Page 5 of Reckless
I felt it low in my stomach, annoyingly immediate.
I should have looked away.
Instead I made the mistake of fully meeting his eyes.
Something in his expression shifted.slightly.Enough to make me aware of the line of his throat, the dark fabric stretched over his shoulders, the simple male ease of the way he took up space.My skin went hot.
God.Great.Fantastic.
I looked down at my plate and reached for more rice I did not need.
“Maybe you need to stop meeting men online,” Isabel said.
“Or start meeting them in costume stores,” Charlie added.
“Maybe,” Britney said coolly, “she needs a man who doesn’t treat dating like community theater.”
Michael touched the back of her neck automatically, calming and affectionate and so sickeningly intimate I almost choked on my own bite.
I loved my friends.I did.
But sitting among five women who had all somehow fallen into outrageous romance with ridiculous men was starting to feel like being the only sober person at a champagne fountain.
I smiled anyway.
That was the trick.
Smile.Joke.Keep the edges bright enough no one looked underneath them.
I was tired.
Tired of bad dates.Tired of pretending I found it all hilarious.Tired of being the funny one, the easy one, the one with a story instead of a person.Tired of everyone else somehow being folded into this enormous beautiful life while I kept showing up alone and making a bit out of it.
And the worst part?
I didn’t even know how much of my sadness was about being single and how much of it was about being visible while single.
Like everyone could see the empty chair next to me.
Like they could see all the places I had not been chosen.
I took a sip of tea and reminded myself not to be pathetic in front of the royal family.
“Kelly.”
I looked up.
Xerses.
His voice wasn’t loud.It never needed to be.
“What?”I asked.
“Was there at least one normal date in this parade of horrors?”
I snorted softly.“Maybe one.”
“And?”
