KICK IT | JENLISA

73

Lisa

Under the temptation, I leaned closer. Jennie before today stiffened and tensed into defensive mode, even when her body lit up with all the go-ahead signs. Goosebumps, wide eyes, lips parted, and a pink flush in her cheeks... I wasn't wrong interpreting them. She felt the same pull, she just needed to stop pushing against it.

Now, she relaxed and not from four hours of golf that coated her skin in a mix of perspiration and suntan lotion. Warmth pooled around her rounded pupils and her short breaths pitched her chest.

I took a giant leap onto that wire and bobbed precariously. The last thing I wanted was to make a move too soon and pushed her to retreat again.

My chest tightened as her teeth dented further into her lip. I wanted much more than guarded glimpses, dashed exits, and personal space. More than six inches between our mats. And no space between our lips.

I wanted to know that it was me that skipped the pulse in her wrist where I rubbed my thumb. My cock pressed against my zipper wanted more, but my patience screamed she needed me to move slow.

No more birds in the face, Lisa.

I cupped her pink cheek and rubbed her warm skin with my thumb. Wildfire urges to kiss away her doubts spread through me. The blood surging through every cell in my body screamed a call to action.

So I leapt. Blindly.

"Can I kiss you?"

My thumb passed over the path I wanted, from one corner of her mouth to the other, and released her lip. She froze, with uncertainty framed by her thick lashes.

I lowered my head and paused an inch from what I wanted. The only one who could stop me was her. It was her choice, one painful beat of my heart at a time.

Her lips parted and a hot breath passed over the pad of my thumb. Horror rounded her eyes and her soft words split open my heart.

"I can't, Lisa."

I can't. Not we.

I didn't need to hear her list of reasons, because I couldn't find one that wasn't an excuse. My last working brain cell reminded me that she worked for me, I was getting out of a long-term relationship, and she wasn't over her ex.

All bullshit.

'I'm not ready.' was an answer I could accept and respect. But she stood silent and still, a statue whose teeth recaptured her lower lip and the biggest apology drowning in her eyes.

The clearest signs were written all over her face. From those apologetic eyes to her dry, parted lips, trembling spine, and fingernail flicks, she was terrified. She tolerated me, maybe accepted me, but she wasn't letting me in.

Whether she meant not yet or never, I wasn't sure, but I want those secrets that closed off her heart.

Teaching therapy was her heart screaming it wanted out. But I couldn't pull it out of her chest for her, any more than I could force her to have feelings for me.

Instead, I fell back on a masked smile, and lied through my teeth, "Sorry, I didn't..."

Jennie's cheek pulled off my palm. I curled my fingers as she slipped out of my touch and hugged her elbows. "I'm doing you a favour, Lisa."

Bullshit.