“Would you really touch me like that?”
“Would you want me to?” he asks, his hand inching higher.
I nod but don’t say a word. His smile rises on the side as he slowly removes his hand and sits back, making my chest ache with desire.
“If Marky Mark was your ultimate bad boy, why don’t you write him?”
“Because I like Richard Gere better,” I state with a grin, holding my fingers up. “Two classics. Pretty Woman and An Officer and a Gentleman.”
“Classics? Those movies are ancient. I’m intrigued though, so do tell.”
“The scene in Pretty Woman where he climbs her fire escape and rescues her? It’s the reason I love romantic heroes. I think all of mine have a little Gere in them.”
“Good to know,” he says with a slight grin.
“Sorry, that’s how my mind works. I just think these random thoughts sometimes. Being on this ride reminded me of the movie and I tend to speak what I’m thinking which catches people off guard.”
His mouth parts as his eyes darken. “Sometimes, I think random things too.”
The ride twirls us up, over the top, and back down. My stomach flips for reasons I’m not sure of. I hold on to the edge of the seat, thinking I just lost my equilibrium since I was staring at Jake and not at the world around us.
“Like how I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Why don’t you?” I say, almost as a dare.
He shakes his head. “I can’t figure you out, Lacey.”
My heart sinks right before it slides up to my throat again as we climb back up to the top.
“For years now, you’ve been this gorgeous girl who lives next door, never giving me the slightest inclination that you wanted me. I know you don’t need a relationship and you distrust men. And yet you come and ask me to go places with you. To kiss you.”
“I can leave you alone.”
“Fuck no. Don’t do that.”
“But you just said—”
“What I didn’t get to say is that it’s a good thing you’re wearing jeans tonight or else I’d be tempted to slip a hand under your skirt and make your fantasy a reality.”
I grip the seat, trying to steady my breath, which is very ragged all of a sudden.
He leans back as he adjusts his own pants. My eyes widen, and I’m not sure if I want to laugh or swoon or even breathe. My mouth waters as I stare at those soulful eyes.
And now, I wish I knew why I hadn’t worn a damn dress.
Chapter Fourteen
The moon is large tonight, bright white and casting a glow over the street as we enter our building. We’re pretty quiet as we make our way up the elevator and down the hall. The doors to our apartments are calling to us like a dare.
I don’t want to be forward and assume he wants to come in or that he’ll invite me into his place. He hasn’t even tried to kiss me tonight, and it leaves me feeling confused.
“Lace,” he starts as we reach my door.
I smile up at him, but his face is stoic. It makes my own fall as I wait for him to ask what is on his mind.
“The guy you dated when you moved to Chicago, the one who kept you from believing in real-life romance, do you still think about him?”
I’m startled by his question, and it must show because he adds, “I can’t imagine why someone as spectacular as you, who writes about romance so beautifully, has denied it for herself for so long.”
My gut instinct is to ignore his question. Play it off with a witty retort and ask him to come in. But that wouldn’t appease him. Jake is a soulful creature, the kind of man who listens and amends the situation. Problem is, there’s no fixing me or my past.
I inhale as I try to find the right words. There aren’t any, so I just start speaking, “It’s not just Michael. That’s his name, by the way. We moved to Chicago together after college, and I tried to make it as a writer, but I couldn’t sell my work to a publisher. He told me I was foolish for dreaming, that I wasn’t very well rounded at my craft, and I needed to get a job using the degree I’d earned. So, I did. I went to work at a production company as a broadcast assistant. That’s where I met my best friend, Charisse.
“She’s the only good thing that came out of that job because, within a year, Michael left me for another woman, and I was so angry. Not with him, but with myself for letting a man dictate how I should live my life. I finally took the leap of faith and self-published a book that I had given up on two years prior when I couldn’t find an agent to work with me. That book turned into another and then another until I was able to quit my job, and then I started writing the novel that hit the best sellers list. In that book, the hero was greater than any man, greater than Michael, and better than my father who had abandoned my mother when I was a little kid. He was superior to the jerk who had taken my virginity in high school and broken up with me the very next day. Yeah, I don’t have the best track record when it comes to men. It’s not that I don’t believe there are better ones out there. I just don’t believe there are any for me.”
I don’t realize I’m crying until Jake lifts a knuckle and wipes a tear from my cheek. I turn away, embarrassed, but he pulls my face back to his.
“Not only are there good men out there, Lacey Rivers, but there is also a man who wants nothing more than
