Sweet Imperfection Read Free Page A

over because he was suddenly very interested in Emma.
    Since they were both single, would the teasing and flirting take on a new meaning? Did he want it to? There had been times in college when he’d been tempted to make a move on her—girlfriends and boyfriends be damned—and see if they were as good together as he had imagined they would be.
    But he’d never let his dick overrule his common decency. Now here they were, two consenting adults, free of obligation to anyone else, looking to survive a reunion as single people among a sea of marrieds and marrieds-with-kids. He could sense they were both a little lonely.
    He’d found Emma Chen-Delvaux, single, on the college campus where they’d first met. He wouldn’t get another opportunity like this. He could only hope that putting himself out there wouldn’t strip away the scar tissue he’d carefully grafted over his heart.
    Still , he thought, as he raked his gaze over her from the top of her head down to her sexy, strappy sandals and crimson toenails, even if it hurt, it might be worth it . He felt the stirrings of arousal in the base of his belly; he couldn’t place them at first they were so foreign to him. None of his college friends would believe he hadn’t had sex in over a year. It was difficult to imagine it himself sometimes.
    He tore his gaze from the neckline of Emma’s simple white tank top and moved it to her face, where he found her smiling a bit uncertainly. “Hmm…what?”
    “I said are you going to any of the campus events tonight?”
    “Like what? I didn’t pay very much attention to the schedule,” he confessed.
    “They’re screening It Happened One Night in the cinema, and there’s a square dance or something at one of the fraternities. The all-school dance is tomorrow night on the green.”
    “Oh, yeah!” At the all-school dance their senior year, Emma and Christophe had danced every song together, the meathead surprisingly good on the floor, Emma looking fresh and lovely in a white strapless dress. Why did he remember that? He recalled her laughing at his antics as he did the Robot to the Beastie Boys. He’d always been trying to get her attention back then.
    “I’m not much for square dancing,” he said. “Want to go to the movie?”
    “Sure. We should head up there now. I think it starts at eight.”
    They said good-bye to a couple of their classmates as they exited the tent and made for the cinema in the arts complex.
    The night was sultry and warm for May. Less than a month from the solstice, the air was tinted the dark blue of twilight, and Nate had the strangest urge to take Emma’s hand in his as they walked. He was afraid that if he tried, though, she’d laugh at him. It wasn’t exactly his signature move, but it would have been nice to walk hand-in-hand with a pretty girl through the cut-grass-scented air.
    She didn’t seem to pick up on the potential romance of their situation, or if she did, she wanted to avoid it because she started asking him about their mutual friends. They began comparing notes on who was doing what and with whom.
    “Kate’s apparently a lesbian,” he said, getting into the spirit of the gossip session.
    “What? She is not.” Emma’s reaction was gratifyingly astonished.
    “She is. I saw her not long ago. She’s engaged to a woman she met doing roller derby.”
    “Are you serious? That’s great, but wow. You guys were together for like….”
    “A year,” he said. “I know.”
    “Did you know…I mean, when you guys were together, did she….”
    “Tell me she’d rather be having sex with a woman? No, she did not. I thought we were good together even in the sex department. I mean, she never complained to me.”
    “Then you must be better than I thought.”
    Nate shot Emma a sideways glance, and she grinned.
    “I mean, if you could satisfy a lesbian….”
    He laughed. “Oh, yeah, that’s me. Gay, straight, they leave happy.”
    She giggled. The sound warmed him, but also