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11:00 pm

Ronnie took another break from the keyboard, and after a few seconds, taped music bounced off the walls in his place. Outside on the patio, Dakota finished her drink and stole a glance at Ethan. Silence had settled between them and left her restless. She wanted to know more. She wanted to ask about the sadness that hung in the corners of his eyes and mouth every now and then. She wanted to take his hand in hers. She wanted something she didn’t know how to ask for or articulate. And part of her wanted to go now, before she found herself heading down that slippery path of emotion she’d wanted to avoid tonight.

Across from her, Ethan stretched out both legs. Somewhere across town, a clock chimed. She counted the solemn tones, startled when she reached eleven. Almost midnight? Really?

“So what about you?” she asked after another moment of silence.

“What about me?”

Dakota smiled. “I told you about my heartache.” Well, most of it, anyway, she amended silently. “Now help me understand why a good-looking guy like you is here tonight without a date.”

Ethan winced at her question and she was sorry she’d asked.

“I…um…I don’t go out a lot.” He paused. “Trying to get over someone too, I guess.” Another pause, longer this time. “I don’t date much.”

“What? Since you hit the ripe old age of thirty?”

He grabbed his chest with one hand and she thought she saw a smile. “I’m twenty-nine, thank you very much.”

“Oh. Sorry.” With the graying temples and sober face, she’d placed him older than that.

“I’ll take that to mean I come across as mature.”

“That’s exactly how I meant it.”

“Mmm…” He opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“How long since…?”

“Ah, it’s been a while.” He looked down at his fingers. “Almost a year.”

“Must have been serious,” she said.

He didn’t answer.

“Well,” she continued, “I’m glad you came out tonight.” She paused. “Though to be honest, I hadn’t planned on sitting here for hours and talking to you. I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone at all.” Her cheeks warmed. Funny how sometimes the best plans took matters into their own hands.

Ethan gave her a crooked grin. “Kind of know what you mean..”

She shivered as a cool breeze danced through the patio.

“Want to go inside?”

She nodded and stood at the same time he did. Inside, Ronnie began to play a blues song, slow and sultry. They moved across the patio without speaking. The crowd of people near the door lumped together and she had trouble seeing through to the other side. Behind her, suddenly, Ethan’s hand landed in the small of her back. Heat. Pressure. And something else that made her turn with surprise, into his arms.

In the moment before Dakota knew what was coming, Ethan bent down and kissed her. His hands moved to her face. His mouth landed squarely on hers, hot and hungry; his tongue parted her lips before she realized what was happening.

Oh wow, this wasn’t supposed to happen…was her first thought. Oh God, I want him to kiss me like this all night was her second. She leaned into him, into the solidness of him against her, and was amazed at the feeling of rightness that swept over her. A whimper escaped from the back of her throat. She let her fingers pull at his waist, drawing him closer. There was attraction, she thought, and then there was inevitability. There was the hot jolt of desire that pulled you toward someone because you liked their eyes or their smile or the way they filled out a pair of jeans. There was the want that warmed beds late at night because company was better than being alone.

And then there was something beyond the physical, beyond the way two bodies fit together. There was chemistry that created itself from bits of conversation, from skin brushing skin by accident, from the air surging between two people who were simply supposed to be together. There was a strange working of the universe that led you to someone you’d never even envisioned and then suddenly couldn’t imagine being without.

Sensations too strong to ignore slipped into her veins. She felt herself sway and wondered if it were the crowd pushing her or the ground wavering beneath her. Closing her eyes, not caring where she was or who might see, Dakota gave herself up to the kiss and the way it turned her mouth into an animal all its own. His palms pressed against the small of her back. His tongue was inside her, and he was tasting and whispering and asking a question she didn’t know how to answer. Ethan brushed the hair from her cheek with one hand and a lightning bolt moved straight from her toes up to the crown of her head.

With a sharp, sudden inhale, he pulled away from her. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

“What?” Dakota’s lips were on fire. She stumbled and reached for the wall behind her. “It’s okay. Don’t be.” I wanted it just as much as you, she started to say. Maybe more.

But before she could get the words out, he jerked back as though she’d burned him. He stuffed both hands into the pockets of his jeans and stared at a space beyond her. “Oh, God, Dakota. I’m so sorry. I shouldn‘t have done that.”

“Ethan? It’s just a kiss. Not the end of the world.” Maybe the beginning of something, on the other hand, but—

But the confusion in his eyes looked like more than a midnight kiss gone wrong.

She ran one finger along his arm. “What’s the matter?”

Ethan stiffened at her touch and all expression left his face. Coldness seeped into the space between them and his eyes turned to granite.

“Listen, I should have told you the truth before. I—there’s someone else.”

Someone else? Dakota’s chest tightened. “What? I thought you said…meaning what?”

He scratched his jaw, and his gaze dropped to his toes. “It’s not exactly…it’s not…”

“It’s not what? Tell me.”

At that, Ethan’s chin rose and his gaze met hers. But then she was sorry, because the heartbreak glowing there made her want to step back again.

“Dakota, I’m married.”