Dream Of You - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,27

tantalizing distraction that resurfaced whenever our gazes collided. Conversation wasn’t lacking though.

While we waited for the food to arrive, along with the wine, we chatted about high school and he asked about college. I talked about what it was like to live in a city like New York, and he’d admitted that he could never handle day in and day out in the city, not even Philadelphia. During the dinner, he led me into a conversation about editing, something that many people outside of the publishing industry would have absolutely no interest in, but he seemed genuinely curious about it.

And when I started to go fan-girl over the authors I worked with and hoped to work with in the future, he said I was cute. Again.

We didn’t talk about the investigation. I hadn’t brought it up, figuring it would kind of ruin the lovely dinner.

Sometimes I found myself missing what he was saying, just tiny bits, because as terrible as it sounded, I ended up just staring at him. It wasn’t just because he was that attractive. It was more than a physical thing. A mixture of his charm and kindness, the fact that he was actually here, after all this time, having dinner with me, had a lot to do with it. And yeah, some of it had to do with him simply being so freaking hot.

And I was woman enough to admit that.

I had to wonder what people thought when they saw us together. Like when the waitress’s gaze lingered on Colton, what crossed her mind? Did she wonder how the hell I ended up on a date with someone like Colton, who was universally attractive? No one wanted to admit it, but I knew people thought things like that. Hell, I had. After all, if they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a thousand articles online showcasing couples that didn’t match on the attractive scale.

Maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit. I didn’t want to think about things like that right now, because the dinner was sort of perfect, and the steady internal stream of nonsense was ruining it.

Night had fallen when we left the restaurant and bright stars blanketed the onyx sky. He kept his hand on my lower back until we reached his truck. It was such a simple gesture, but I felt like there was so much meaning to it.

The ride back to my place was quiet as I was lost in my own thoughts, replaying the dinner over and over. I wasn’t even aware of the fact that we were at my house until he parked the truck.

I glanced at him in the dark interior of the truck, half hopeful that he would come in and partly terrified that he would.

One hand rested on the steering wheel as his gaze met mine and held. His features were shadowed, so I had no idea what he was thinking. “Walk you to the door?”

“Sure.” Disappointment snapped at my heels. So he didn’t want to come in? Did I want him to come in? Colton dropped his hand from the steering wheel and reached over, and as he unbuckled my seatbelt, his hand brushed along my stomach. A series of shivers danced over my skin.

Oh yeah, I wanted him to come in. Like that door was wide open.

We walked to the front door, silent with the exception of the humming of crickets. I didn’t know what to say when we reached my door and I dug my keys out, unlocking it. I wished I could be brave and confident, invite him in with a sexy little grin, but it had been so long since I’d done this.

Actually, I’d never really done this before. Kevin and I had done the dating thing while in high school. Parents were involved then. Dates ended at the door and picked up again with late-night phone calls. This was a whole different ballpark I had no experience in. I looked up at him, drawing in a shallow breath.

He was staring down at me, and even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could feel his gaze, it was that intense. “I had a really good time tonight.”

“So did I.” I was breathless as I opened the door and stepped inside. When I turned to him and looked up once more, whatever I was about to say faded, lost in the space between us.

There was a certain intent to the line of his mouth, and I knew before he even lowered his head, that