Page 32 of A Little Bit Engaged
His eyebrows drew together. “You were stressed, on the verge of panicking. I wanted to distract you.”
Wanting to distract her wasn’t the same as wanting to kiss her. Maybe there was more to this. “Or maybe you kissed me so the photographers would catch us.”
He stopped, his face hardening. His jaw jutted forward. “No. I would never do that to you.”
Cara wanted to believe him, but at the same time, a part of her didn’t.
Couldn’t.
Her toes remained curled from his kiss. The tingling of her lips hadn’t stopped.
A hot kiss meant nothing to him. Brody Simmons kissed beautiful, sexy actresses for a living. He didn’t get into those kisses.
I wanted to distract you.
Apparently, he hadn’t gotten into this one. Not the way she had. Knowing that sucked.
“It worked.” She tried to keep disappointment out of her voice.
“Good, but how come we’ve never done that before?”
She wanted to groan, but she didn’t. “You were too busy dating girls from the cheer squad and gymnastic team.”
A goofy, lopsided grin formed on his face. “Those were the days.”
“You broke a lot of hearts.” Including hers.
“Mine got broken, too.”
“True.” She couldn’t count the times she listened while he poured out his sorrows when that happened.
They went around the block. A mother carried a baby in a front pack while holding the hand of a little girl dressed in pink and purple.
He glanced behind them. “I don’t think anyone is following us.”
Thank goodness. Cara’s pulse hadn’t settled. This was more excitement than she was used to—kissing a hottie actor and being caught by paparazzi. Doing a jigsaw puzzle sounded nice and boring, exactly how she liked things.
“Let’s skip the store and go to my place,” she said. “I don’t want to take another chance of being spotted.”
“Sounds good.” He hit the key fob, and the car doors unlocked. “Who knows what the reaction to the interview will be? We should turn off our phones and not worry about it until tomorrow morning.”
Guess that meant he was planning to stay at her place again.
A shiver inched along her spine.
Brody was a longtime friend, but being around him disconcerted her. She didn’t know if she should treat him like a guest, family, or…
Maybe she was overthinking this. Her tingling lips, too.
As long as he didn’t kiss her again, she should be fine with him around. At least, she hoped so.
♥ ♥ ♥
Eating a home-cooked dinner, sharing a bottle of wine, watching Loki select a wedding invitation, and putting together a puzzle relaxed Brody. The tension seeped from his muscles. The knots all but disappeared. Kicking back with Cara made him forget…everything.
No stress, only laughter and a good time.
He placed another puzzle piece of the windmill on Cara’s side of the table and then raised his glass. “This is exactly what I needed.”
