Lana

“I made out with someone on Monday night,” I said the moment Ruby answered my call. The shop had been quiet all afternoon, which had left me time to remember Matt’s breath on my neck, the grip of his hand on my ass. Not that it would have been easy to forget even if I was surrounded by a thousand people.

“What?” she yelled. “Who? Were you drunk? And why the hell has it taken you five days to tell me?”

“Four.” Slightly less, actually. Three days, nineteen hours and thirty-six minutes if I wanted to be exact. I ran my finger along the glass cabinet that I had just reorganized, trying not to blush.

“Why did you wait at all? You could have just dialed me up and put me on speaker. I’m your best friend.”

“And a pervert, apparently.”

“Stop stalling and tell me what’s happening. We’ve spoken every day and you’ve not mentioned anything.”

I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t told her. Maybe I’d been waiting to run into him again, to be sure he was real. But I hadn’t seen him at all since. His car had stayed in the drive all week, but the only time I’d spotted a light on had been early this morning when I’d gotten up for a glass of water.

“It was just a kiss.”

When he’d left on Monday night, I’d been five seconds away from inviting him inside and into my bed. He hadn’t pushed when I’d put a stop to things. Thank goodness. I would have given in.

The kiss had been  . . . more than just a kiss. I’d felt it in my bones and it had stayed with me for hours afterward. Perhaps it was just because I hadn’t kissed someone for so long. But maybe it was the way he’d held me so firmly, possessed my mouth so entirely, that seemed to elevate it to something more.

“Who with?” she exclaimed, jolting me back to our conversation.

“Oh, the guy next door.”

“The corporate rental?” She sounded confused. “How did that happen?”

“We watched a thunderstorm together, and then things just sort of . . . evolved.” I hadn’t noticed the storm once he’d touched me, hadn’t heard anything but his breath on my skin, his moans against my ear.

“I didn’t even know you’d met him.”

I grinned as I remembered Matt’s complete confusion as I’d yelled at him by the bandstand. I must have looked like a total crazy person.

“Yeah, just a couple of times.”

“Did you have sex? Are you seeing each other again? Or was it a one-time deal?”

I sighed. I wasn’t sure I wanted to think about any of her questions. I liked the memory of that night—the thunder and lightning, the wine, the kissing. But for me, it had started and ended on my porch along with the storm. And I was happy to let things stay that way. Why ruin a perfect evening?

“No sex, and yes, it was a one-time deal.”

Silence, which was never good where Ruby was concerned. She was either plotting or thinking up impossible-to-answer questions.

“Okay,” she said.

“What do you mean, ‘okay’?” It couldn’t be that simple.

“I mean, okay.”

“You’re not going to interrogate me further, overanalyze every detail and completely wear the whole thing out?” Maybe she was still too wrapped up in her breakup.

“Nope.”

“Nope?” There was no way I was getting away so lightly.

“I’ve made a vow to be more patient and anyway, it’s obvious.”

“What is?”

“He’s the man Mrs. Wells said was going to come into your life this summer.”

I laughed. “Sorry to disappoint you.” He was just passing through town. And it had only been a kiss. “It was hardly a storm he caused.”

“But is he tall? And handsome?”

So tall and so, so handsome. The way I’d spread my fingers as I tried to grasp his upper arms, his hard, bronzed chest, his dark, dirty-blond hair. My heart was beating faster just thinking about him. “We’re not having this conversation—we’re not fourteen anymore.”

“So? You never grow out of appreciating a hot guy.”

Hot? He was five miles ahead of hot. “I’m not going to discuss his ranking on the hot-o-meter with you.”

“Which means he’s hot. I knew it,” she said, and I could almost see the fist pump on the other side of the phone. “You’re living next door to each other—something else is bound to happen.”

“I don’t think so.” Matt had seemed content to walk away—he wasn’t chasing a fleeting hookup. And I wasn’t chasing anything.

“Well, aren’t you full of news today? I bet you find that kiss sets a fire in your loins. It will happen again soon, trust me.”

“Don’t say ‘loins’.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s the sort of thing your grandmother would say.”

“My grandmother is dead, so she’s not saying much to anyone. This might be the start of something, Lana.”

It was nice to feel attractive, to have a man’s arms around me. But it wasn’t like it changed anything.

“You know not every guy is the asshole your ex was. And probably still is.”

“I know,” I said. “What happened in New York with Bobby was a long time ago.”

“Exactly. So be open to new possibilities.”

I hated the way Ruby made it sound like I’d not done anything since New York. I’d had my hands full to overflowing. I surveyed my boutique. Sunlight slid through the floor-to-ceiling windows and lit the whole shop, giving the light-pink carpet a glow, and creating an Alice in Wonderland feel. This place had taken dedication and focus and although I wasn’t selling the high-end, handmade pieces I’d thought I’d end up making in college, I was still designing beautiful jewelry. And people were buying it. I’d accomplished so much. I’d taken advantage of a thousand possibilities.