Page 60 of Just One More Thing

A spark shoots straight through me.

My hand lands on his chest. His heartbeat is fast under my palm.

He looks at my mouth. Then back to my eyes.

“I’m not going to rush you, Mo,” he says softly.

“You’re not. I want this. I just… I don’t know how to do this without messing it up.”

“Then we don’t rush it.”

I let out a breath and look at him. “You don’t seem like you’re struggling.”

“Mo. I’m barely holding it together.” He doesn’t just look at my mouth, he stares at it with a kind of starved intensity that makes me throb. His hand at my waist tightens, pulling me just an inch closer until my bare thigh is against his. The contact feels like a live wire.

That does it.

I reach for him.

And then over his shoulder, I see The Point. I step back before I reach a different point—the point of no return.

Because I want this too much to risk ruining it twice.

CHAPTER 17

JAKE

Iwipe down the same stretch of bar for the third time, hoping the wood might tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do with myself.

Hank’s under stool four, chin on his paws, watching the door. “Me too, buddy,” I say.

The door opens. My head lifts before I can stop it.

Not her.

Mr. Henson and his wife step inside mid-argument about patio versus indoor seating. “I’m telling you, Dolores, it’s nice out.”

“And I’m telling you, Gerald, I’m not eating outside with mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds.”

I grab menus and lead them to a table near the windows. “Best of both worlds. You still get the view.” Mr. Henson nods like I’ve brokered a peace treaty. Mrs. Henson gives me a look that says she’ll decide whether I’ve brokered peace.

Back at the bar, Bethany catches me glancing toward the entrance again. “You’ve been staring at that door all night.”

“I’ve been checking for customers.”

“Sure.”

Charlie’s voice comes from the end of the bar. He’s been nursing one beer for the last hour, watching me with the kind of patience that gets real irritating when you know the man’s right. “You gonna say that with a straight face?”

“I am saying it with a straight face.”

Bethany’s still watching me. “You gonna wait again?”

“I’m not waiting.”

She grabs her tray and heads back to the kitchen. “That’s adorable.”

“I heard that.”