IT HAD BEEN a long time since Taylor had been on a date.
Years.
The last dates she’d been on had been with Neil.
Neil, who had been perfectly put together, clothes always perfectly arrayed and wrinkle free, appearance always perfectly groomed, hair always perfectly styled.
Neil, who had always taken her to the nicest restaurants, to premier shows in Louisville, to only the best of the best. Taylor had taken that to be a sign of him trying to impress her. In reality, it had only been Neil being Neil and wanting to show off his possessions to the world. He thought he deserved the best of the best, that the entire world revolved around him.
She’d been the envy of her fellow nursing students because the hospital’s most eligible bachelor was besotted with her, bought her clothes and jewelry to wear to events with him. If only they’d known the only person Neil had been besotted with was himself.
She still wasn’t sure what had attracted Neil to her. He’d wanted to change everything about her. Maybe he’d wanted a doll to bend and shape into what he wanted her to be. She’d played that role well for her parents. Letting him take over had been easy. When he’d decided she was who he’d wanted for a wife, she’d thought she was the luckiest girl alive. Plain her the wife of a renowned plastic surgeon who wanted to give her things and show her off to the world.
They’d been the envy of all their friends—Neil’s true purpose.
To Neil, she’d been a possession. A piece added to his collection to be seen and not heard. Had she not caught him cheating, she might still be in her oblivious bubble of living her life on eggshells.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
Taylor glanced toward the man next to her. A man who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and whose pulled-back long hair was unkempt in a sexy sort of way—a man who had a shadow on his face where he needed to shave, and whose blue eyes were fringed with thick, dark lashes.
A man who made her stomach flip-flop. Jack seemed comfortable with who he was and didn’t need to impress anyone.
Which felt like a breath of fresh air.
“Deal,” she agreed, inhaling deeply, determined she would push thoughts of Neil far from her mind. These days, she rarely thought of him, but meeting Jack seemed to have triggered a plethora of comparisons.
“Good.” Jack studied her. “I was beginning to think I was going to have to visit medical for crush injuries. Quite a grip you have there.”
Relaxing her hold, Taylor glanced at where their fingers were interlaced. She liked his hands. Strong, capable, clean but not professionally manicured and softer than hers. Had she been clamping down or holding on for dear life?
She glanced back up. ?
??Sorry.”
Eyes locked with hers, he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her fingers. “You’re forgiven.”
Taylor’s stomach bypassed flip-flops and went into full out Olympian gymnast gold medal mode. Wow. If she’d thought his touch caused zings, his lips were powerhouses.
“That was easy,” she pointed out, wondering why she was tempting fate. “Not making me beg for forgiveness?”
Neil would have made her grovel.
Ugh. She didn’t want to keep comparing Jack to Neil, but perhaps it was inevitable.
Jack’s eyes were locked with hers, his expression serious, his hand warm around hers. “Forgiveness isn’t on the list of things I want you to ever beg me for.”
Taylor’s insides quivered. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned back toward the stage and pretended to watch the band.
All her brain could process was that Jack had kissed her fingers, had implied he’d like her to beg him for...for what?
Sex.
If she was willing, he wouldn’t make her beg.
Heaviness plagued her chest, making breathing difficult.
She’d been over-the-moon giddy that her body wanted him, but the reality was she’d only had sex with one man and she’d been married to him.