By the time I’d checked out, I found myself leaving the shop at the same moment as Felicity, who was now carrying a white cake box.
“Long time no see,” I said.
“Yeah.” She exhaled, her body tense as we walked together through the sliding glass doors.
As we were now heading together toward the carpark, I made conversation.
“Which cake did you settle on?”
“Just a white cake with whipped-cream frosting and strawberries on top.”
“Strawberry on top—just like you.”
God, that’s fucking horrible. It sounded like something Sigmund would say, and I should’ve been shot. My nerves apparently made me stupid, on top of everything else. I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry. That was pathetically corny.”
“It’s okay.” She smiled. Felicity stopped in front of her vehicle. “Well, this is me.” She shook her head. “Of course, it is. You know that. Who else has a mint green Fiat in this town, right?” She placed the cake box atop her car.
“I’m parked over there,” I offered stupidly. She hadn’t asked where I’d parked. Why the fuck did it matter to her?
We stood facing each other, neither of us moving or saying anything.
Wanting to keep looking into her eyes, I knew I wasn’t going to be the first to leave this spot. I reached into my pocket, taking out a wrapped candy. “Do you like taffy?”
She scrunched her nose. “I hate it, actually. It’s like chewing plastic to me.”
“Well, see, if you hate taffy, it could never have worked between us anyway.” I winked.
I’d expected her to laugh, but her reaction was just the opposite. While she smiled, it somehow looked sad.
“What’s wrong, Felicity?”
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do. Talk to me.”
She didn’t say anything. She just kept staring into my eyes. And the longer she did, the more I needed to taste her lips more than I needed my next breath.
* * *
Felicity
Track 8: “Kiss Me” by Ed Sheeran
I didn’t know how many seconds passed while we stared at each other. The sounds of the parking lot seemed to fade into the distance.
We slowly moved closer until Leo’s lips were inches from mine. How had we gone from a casual and awkward conversation to this moment—so intense that I could hardly breathe? I’d missed him, thought about him every moment of every day for two weeks as I gazed across the bay. And now that he was in front of me, I didn’t know how to hide my feelings.
I couldn’t have told you who kissed whom first. It seemed to happen spontaneously. Our lips got so close that they attached, if by magnetic force. The moment his hot, wet mouth enveloped mine, all the breath I’d been holding escaped into him. Leo let out a slow and sexy groan that vibrated at the back of my throat. I opened wider to let his tongue in, relishing the taste of this beautiful man. It had been so long since I’d been kissed, but only a few seconds in, I knew I’d never been kissed like this, kissed to the point that my knees went weak, that I felt it in every fiber of my body.
We started out tender and easy, but it soon deepened. I felt the metal of my car hit my back as Leo leaned his body into mine. His hands threaded through my hair as my fingers dug into his back. We were lost in each other, neither of us aware that we were still in a very public place. He smelled and tasted so good that I never wanted to stop, nor did I care who might have been watching this go down.
My body buzzed as his warm hand slid down my back, landing just above my ass. I pressed myself into him, aware of the erection against my abdomen. Our tongues sought each other’s taste with reckless abandon. I reached up to rake my fingers through his silky hair.
It wasn’t until a rogue shopping cart powered by the wind came crashing into us that we were forced to break the kiss.
He pulled back suddenly as his hands wrapped around my face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I blinked as if coming out of a trance.
He looked dazed, as well, as he moved the cart away and rested it against a barrier.
When he returned to me, he ran his tongue along his bottom lip, still seeming a bit shocked. “I, uh, don’t know what came over me. I just… That wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to run into you. And I certainly wasn’t supposed to maul you in a ShopRite carpark.”
I rubbed my fingers over my mouth. “Are you sure you mauled me, or did I maul you?”
We shared a smile.
After a few moments of silence, he said, “Felicity… I know we agreed to not see each other. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
I nodded. “I’ve been thinking about you, too.”
“You have?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“I’ve spent the past two weeks doing nothing but painting with Bob Ross and eating saltwater taffy.”
“Bob Ross?” I laughed. “What?”
“Don’t ask.” He shook his head. “And I don’t think I actually like taffy, either. But it was better than drinking, or worse, getting in the boat and crossing the bay to make a fool of myself by begging you every day to reconsider spending the summer with me. So I opted not to, only to make a bigger fool of myself in this carpark the first chance I got.”
I was just as much to blame for the PDA fest that just happened. But how was I supposed to go on my merry way now and forget about him after that kiss?
His eyes seared into mine. “Tell me what to do, because I don’t want to leave you right now.”
I knew I’d live to regret the words I uttered next. “Do you like cake?”
His mouth curved into a smile. “Only white cake with whipped cream and strawberries.”
My pulse raced. “Would you want to come over tonight for Mrs. Angelini’s birthday? We were gonna order pizza, which isn’t the healthiest thing, but it’s a step up from your mac and cheese party.”
“An evening with you would be a huge step up from that.”
“Want to say seven, then?”
“What can I bring?”
“Just yourself.”
“What does Mrs. Angelini like to drink?”
“Fireball.” I laughed.
“Really? All right. I’ll pick some up.”
I nodded. “See you later.”
Just as I was opening my car door, he stopped me. “You might want to take the cake off the top of your car before you drive away.”
Shutting my eyes briefly, I cringed. “Right. That would be a great idea.”
After I got in my car, I put it in drive when I should have been reversing, nearly hitting a barrier before catching myself. Why could I never seem to drive around Leo?
He stood there smiling as he watched me take off. I had butterflies and a feeling of dread all at once. I knew this invitation meant way more than just pizza and cake. I’d officially thrown caution to the wind and invited him into my life. And before I knew it, he’d be gone just as fast as he’d entered.
The doorbell rang promptly at seven.