Page 14 of The Sweetest Mistake

It was dark out, and the temperature had cooled off significantly compared to when they’d arrived. He walked her to her car, and as she dug through her purse for the keys, she shivered.

“Where’s your coat?” he asked, sliding his hands up and down her arms to warm her.

“I left it at the studio. It was warmer earlier,” she said, averting her eyes.

Deciding he’d touched her enough for tonight, he dropped his hands and took a step back. “You okay to drive home?”

Raising her brows, she said, “I didn’t drink that much. Besides, you filled me up with enough appetizers to absorb all the alcohol.”

He chuckled, and then they just stood there and stared at each other for a moment.

“Thank you for paying,” she said.

“I’d do it again.”

“What, pay?”

“Well, you’d have to go out with me again, but yeah, that too.”

“Are you asking me out again?”

“Sounds like it.”

Julia giggled and shook her head. “You’re a hard man to read, Connor O’Brien.”

“Not really. Not with a little practice.”

And then he stepped forward, reached out, and fingered a lock of silky black hair that was curling softly over her shoulder. “What do you say?”

As he twirled her hair around his fingers, he wondered what it would look like splayed on his pillow with her naked and writhing beneath him. Once again, he wondered what she was thinking and why she hadn’t stopped him. He’d taken a few liberties tonight, and he’d kept waiting for her to throw the hammer at him, yet she hadn’t. Maybe she was warming up to him after all.

Looking up at him in the darkness, she said, “Yes,” but added, “I guess so,” as though she wanted him to know that she wasn’t one hundred percent sold on the idea.

Her response struck him as funny, and he tipped his head back and laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet parking lot.

“I’ll accept that answer for now,” he said, “But someday, you’re going to tell me yes without hesitating.”

“We’ll see,” she replied, and then she quickly got in her car and drove away, leaving him standing there staring after her.

As Connor watched her walk toward him now, he longed for her to return his smile, or at least look at him the way she’d looked at him that night. But then, what did he expect? They’d just started getting into a good rhythm with each other when the rug had been ripped out from under them.

A few weeks ago, she would have greeted him with a hug and a kiss (or four), and they would have gone into her house and maybe straight to her bedroom. Or, depending on how hungry she was, they might have eaten first. The woman had a hearty appetite, as he’d quickly discovered. She’d only denied him dinner that first time because she hadn’t wanted to admit they were on a date. Since then, she’d never turned him down for dinner again.

He leaned toward her as she came up on the porch, hoping for a kiss, but she turned her head to the side, and he barely grazed her cheek. The move gave him a sense of foreboding, but he plowed ahead.

“Mind if I come in?”

“That depends,” she said, her voice cool.

“On what?”

“On what you came over here for.”

Sighing, he said, “Maybe I just wanted to see you.”

She gazed at him skeptically, but he caught a flicker of hope there too. It was then that he realized he had his work cut out for him. She wasn’t about to welcome him into her home, let alone her bed, until he smoothed things over with her. And that’s exactly what he’d come there to do.

“Come on, Jules. I think we need to talk, don’t you?”