One More Dance by Roxanne Rustand (best ebook reader for pc txt) 📗

Startled, he looked over her head toward the sound of Dee’s voice, then touched Kate’s cheek with his fingertips. “Look, if you don’t want to go, just say the word.”

He was so different from what she would’ve expected of someone with a background like his. Where was the superficial charm, the arrogant, offhand sense of entitlement that so many of the fraternity guys wore like a badge of honor?

Remembering his gentle defense of the little boy at the corner store, she fought the urge to lean into his touch. One date. What could be the harm? Just one evening, and she’d back away from all the temptation before her...before it was too late.

“That note was...um...a mistake,” she admitted.

“I’m glad.” His eyes twinkled. “Tell your friend that I owe her a favor. Are you all set?”

She grabbed her purse and denim jacket from a bench by the door. Out in the crisp night air, their hands automatically caught and held as they strolled through the fallen leaves covering the sidewalks.

The sweet scent of burning leaves drifted on the breeze, coupled with the aroma of cinnamon-laden apple pie emanating from one of the 1940s stucco bungalows they passed on their way to the campus theater.

“I hardly know you,” Jared said, “yet I feel like I’ve known you forever. Is that weird?”

She angled a teasing glance at him. “Maybe we were siblings in another life.”

He laughed. “Believe me, I don’t think of you as my sister.” Silvery moonlight painted the campus in shimmering, eerie shades of gray. In the shadows of a massive old oak, he stopped and turned to her, lifting her chin gently. “In fact, I’ve wanted to do this since the moment we met.”

He hesitated, giving her a chance to pull away, then lowered his mouth to hers for a brief kiss.

It was as if she’d been touched with fire. Sensation and longing spread through her, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. “One more?”

This time, he kissed her longer—still chaste, still holding back, but in that kiss she felt such connection, such longing unfolding inside her, that at first she was only dimly aware of the single word echoing through her heart.

Forever... Forever...

And she knew that no matter what happened in her life, no matter what happened with this relationship or with any others, she would never forget this moment in Jared’s arms.

THE IRONY OF THE PLAY’S romantic conflicts amused her, though she scarcely heard the actors speak. Instead, she was aware of Jared’s woodsy aftershave. The warmth of his arm next to hers. The surreptitious glances of some of the other students in the theater.

For this one precious night, she felt like the wealthiest princess in the world—flying high and savoring every moment.

Afterward, they lingered at a coffee shop, talking until the lone waitress stopped mopping the floor and told them it was long past time for the place to close.

With obvious regret, Jared stood, flipped a five-dollar bill onto the table and ushered Kate outside. “I think I could’ve stayed there till dawn, if she hadn’t told us to go. Next time, we’ll have to try that all-night diner on Fourth.”

Next time? Maybe... Kate’s heart lifted, even as reality started to nip at her thoughts. “What would your mother say if she knew you were hanging out with someone like me?”

“Like you?” The surprise in his voice was palpable. “What wouldn’t she like?”

“Who have you dated before—girls from your country club? Your social circle?”

“Yes, but...” He faltered. “That’s just ’cause they were attending the same school, I guess.”

“I don’t think we should see each other again.”

At that, he stopped short and gently swung her around to face him. “My family has nothing to do with this.”

“No?” She took a slow breath as she gathered her courage. “Mine does...and I think yours would take issue with that.”

“Our families don’t matter.”

They would. He just didn’t know it yet, and if she could save them the embarrassment and awkwardness of that revelation, they’d both be better off.

But then their eyes met. Locked.

Looking up into his strong, chiseled face, she saw his eyes melt as he stared down at her, and her heart expanded until it barely fit in her chest.

She’d dated a few boys in high school. She’d had a girlish attraction to some of the coolest guys at school, and after seeing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, she’d had a silly crush on Harrison Ford.

But never had anyone made her feel like Jared did—a soul-deep attraction that she felt with every fiber of her being.

“I want to see you again. Tomorrow night?”

The deep timbre of his voice and its absolute determination sensitized her skin, sending renewed shivers of awareness through her. Every bit of her resolve fled like a fallen leaf on the rising October wind.

She nodded, feeling a little faint.

The obstacles between Shakespeare’s young lovers in the play had been amusing...but they didn’t hold a candle to what lay in her past. One more time...just one more evening couldn’t hurt, could it?

But all the way home she prayed that she hadn’t made a big mistake.

KATE SPENT SUNDAY AFTERNOON in the vet school library, trying to study for her anatomy test on Monday. Mostly, she watched the time tick by slowly...slowly...slowly...taunting her with the imperceptible drag of the minute hand as it made its way around the broad white face of the clock on the wall.

At five, she allowed herself to launch out of her chair and jog home, where she showered, tried on four different outfits, and finally made a cheap box of macaroni and cheese to share with Deanna. Leesa, as usual, was at the stable, where she’d go whenever she had a spare hour or two.

“Hot date,” Deanna mused, a forkful of garish orange macaroni halfway to her mouth. “Whoever could it be?”

Kate fixed her with a quelling stare. “Don’t embarrass me when Jared comes over, okay?”

Her hand at her