Entangled Moments (Moments in Time) Read Free

the table between our cups. The coffee wouldn’t even cost ten dollars. For a
moment, I wished I were Sally the waitress.
    I stood, my eyes still glued to the money on the table. “Thanks
for the talk.” I looked briefly at him and then stepped away. Then I slipped on
something and went flying. I let out a squeal, anticipating the back of my head
hitting the ceramic tiles. Instead, I fell into Nick’s arms.
    His firm muscles contracted as he lifted me up to a standing
position. “Careful.” His breath warmed my neck, awakening butterflies in the
pit of my stomach. A smile tipped the corners of his full lips, and dimples
appeared on both cheeks. No wonder I had found him attractive. I had always
been a dimples and gorgeous eyes kind of girl.
    I should have gotten out of the cradle of his arms
immediately, but my body wouldn’t cooperate with my head. It had been a long
time since I’d felt so safe in someone’s arms.
    When Nick lowered his lips to mine and kissed me, I didn’t
flinch. His kiss was a whisper at first, as if he was testing me to see if I’d
fight him. When I didn’t, he gently nibbled my lips and probed my tongue with
his.
    My stomach swirled and somewhere inside my head, a tiny
voice reprimanded me. I pretended not to hear. My body felt as if it had been
plugged into an electrical outlet. I returned his kiss fervently. Nothing about
this felt wrong. In fact, nothing had ever felt so right.
    From a distance, people talked, someone slurped a drink,
coins jingled, and a love song played in the background.
    I wound my arms around Nick’s neck, and he buried his hands
in my hair, unraveling it from its ponytail.
    Suddenly, he pulled away, still gazing at me. His arms were
still around my waist. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...”
    “It’s... It’s okay.” I bit my lip, relishing the remains of
our coffee kiss.
    His arms dropped to his sides, and he pushed his hands into
his pockets, as if to restrain them. “I never do things like that. You are
so...beautiful.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. That should never have
happened.”
    Words were lodged in my throat. I wanted to say that I didn’t
regret what happened. That he’d made me feel alive again, if just for a moment.
    Though the kiss invigorated me, the shame of kissing a total
stranger washed over me. I felt like a teenager who couldn’t keep her emotions
in check.
    It was just that he’d caught me from more than falling to
the floor. He’d also caught me from crashing down into depression, as I usually
did on this day every year.
    “I should go.” He lifted his suit jacket from the back of a
chair and shrugged it on. “It was nice meeting you.” He strode out of the café,
leaving me standing there with one hand clutching the edge of the table for
balance.
    The gears in my head clicked forward again and I remembered
Oasis, breakfast, the residents. The clock above the jukebox confirmed that I
had been away for at least an hour.
    I grabbed my belongings and hurried past the banana peel
that had caused my fall, and past Sally, who stood at the cash register, mouth
open. She had obviously witnessed what had just happened between Nick and me.
    Why did she look so shocked? Things like this happened all
the time. Maybe not to me, but to a lot of other people.
    When it came to dating and relationships, I had always been
the type to take things slow. Chris and I had gone on three dates before I
allowed him to kiss me on the lips. In fact, he was the only man I’d been with,
in every way. The love of my life. But although I’d found him extremely
attractive the first time we’d met in the parking lot of Shop ‘n’ Carry, the
attraction hadn’t been a bolt of lightning.
    He hadn’t made me feel the way Nick just had.

 
    Chapter Three
     
    As I helped with breakfast, I couldn’t stop thinking about
Nick and the most amazing kiss I’d ever had, hands down. Nick had awakened
feelings inside of me I thought would remain dormant