush with heat. I looked at the six fifty-dollar bills in my hand and felt relieved. They were my ticket out of this damn town.
The lights were on in the house when the cab pulled up at the curb, and I couldn’t get inside quick enough to show Missy the money. I hadn’t seen her to tell her about the gig at the clubhouse, but I knew when she saw the money, she’d be just as excited as I was.
She was in the bedroom we shared, sitting on her bed scrolling through her phone.
“Get packing, honey. We’re out of here,” I said excitedly, grabbing my already packed bag out from under the bed. I swung around, my heart blooming with excitement and an urgency to leave. “Where do you think we should go? New Orleans? Atlanta? New York? God, I’ve always wanted to go there.” I grabbed my gold Hope necklace off the shabby old dresser by the window and put it on. “They say Central Park is mind-blowing when it’s covered in snow.” I turned around. Missy hadn’t moved and was as still as a mouse. “We can go anywhere we want—”