Only One Mistake (Only One 6)

“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.” Jillian puts her hands over her chest, and I groan.

“Are we going to forget the fact that she was going to marry another man?” I point out the same thing I told Alex when we watched it.

“But she always loved Noah,” Jillian says with a shriek. “He built her the house.”

“Yeah, and she came, banged him, and left.” I turn left at the red light, and I hear Jillian shriek.

“She went back.” She makes the same case that Alex made. “She went back.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I roll my eyes, and she just shakes her head, making me laugh. “What about you?” I ask. “Which one is your favorite?”

“It’s a toss-up,” she says, looking in front of her. “At the next light, you are going to turn right.”

I switch lanes, looking around, and all the lights in the businesses are closed. “Toss-up between?”

“It’s between Titanic,” she says, and I groan so loud, “and Pride and Prejudice.”

“One,” I say, holding up my finger. “Rose was a hog. She could have shared the door with him, but no, she had to take the whole door.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll never let go, my ass.” I turn on the street. “She let go in a heartbeat as he sank.”

“She survived and lived with his memories for her whole life,” she says, and I just look over at her.

“I would have haunted her,” I admit. “I would have haunted the fuck out of her.”

She throws her head back and laughs, putting her hand to her stomach. “You would not.”

“Oh, I would,” I confirm. “I would not give up. But which Pride and Prejudice?”

“Keira Knightley,” she says, and I nod.

“Right answer,” I say with a chuckle, focusing on the road.

“See that white building?” She points at the only white building on the street. “That’s me.” I pull up to the curb in the only empty parking spot, a couple of feet away from her door. I put the SUV in park and look over at her. “This was fun.” She smirks as she reaches for the handle. I can see she is thinking because she looks over at me, and I can tell she’s nervous.

“If you are going to drive me home, the least you can do is walk me to my front door and make sure I get in okay,” she jokes, opening the door and putting one foot out. “I could fall right before I put my key in my door, and then what?” She gets out and then leans down again, looking into the SUV. “Which is going to make everything you did tonight moot.”

“Moot,” I repeat the word. “Did you just use the word moot?”

“I did.” With a laugh, she closes the door. I take the keys and put the hat back on my head. I open the door and see her waiting for me on the sidewalk. Her face goes into a huge smile. “You really are all that.”

“I blame Alex,” I say to her. “For not only making me watch love movies but also Unsolved Mysteries.”

She laughs as we walk quietly toward her place. “There hasn’t been any crime in this area,” she says, looking around, “in at least a month.”

I stop and take a look around, and I can hear her snickering. “I’m just kidding,” she says, putting her hand on mine. “It’s a safe area.” She turns toward the white building. “Before I moved in here,” she adds, pulling open the glass door and stepping in, “we checked out all the newspapers.”

“Is there no locked door?” I look around as we head to the stairs on the side, and she laughs. “That is not safe.”

She walks up the flight of stairs and then turns right down the carpeted hallway, stopping in front of the door with a four on it. “I’ll bring it up at the next condo meeting.” She takes her keys out of her purse and puts it in the door to unlock it. “Thank you for walking me to my door,” she says, biting her lower lip. “I will never forget this.”

I look at her and figure that I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t do anything. “Jillian,” I say her name, and before I do anything else, we lunge for each other.

Chapter 8

Jillian

“Jillian,” he says my name, and everything in me stops and lights up all at the same time. This guy who saved me the embarrassment of being stood up and then went out of his way to make sure I got home safe. This guy who literally fell from the sky is standing in front of me, and the only thing going through my mind is to kiss him. So I just went for it. For the first time in my life, I took what I wanted. I lunged for him the exact time he lunged for me. His hat flies off his head, landing right by my foot, but I’m too engrossed in his eyes to even look down.