Midnight Kiss (Virgin River #12)(23)

“But you said it was good with her! You said sex was good.”

“I might be kind of easy to please in that department. The worst sex I ever had was actually pretty good. I want what else there is! How did what’s his name reel you in?” he asked.

Yo. Me and you!

“He wasn’t too slick, as a matter of fact. He thought he was. I never told him his great pick-up line didn’t impress me. Thing was, he was cute. And I worked all the time. I hadn’t been out on a date in a long time and he was…” She shrugged. “Handsome and interested.” She tilted her head and smiled at him. “I think I’m telling you all these things because you’re safe.”

His large hand closed over her shoulder. “I don’t want to be safe,” he said. “And I want to see you again.”

“Want to go off, live our solitary lives and meet back here for New Year’s Eve every year…kind of like a take-off on Same Time Next Year?”

“Did you know what Jack had planned for midnight?” Drew asked. “Did you write your resolution?”

She shook her head, then nodded. “I wrote that I had to stay away from men. He put it in the fishbowl.”

“At midnight everyone was going to pull out a resolution, ending up with someone else’s. Really corny, don’t you think?” he asked her, reaching into the pocket of his jeans. “It’s going to be for laughs, not for real. Some skinny girl could get a resolution to lose twenty pounds. But I wrote this one before I knew much about you.” He presented a slip of paper. “Look, Sunny—it’s midnight.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. “It’s like three minutes till.”

“We can stretch it out,” he said, handing her the paper. “I have no idea why I stuck this in my pocket. I put a different one in the fishbowl.”

She took it, opened it and read, “Start the new year by giving a new guy a chance.”

Her cheeks got a little pink. She was flattered, she was feeling lusty and attracted, but… “But Drew, I’m not going to see you again.”

“If you want to, you will…”

“You’re just looking for a replacement fiancée,” she said. “And long-distance relationships are even harder to keep going than the close kind.”

“We can start with football tomorrow. I have beer and wings. Unfortunately I have no car, but I bet you can wrangle one from the uncle.”

“That’s cute, but—”

“It’s midnight,” he said, closing in on her. His lips hovered right over hers. “Sunny, you just do something to me.”

“Thanks,” she said weakly. “Really, thanks. I needed to think I was actually attractive to someone.”

“You’re way more than that,” he said, covering her mouth in a deep and powerful kiss. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap, holding her against him. His head tilted to get a deeper fit over her mouth, their tongues played, her fingers threaded into his hair. At long last their lips parted. “Let’s just give it a try, see where it goes.”

“Can’t work. I live in the south. L.A. area….”

“Me, too.”

She jumped, startled. She slid off his lap. “You said Chico…”

“No, I didn’t. My family is in Chico. I lived there while I went to med school, while I dated Penny, but I don’t live there anymore. I’m in residency at UCLA Medical.”

She slid away from him. “Uh-oh…”

He shook his head. “I’m just saying we keep getting to know each other, that’s all. Neither one of us is likely to keep moving forward in a relationship that doesn’t feel good. We’re wiser—we know too much now. But for God’s sake, Sunny, what if it’s good? You gonna walk away from that?”

“I don’t want to take any chances!”

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “It’s midnight. Kiss in a new year. And just think about it.”

She looked into his eyes for a long moment, then she groaned and put the palms of her hands on his bristly cheeks and planted a good, wide, hot one on his mouth.

Against her open mouth he said, “Yeah!” Then he moved against her mouth, holding her tight, breathing her in, memorizing the taste of her.

A car horn penetrated the night. “Awww,” he groaned. “Your uncle broke every speed limit in Humboldt and Trinity Counties.”

“I told him to stay at Jack’s till midnight, but I knew he wouldn’t listen,” she said. She pulled away from him, slid down the couch and reached to the floor for her boots. Without looking at him she said, “Listen, thanks. Really, thanks. I needed to drop the rage for a while, have a real conversation with a guy, test the waters a little bit. Kiss—I needed to kiss.” She zipped the first boot. Then she looked at him. “I’m just not ready for more.”

“But you will be,” he said. “I can hang loose until you’re more comfortable.”

“I’ll think about that,” she said, reaching for the other boot.

The horn sounded again.

“He’s going to be pounding on the door real soon,” she said, zipping the boot.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” he asked.