After the Kiss (Sex, Love & Stiletto 1)

Rule one in taking things to the next level: Do not rush movie night, no matter how dull and predictable the man may seem. The rejection will sting.

“It’s no biggie,” she said, forcing a bright tone. “Oh, great, we’re here.”

Julie clawed at the door handle before Mitchell or the driver could open it for her, maneuvering onto the uneven cobblestoned street easily in her high heels.

“Julie, wait,” Mitchell said as he hurried to catch up to her.

“Come on!” she said. “Brent’s working tonight—he’ll get us in!” Immediately the intoxicated, glittery people in line began booing as she moved toward the entrance.

“Hey, wait in line, lady!”

Julie ignored them. Amateurs.

Mitchell grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him before she could get to Brent. “Would you hold on just a second?” he asked, sounding exasperated.

“What’s up?” she asked in a hyper voice, blinking rapidly to prevent tears from falling.

Crying in front of a nightclub because a man hadn’t wanted to watch a movie with her would be a first. And if she had any say in the matter, it’d be a last.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking completely puzzled. “If you didn’t want to come tonight, you should have just said so.”

“No, it’ll be great,” she said, giving a brittle laugh. “You’ll love it.”

“Julie.”

“Mitchell.”

“Talk to me, please. You’re acting weird.”

She glanced down at the tips of her patent leather pumps, trying to rack her brain for what a girlfriend would say. What would Grace do?

Tell him the truth. No relationship can move forward on half-truths.

Unless of course the entire “relationship” was a half-truth. Still, it was time to take a chance. No journalist got a good story without taking a few risks.

She just wished this particular risk wasn’t so … personal.

“I’m tired of being the short-term kind of girl,” she heard herself say.

No! No, no, no! That hadn’t been what she’d meant to say.

She’d only meant to say that she’d gotten her feelings a little hurt. Instead she was spilling her guts while half the Jersey shore heckled her from the other side of the velvet rope.

Mitchell’s head snapped back slightly. It wasn’t what he’d expected to hear. And judging from the unhappy crease between his brows, it wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear.

Well, too freaking bad, Mr. Forbes. It was out there now, so he’d have to deal with it. They both would. She lifted her chin and waited for his response.

&nbs

p; “I assumed that whatever was going on between us was just a fling,” he said finally. “That we were just having fun. I never meant for you to get the wrong idea.”

Julie almost laughed at the ridiculousness of the moment. Here was a short-term kind of girl begging for a long-term relationship from a long-term kind of guy who wanted a fling.

It was movie-worthy.

It was laughable.

It was … incredibly painful.