Page 56 of Some Kinda Romance

I wasn’t.

More importantly, I couldn’t let Ethan think he’d gotten to me. He’d tried to knock me down, but I had every intention of getting back up again. For that reason, I lifted my chin and forced a smile. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

“Excellent,” she said happily, then waited for me to gather my things before we took off.

We drove together to a restaurant nearby. To my eternal relief, there was no pack of photographers waiting. On the other hand, I hadn’t even known I was coming here.

Short of Julie tipping them off as to where we’d be, which she would never do, they had no way of knowing I would be coming here for lunch. Now that we were here though, it was a different story altogether. We were bound to be seen by a fellow patron, or some enterprising employee would call in the tip to earn a few extra dollars today.

Glancing at my friend as we walked in, I motioned toward the sign for the restrooms at the rear of the dining area. “I’m just going to wash my hands. Go on ahead and find a table. I’ll join you in a minute.”

Julie was looking around. She nodded, her brow slightly pinched for some reason. Deciding to ask her about it when I was done, I ducked into the restroom, taking my time to wash my hands and touch up my makeup. By now, I was sure someone had let the press know where I was, and if they were going to photograph me having lunch with my best friend, I didn’t want to look like I’d had the morning I’d had.

When I finally walked out, I almost ran directly into a waiter carrying a tray, narrowly avoiding crashing into him. But as I stepped aside at the last moment, I smacked into someone else. Someone who smelled suspiciously like⁠—

“Dash?” My jaw dropped when I looked up to see him standing against me, his big hands wrapped around my shoulders to keep me from falling. I groaned, embarrassed heat flushing my cheeks. “Not again.”

Trying to wriggle out of his grasp, I leaned around him, looking for Julie and hoping she was about to save me, but she was nowhere to be found. Realization hit me like a truck. “She set me up, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did, but I wanted to talk to you, so I asked for her help. Just give me a chance. Please?”

The surprise that she’d gone along with his scheme rendered me speechless for a moment and he took advantage of my silence, not exactly rambling but launching into a calm apology and explanation I never thought I’d get from him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” he said, starting strong since he sounded completely sincere.

My heart skipped, but I wasn’t ready to forgive him just because he’d said he was sorry.

He kept going though, his voice deep and serious and his eyes unwavering on mine. “I know now how bad Ethan is. I never should’ve thought that you’d take him back. That night I ran into him outside your apartment and he told me that you were working on your marriage, I should’ve known he was up to something and I should’ve rushed up there to make sure you were okay rather than taking his word for it, and I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I felt the way I did, but I don’t anymore.”

“Okay,” I said curtly. “Thanks.”

He took a tiny step closer to me, so close that his chest brushed against mine on his next inhale. “I want to make it up to you. What do I have to do?”

“Nothing,” I replied. “It’s best not to do this. I have to go. We shouldn’t be seen together.”

It took everything in me to walk away from him, but I did it, spinning on my heels and marching back outside to my car. Julie was gone, obviously having taken a cab or something, but however she’d left, she hadn’t hung around to see what would happen.

“Serenity!” Dash called after me, apparently having followed me outside. “I don’t want to just let this go. I don’t want to forget you or us.”

As I turned to tell him again that this was a bad idea, especially now that we were outside, he strode right up to me, slid his arm around my waist, and pulled me in for a kiss. His lips were hot and firm against mine, his body so safe and familiar even though this had happened less than a handful of times in the past.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew there was every possibility that the photographers that had been absent until now could pull up at any moment. I even knew they might’ve already, but I didn’t care.

Just for one minute, I let go of everything else and I kissed him back, my hands flying up to capture his face as I held him to me. Much too soon, he ended the kiss, those eyes blazing into my own as he took my hands.

“I have a car waiting for us, so they won’t be able to track yours to my place. Will you come with me? I’m not taking you there for any reason other than being able to talk in private. I promise. Nothing else will happen unless you want it to.”

I stared back at him, entirely uncertain what to say. A quick glance around told me that by some miracle, the paparazzi hadn’t shown up yet and that seemed to be a sign. But I also knew that if I got in that car with him, I was going to have to talk to him honestly about things I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk about.

I was going to have to trust him, and I just didn’t know if I could. As if she’d said them for this very reason, Diana’s words came back to me then. I know he’s not the easiest man to live with, but he is a good one. His father’s passing damaged parts of him that I’m not sure will ever heal, but he’s trying.

Deciding to trust her instead of her son, I nodded, hoping like hell I wasn’t making yet another mistake. “Okay, Dash. Let’s go, but we better do it fast before the whole world finds out that we’re talking.”