Page 2 of Forever and Always

“No, I’m heading back to Lawson now.”

“Hopefully the roads will be okay.”

The trip to Lawson could be treacherous during the winter.

“I’ve got my snow tires on, and chains in the car,” he replied. “I grew up driving in the mountains, I’ll be fine.”

We walked around the corner to the parking lot where I’d left my car. The lot was mostly empty now, full of dark shadows.

“This is me,” I said, clicking the key on my SUV before turning to face Andrew. “It was nice to see you again.”

“You too.” Andrew’s voice sounded sad.

“I guess I’ll see you when all the wedding stuff starts.”

His brother had proposed to Steph and she’d accepted. Andrew and I were both standing up in the wedding this fall.

“Yeah.”

For some reason I felt like I wanted to cry. Even though we were nothing alike and had almost nothing in common, something drew me to this man. It made me dream about him a full year after I’d last seen him. I had the strongest urge to throw myself into his arms and beg him to take me back to Lawson with him.

But I wasn’t that woman, so I straightened my spine and force a smile.

“Have a safe drive back to Lawson.”

Suddenly Andrew surged forward, his hands coming to frame my face as his lips crashed against mine.

Yes, something deep inside me called out. Finally.

My arms slid around his waist, holding him close, and Andrew slipped his tongue into my mouth, tangling with mine. We kissed like we were the only two people on the planet. We kissed like we had all the time in the world. And when he finally pulled back, I’d forgotten how to breathe on my own. That’s how life changing this kiss felt. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

“I, uh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

His words were like a bucket of ice water over the head.

“You didn’t see me complaining,” I said, striving for a light tone despite the stab of hurt his words brought. “That was a good kiss.”

“I don’t do casual,” he reminded me, as if I’d just proposed that he do me on the hood of my car.

“You made that abundantly clear last time I saw you,” I replied, remembering how I’d come onto him, and he’d rebuffed me. “Bye Andrew, see you around.”

Without another glance I got into my car and drove away, hoping that I’d recover from the pain of seeing him before we had to spend time together at Steph and Christopher’s wedding.