Forgotten First Kiss

“I buy and sell property.”

“I bet you’re good at it.”

I was. Very good. “It’s been a learning experience.”

“Have you always done that?”

“No. Only for about seven years. I spent time before that on active duty, and then I joined the Army Reserve. It lets me don the uniform a weekend a month and still run my business.”

“I bet you look incredible in a uniform,” she said, and then clamped a hand over her mouth. Through it, a nervous giggle escaped.

“You think so?” Heat flooded me. She was into me. And not just because I was nice and protective. Danica was attracted to me. “Well, you probably look great in your work outfit, too.” I should not be picturing her in a leotard and tights right now. But she’s the one who brought it up.

“Jeremy!” She swatted my chest, and then she left her hand resting there, pressing her palm against my pectoral muscle.

I didn’t budge. Frankly, the longer she kept it there, the more my life expectancy would extend. We stood, touching, staring at the view—while I saw nothing but the picture of Danica and me together forever in my mind’s eye—for some unknown amount of time.

Eventually, she spoke. “Military service. Your own business. Successful, I gather. Highly, or Mark wouldn’t be at your beck and call. Why, Jeremy Hotston, has some woman not snagged you before now?”

Wouldn’t I love to tell her? “It’s complicated.”

“You’ve been married and divorced? That kind of complicated?”

“Nope.” I’d better nip that assumption in the bud. “More like I have been waiting for the right woman.” You. “Remember that game, hot and cold?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” She half-laughed. “Of all things to be able to recall.”

“Well, I feel like lately I’ve gone from glacial temperatures at the edge of the Kuiper Belt to the heat at the core of the earth.”

“Kuiper Belt. That’s where the solar system ends.” Delight lit her features. “I’m remembering stuff.” Dimples sank in her cheeks, and it was time to go.

She didn’t comment on my heat at the core of the earth admission, but she sneaked looks at me on the way home. Gratified, and hopeful glances.

I needed to come clean and tell her the truth.

Soon.