Awkward Love (Stumbling into Love 2)

“Wait.” I pulled back. “You don’t have a peanut allergy, do you?”

His forehead wrinkled in concern. “No…?”

“Good. I wanted to make sure. I brushed my teeth after I ate, but I read this thing once about this guy who had a peanut allergy, and when he kissed someone—” Will’s hand wrapped around the back of my neck, fingers teasing my nape as he pulled me in for another scorching kiss. Electricity ignited beneath my skin in all these little snaps and pops that were jolting me alive.

And just that quickly, it was over. “I wanted to taste your ramble.” Will smiled, and maybe it was a little weird, or maybe it was because of my word-vomiting, but it was also the best thing anyone had ever said to me.

“So?” I found myself asking. I couldn’t believe the question had passed my lips.

“You want compliments now? I see how you are. Hmm, let’s say…a delicious preview of what’s to come.” I nodded, and he added, “You’re a good kisser. When you’re in the moment, you ignore all that stuff going on up here.” Will tapped my temple. “And you just…let go. That is a beautiful thing, Jameson, and sexy as hell. You keep that up and no guy will stand a chance against you.”

I thought my face would crack, the way my smile kept growing, even while a stupid question filled my head. Even you?

“So, dinner?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What sounds good to you?”

We decided on Chinese, which I could never get enough of. We ordered fried rice, General Tso’s chicken, and veggies. When the food came, Will tried to pay for half of it, but I wouldn’t let him. He’d bought dinner Friday night, so it was my turn.

We drank sweet tea, not wine, which was a smart choice. He was right in that it was getting a little easier for me to talk to him. I didn’t know what it was about Will that helped put me at ease, but he had this sense of calm to him that made me feel safe and comfortable.

We managed to skirt topics that were too specific, like him never telling me exactly where he worked, and he still didn’t know my last name, but I told him about my sister and how close we were, and about the time when I accidentally stole something at a store when I was young and then cried for hours, thinking I was going to jail.

Will told me about roughhousing with his brothers and how they’d picked on him, then more about his friendship with Shaw.

And we laughed, God, we laughed a lot. I wasn’t sure there was anyone in the world funnier than him. It blew my mind that he seemed to be enjoying his time with me just as much.

“If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?” I asked, feeling a bit weird for liking random questions like that, but I found people’s answers interesting. Sometimes you could learn more about people with small, random things than you could with big ones.

Or maybe it was the future sociologist in me. Who knew?

“Wow…that’s a tough question. I haven’t traveled a lot, and I’ve always wanted to. I know it’s a cliché, but I’d love to go to California and New York. Abroad, I’d say Scotland. That’s always been my dream vacation, but obviously Hawaii or London wouldn’t be bad. What about you?”

“Scotland is great! You’ll love it. I’m not big on California. My family goes a lot, but I love New York City.”

“Have you been to all the places I mentioned?” he asked, and I nodded, embarrassed. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I think it’s cool. Maybe we’ll travel together sometime, like take a friends trip, a group of us.”

It was one of those things people said flippantly that everyone knew would never happen. Plus, it was clear he wasn’t saying it as if he and I would be a couple there, but still, the statement made warmth spread beneath my skin.

“If you could choose, California or New York, which one?”

“New York, I guess, since you said it’s better.”

Damn. Boy was good.

“What about you, on where you’d be right now? If you could go anywhere.”

“Right here,” fell from my lips before I could think better of it. “Not to sound creepy stalker or anything. I just…like it, this moment, right now. It’s… I’m going to shut up now.”

Will chuckled. “You don’t have to shut up. I like your answer. I’m feeling like a dick because of mine, though. I assumed you meant something else.”

“No, no. Don’t feel that way. I didn’t mean anything. I’d rather get an authentic answer than a lie.”

Will sat there for a moment, looking at me with this weird, intense stare I couldn’t decipher. “Yeah, I can see that about you.” Then he stood, smiled, and held his hand out for me. I took it, suddenly trembling as Will helped me to my feet. “Don’t get nervous. You say stop, we stop. This is your show, okay?”