things clear to them even if they aren’t to you. I know this party was terrible timing, but I was volunteered to throw a party for one of my buddies a few weeks ago. I completely forgot about it until everyone started showing up.” He laughed briefly. “I’ve had other things on my mind.”
But that wasn’t the only thing I was irked about. “Okay, but what about telling Jen to block my driveway?”
He grinned. “That was to make sure you talked to me before the night ended, even if it was only to yell at me.”
“Yell at you? Oh, I’m going to do more than that. You are so dead.”
He must have seen my intention to tackle him in my eyes because he pulled a chair out from my dining room table and dodged behind it. “Wait, Krista. In my defense, you’ve been avoiding me lately, so when Jen showed up, it was too tempting.”
“You know what else is tempting?”
“Kissing me?”
“Replace the s’s with l’s.”
But instead of looking scared, he laughed. I charged at him, vaulting up on the chair seat, ready to destroy him.
I probably should have thought that through more.
Instead of breaking past his defense, I ended up surprising him so much he pulled back on the chair, tipping me towards him with too much momentum to catch myself. Everything became a blur of flailing arms and falling.
When the impact came, I barely felt it, cradled against his chest with his arms wrapped tightly around me. I lay across him at a slight angle with my feet tangled up in the rungs of the chair back, unable to move off. His shoulder was up against the wall, and from his position, he had to have hit his head against it as well.
“Shoot, Damien. Are you okay?”
He let go of me with one hand and felt the back of his head. “I might have a bump in a minute, but nothing’s broken. Dang, Krista. If I’d known you just wanted to tackle me, I wouldn’t have been running away from you.”
I rose up on my arms and stared down at him unbelievingly. “Are you…making a joke right now? How? I just tried to murder you.”
“Hey. Anything to get you in my arms again.”
“I just can’t anymore,” I said, giving in at last. What was the use of logic and restraint when he was so ridiculously darling? I moved my hands to cup his head and gave in to the madness, kissing him with all the fire and abandon that I’d just about put into ripping him to shreds.
His hands found my hips, lifting and pulling me free of the chair as he shifted to lay flat on floor, obviously wanting to get more comfortable for what would hopefully be a very long and thorough make-out session.
“What are you two doing back there?”
I broke off our very satisfying kiss and craned my neck to see Victoria staring down at us like we’d lost our minds. She wasn’t wrong.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Damien asked. “Please go away.”
“Oh, I am. That’s what I came to tell you. I’m all packed and headed out, so you don’t have to hide behind the table anymore.”
I didn’t bother explaining how we’d ended up back here. “You’re leaving? Just like that?”
She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m a determined person but not an idiot. I sat Damien down earlier and asked him all those questions you told me to ask him. I didn’t believe that he really loved you, but I guess he does.”
“Loves me?”
Damien gave a frustrated growl. “Clearly, I’ve done a better job of convincing her than I have you.” Then he tilted his head and focused on my lips again. “I guess I just need to work harder at it.”
“Gross!” Victoria shrieked. “At least wait till I leave.”
I pulled away from Damien’s kiss just long enough to say, “Then leave. We won’t miss you.”
Maybe I still hadn’t figured out how to believe in a happily ever after, but I was finally ready to admit that this kind of trouble was the best kind of fun.
I had a feeling Damien’s confidence would take care of the rest.
“So I take it you’re finally agreeing to be my girlfriend for real?” he asked as the door shut behind Victoria. Well, maybe slammed was a better word.
“Yes. But I’m not promising I’ll be good at it. I’m willing to be reckless and see where this goes.”
“I promise you won’t regret it.” He kissed the end of my nose.