“Maybe that’s part of the problem. Isn’t it better to talk about it?”
“There you go, being right again. Damn you, Kendra Carter.”
“Shut up.” With a laugh, she reached forward to swat him on the chest. The desire to touch him was just too irresistible, and this seemed like the perfect excuse. His chest was hard and muscular, just as she’d imagined.
When she tried to withdrew her hand, he caught her wrist and kept it where it was. “Where are you going?” he murmured.
“I don’t know. Where are you going?”
“Wherever you are.” He grinned at her. God, he looked good in the starlit darkness. He was like liquid sex poured into a six-foot body. “By the way, I always liked it when you got riled up. It was hot.”
“Oh, you thought it was hot?” Her heart was doing this odd skipping thing that made her voice sound husky. “Even when I was lecturing you about studying harder?”
“Especially then. Because you’d be aiming those gorgeous eyes at me. You have the brightest eyes in the world, do you know that?”
“They’re basically…brown. Dark brown.”
“No. They shine and sparkle and glow. It’s like there’s all this fire inside you, and it’s right there in your eyes. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Wow. She’d been complimented before, of course, but never in such a heartfelt way. Jason had a sincerity about him that Dominic, for instance, couldn’t begin to imitate. “Thank you. That’s…nice.”
Her hand was still pressed against his chest. She felt the steady thump of his heartbeat. The same rhythm seemed to echo in her own eardrums, as if their systems were synchronizing with each other. “You’re welcome. But it’s just the truth. You’re a star, Kendra Carter. You always were.”
She scooted closer to him, curled herself into the shelter of his stretched-out body, and rested her elbow on his hip.
“You know, sometimes you sound like you had a crush on me in high school.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I looked up to you. I thought you were incredible. But it wasn’t really a crush. Maybe I would have, but there was…”
“Gretchen.” She finished the sentence for him. She’d almost forgotten about Gretchen. But of course he hadn’t. He was probably still in love with her. You didn’t switch gears that fast.
“Yeah. And, you know, she had sex with me.” He grinned widely. “It’s hard to beat that when you’re a teenager.”
“You were each other’s firsts?”
“Yes. Ironically, that was one of our problems. FOMO. You know, who else is out there? What are you missing out on by staying with the first person you sleep with? I mean, it works for some people, obviously. In the end, I guess we just didn’t love each other to that extent.”
“I always thought you’d get married and have a bunch of kids by now.”
“Yeah. I can see why you would think that. But no. I hope she gets pregnant soon,” he added thoughtfully. “She always talked about wanting kids. And I was always like, yeah, sure, someday. I guess she got fed up with me.”
“So you don’t want kids? I’m confused.”
Amazing how this conversation was covering all kinds of ground. Usually she avoided the big topics in the early stages of getting to know a guy. But of course, this was different. She knew a lot about Jason already, and besides, this wasn’t on track to be a “relationship.” If it was going to be anything, it would be strictly a rebound.
“Sure. Kids are awesome. I have a niece and two nephews, they’re pretty great, plus I work with kids a lot. I guess I just don’t plan ahead like that. When it’s time, I figure I’ll know.”
And that was one huge difference between them. In her book, the more you could plan for the future, the better. Too bad her biggest and best plan, the business with Dominic, had blown up in her face.
But none of that mattered when it came to her and Jason. This was nothing but a…”rebound,” she said out loud.
“Excuse me?”
Welp, she sure had blurted that out of nowhere.
“Just wondering if it’s the only relationship terminology that’s also in basketball. You know, just randomly. Apropos of nothing.”
He scanned her face in the darkness. She lifted her chin to hide her unaccustomed embarrassment.
“It’s not.”
“Huh?”
“It’s not the only one. There’s also ‘slam dunk.’”
Nine
Jason watched that sassy smile spread across Kendra’s face. The moon had risen enough so that he could see her more clearly. Her eyes were still full of fire, but it was a softer glow than usual, banked embers instead of a brilliant flame.
“Are you saying you’re a slam dunk?”
“Nothing but net, baby.”
Holly would be furious with him, but he didn’t care. She was only seventeen, she didn’t know everything. If there was any chance of something with Kendra, he was going for it.
“Okay, but we should talk about it first.”
“We’ve done a lot of talking already,” he pointed out. They’d covered a lot of ground, too, topics he didn’t usually discuss. He was starting to get cold on the dock out here after midnight.
“I mean about, you know, being on the same page. Our situations aren’t so different. We both recently broke with someone we were serious about. Neither of us is recovered. I know I’m not. Do you know I looked up the definition of a ‘rebound?’”
“Why does that not surprise me?” he murmured.
She made a face at him. “It means getting into a new relationship before you’ve totally recovered from your last breakup. In other words, it’s doomed to failure because you’re still all messed up. But at least it’s something.”
“Wow. And you thought of me. I’m so flattered.” His dry tone didn’t quite hide his hurt.
“Boy, don’t act all wounded. We both deserve love and a solid, long-term relationship. But are you ready for that right now? Aren’t you still mourning over what happened with Gretchen?”
“Yeah. I saw her the other day with her husband and had actual fantasies about how I could sabotage their fancy-ass boat. It got quite specific. Rope in the engine prop, that kind of thing.”
“There you go. I have the same thing. Except in my case, it’s more like I schedule a meeting with his new bosses and present them with a PowerPoint of all the reasons they shouldn’t trust him.”
“I bet it’s very comprehensive.”
Her lips quirked in amusement. “You know it.”
“Okay, so, revenge fantasies. Check. What’s your point?”
“That we’re not fully recovered. Either of us. We’re both in a rebound-prone phase. But maybe that works out better. If we’re both on the rebound, then neither of us can really get hurt.”
“How do you figure?” He couldn’t wait to hear her explanation for that theory. The way her mind worked, it was really something. Those wheels were always turning.
“It’s like this.” She sat up, and he instantly missed the warmth from where she’d propped herself against his hip. “In a rebound, part of your heart is still with the previous relationship. Therefore it can’t get as hurt if the new one goes wrong.” She brushed her hands together briskly. “And I know neither of us is trying to get hurt again.”