Page 136 of Hidden Ties

“I was saving that for our third date, but I didn’t make it to the front door before I changed my mind.”

“Is that why you were acting so strange?” she asked bemusedly.

“I told you we could go at your pace. I hope me speeding things up a bit doesn’t change your mind about me.”

If anything, the mind-blowing kiss had quelled any hesitation she was having after the car ride home.

“It doesn’t.” Shyly, she removed her hand from his chest. “So, you were acting strange because you wanted to kiss me and didn’t want to scare me off?”

“Yes.” His hand came out to tuck a stray tendril of hair away from her cheek.

“What made you change your mind?”

His hand lingered on her cheek, the pad of his thumb softly rubbing her skin. “The odds were fifty-fifty that you would either knee me in the balls or kiss me back. I’m a gambler at heart,” he admitted. “I decided to take my chances rather than spend the rest of the night wishing I had.”

She turned her face into his hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For keeping me from wondering the same thing if you hadn’t,” she confessed, lifting her lashes to look at his face.

A look crossed his face that she couldn’t understand as he continued to stare down at her.

“Do you resemble your mother?”

His husky voice sent quivers through her stomach.

“I wish. My mother was beautiful, inside and out. My dad said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. That was why he joined the track team. When she walked into a room, it was like the room brightened. She was special. You know what I mean?”

“Yes, I think I do.”

He lowered his lips to rub them over hers. She could feel the tension in the hand that was still touching her. Then he broke the kiss and took a step back, letting his hand drop to his side.

“I should go, before I speed us to what I plan to do on our fifth date.”

Sage swallowed hard at the sensual way he was staring at her mouth.

“I think the tenth date would be more realistic.”

“That long …?” The humorous glint in his eyes showed he was just teasing her.

“I might be convinced by the ninth,” she teased him back.

“Ninth is better than tenth. I’m going to leave before I find myself back at tenth.”

“That would be a wise choice.”

“I have some commitments I have to take care of this weekend. We could do lunch Monday, and I have a dinner party I have to attend next Friday. Would you go with me?”

“Yes to both. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Good night.”

Going back inside her apartment was much different this time. After she closed the door, she hugged her stomach to make the butterflies in there stop spinning. She was falling in love with Kent, and if the thought itself wasn’t scary enough, she didn’t think she was strong enough to prevent herself if she could. The inexplicable connection she had felt when they had met had only grown stronger. Obviously, Kent felt the same. Maybe she wasa gambler at heart, too, because some risks were impossible to resist.

TWENTY-FIVE

Sage breathed a sigh of relief when Garrett Hollingsworth’s assistant finally left the file room.