“What’s that?” She fingered the thin, braided band, faded from red and blue to a pale pink and blah-ish gray color. Changing the subject might help her escape more scrutiny about her thoughts.
He tensed, his wrist starting to pull back, and then he paused, taking a deep breath that she felt against her back. How rare, she thought. A man who took the handful of seconds to consider his actions, to be deliberate. Whatever response he was about to give her, she knew, would be forthright and honest, coming from a deep center she wanted to touch.
“An old friend gave that to me.” She could feel him swallow, could sense the unspoken. Someone very, very special.
“It’s been beaten up and seems to have gone through a lot, but looks well-loved.”
“So was she.” Laura stopped breathing. His voice had gone quiet, the words a whoosh out of his lungs, like something he couldn’t control but that he could barely stand to say. The mood had shifted abruptly, her innocent questions something she normally would wish she could take back, would normally berate herself for asking, for making everything awkward with one simple piece of chit chat.
Except she wasn’t. Regretful. Asking that question may damn well have been the best choice she’d made all day, because she got a glimpse into a very, intensely private man and his profound nature was revealed, even in a tiny sliver.
This was what she wanted. And Dylan. Go away, Dylan! she chided no one—the voice in her head— as if he himself had invaded her thoughts. Why was she experiencing this strange duality, in Mike’s arms and feeling his pain for someone he’d once loved all while thinking about a man she’d been with last night—one with a hidden significant other?
It was madness.
“I’m sorry,” Mike said, stepping back and turning her around. His eyes were sincere and warm, tinged with nostalgia and troubled. “Mentioning her is the last thing I should do on dates. Talking about a past girlfriend isn’t exactly part of the blueprint for a successful new relationship.”
Relationship? Did he say relationship? Laura’s heart sang.
“It’s fine,” she assured him. “I understand. You loved her. You can’t separate that from who you are and what you feel in any given moment.”
He flinched but kept eye contact, obviously shocked by her words. His reaction surprised her, but she knew she hadn’t said the wrong thing. Her usual insecurity was gone, replaced by a steadfast calm. Whatever she said, it had been from the heart, and that is all that really counted.
How could she read him so well? Freakishly well. He felt like a complete idiot for talking about Jill right now, and yet somehow Laura made it seem fine. Natural. Like another extension of himself, just a perfectly typical part of life. Against all hope he had thought there might—just might—be a woman like this out there for him and Dylan. Someone sweet and nice and understanding and accepting. Not quite convinced she was out there, he had basically given up, and now Dylan had found her on a damn online dating site, of all places. The kind of place where men trolled for sex.
Dylan, though, had been seeking something more. And now here “more” was, standing before him, telling him that who he was was totally fine. That talking about his dead girlfriend was OK because it was how he felt.
What had he done to deserve this—and how could he keep it all going?
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her again, this time with more urgency and a deeper acceptance. Less questioning, more certainty. Was he imagining that she felt it, too? Her lips were less tentative, more confident, as her tongue slipped in and did its own claiming, her hands pressing against his shoulder blades and pushing him into her, her hips lifting up against his. She was shorter than he was used to, a good foot smaller than he, but her curves were addictive. His hands wanted to touch every inch of flesh, especially the expanse of softness from the spot where her ass met her thigh, up through to her breasts. Handfuls of Laura and her little sighs of pleasure made him harden even more—if that were possible—and by God, if they weren’t heading toward dusk on a mountain where it wasn’t safe to be unprotected at night, he’d have spent the next five hours devouring her, right here, right now.
However, if they stayed, the bears might very well do the devouring, so with great reluctance he pulled back, cradling her face in his hands, smiling down at her lovely, flushed cheeks, those eyes eager and bright. “We need to go down the mountain now before it gets dark.” He pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I wish...” He couldn’t finish his thought, too overwhelmed by the crushing chaos of turbulence inside him.