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“I sat next to you at the pizza place, we walked next to each other the entire way here, and you’re literally inches away from my face right now, and you’re good.”
She sighed a breath of relief and blinked up, not expecting to catch the bright blue of his eyes. The color was almost identical to her favorite flower in Grandma’s garden, the blue daze.
He cupped her cheek, and the warmth from his hand spread through her cheeks. “We don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to.”
“No, I want to.” She licked her lips, so he wouldn’t think kissing her was like kissing a dried-out mummy. Oh God, but what if he thought she was like a sloppy fish mouth? She reached up to wipe her lips, then stopped herself.
“Isla.” Nolan’s voice broke through the panic in her mind. “Stop thinking.”
“Okay,” she said.
He tilted his head and closed his eyes.
“Wait!”
He let out a breath, and his head fell forward.
“Sorry, but I just want to make sure that this won’t ruin anything. Our friendship, I mean. Because you’re one of my best friends, and I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
His declaration went from her ears to her heart, and she finally let his lips meet hers in the sweetest first kiss.
“Yes,” she said when they pulled apart.
“Yes, what?”
“I’ll go to the movies with you.”
With a smile, Nolan stood up and reached his hand down to her. She happily accepted, and they walked the rest of the way hand in hand.
Chapter 9
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Nolan made his way up his lawn. He just finished a six-mile run in eighty percent humidity and was feeling surprisingly good. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the clingy summer air heavy with salt until he’d been back.
A loud scream cut through the early morning air, and Nolan shifted directions from his front door to Isla’s. Without hesitation, he hurried up the stairs and knocked on the door, but when she didn’t answer, he threw the door open. The screams grew louder, and Nolan’s heart slammed in his chest.
What if she was hurt?
She did not handle pain well. One time she fell off her bike and skidded her knee, and it was as if she was dying. While sympathetic, he had still laughed at her. She’d held it against him for years.
He ran through the house, following Isla’s screams down the hallway to the kitchen. Isla stood, blonde hair wet and matted to her face. Water shot out around a towel she held pressed to the wall, and a puddle grew around her feet. Her eyes met his, and the desperation in her gaze nearly undid him.
He shifted gears and detoured to the basement. He found the water valve and turned it off. He took the stairs two at a time, making his way to the kitchen. As he stepped inside the familiar space, Isla slid down the wall and collapsed in the puddle.
He quickly turned on the kitchen sink faucet to help relieve any extra pressure in the pipes.
“You okay?” he asked, trying to keep his gaze from drifting to the soaking wet white t-shirt that clung to every small curve. She might as well have not been wearing a shirt at all. He could see the pink lace of her bra and how it cut low, stopping just shy of her nipple.
Memories of her bare beneath him, looking into his eyes with love and desire, flooded his mind. She’d never been shy of her body in front of him, and he had been able to worship every inch of her.
It had been a long time since then, but he had a great memory. Too great. His jaw tightened as he forced the memories far to the back of his mind.
Her hand lifted, the towel she still held dripped water onto her lap. “I don’t know what happened. The wall just exploded.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say a pipe burst.”
She blinked up; blue eyes full of confusion. “How does that even happen? It’s the middle of summer. It’s not like it could freeze.”
