She tried to focus on Greg as he dove into a story about himself. The back of her neck prickled. She reached a hand there and rubbed self-consciously, trying to concentrate on Greg. A good half hour passed and the situation was unbearable. She told herself it was because of Cullen. If he wasn’t here, she could enjoy herself on her first date in forever.
She felt Cullen behind her. Felt his stare. She heard the higher feminine tone of Sheridan’s voice and the deep rumble from Cullen as he replied, and her stomach pitched. Huntley crossed her legs and then uncrossed them again beneath the table, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder.
“So I know this town is full of Army meatheads,” Greg was saying, “but the cost of living here is great, and there aren’t too many dentists to compete with.” He stopped for a breath and it looked like he might let her get a word in. “What about you? How did you end up here?”
“Well, my twin brother is a meathead actually. He completed his training here and helped get me a job at the hospital on base before he was deployed.”
“Oh.” An awkward silence fell between them. She rubbed at the back of her neck again, still feeling Cullen’s eyes drilling into her.
She forced herself to swallow the last bit of her latte. She tapped the rim of her mug idly. “Well, this has been nice.” Her voice squeaked a little at the end of the lie in an attempt to sound perky. As though this really had been nice and not all shades of uncomfortable. She reached for her handbag looped around the back of her chair.
“Yeah.” Greg pushed to his feet the same time she did. “I had a really good time, too. Maybe next time we can do dinner? There’s a great French bistro that just opened.”
“Sure.” She lifted one shoulder even though staying home alone and curling up on the couch sounded more tempting. “Just email me.” She supposed she should try at least one more date with him before calling it quits. She wasn’t going to meet anyone if she was too picky.
“Great.” Beaming, he settled his hand on the small of her back and led her from the coffeehouse.
As she stepped from the building and out into the warm sunshine, she risked one final glance behind her to the bar where Cullen sat perched on a stool.
He was still there as she knew he would be, one palm pressed flat on top of the counter beside his cup, his other arm hanging loosely at his side. It was a casual pose. Almost listless. And yet it wasn’t. Tightly leashed energy radiated off him as he sat there. He reminded her of an animal, frozen for an endless moment before he sprang into action. The sight made her pulse thrum faster at her neck.
She squared her shoulders. He had no reason to be angry, and she had no reason to feel like she had done something wrong. They were friends, moving on from one little misstep.
Greg stepped closer. His face was near enough that she could make out the slight overlap of his front tooth over its neighbor and she couldn’t help thinking it ironic that a dentist would have less-than-perfect teeth.
“W-what are you doing?” she stammered.
“Would it be okay if I kissed you?”
A swift “no” rose to her lips. She hardly knew him. Forgetting that fact, she didn’t want to kiss him. He might not be ugly, but he was the last man she wanted to kiss. The man she wanted to kiss sat inside that coffeehouse, watching her.
Watching her.
If Cullen saw another man kiss her, then he couldn’t possibly think she was hung up on him. She seized upon this idea. Somehow it made perfect sense to her.
“Yes,” she blurted before she fully considered the consequences.
Greg’s eyes lit up like he was presented with an unexpected toy. He worked his mouth as though getting ready for some heavy-duty lip action and closed the distance separating them. He flattened his mouth on hers.
It wasn’t a terrible kiss. No tongue action, thankfully, but he clung to her bottom lip for a long moment like he wanted to take it with him. Maybe he thought it was sexy, but it just felt … odd.
When they stepped apart, he smiled. “See you soon.”
She nodded, forcing herself not to look through the glass door for Cullen. She couldn’t. It would reveal that she perhaps had an ulterior motive in kissing Greg. Which she did, but she didn’t want Cullen to know that.
With a final goodbye for Greg, she hurried to her car. She felt a grim sense of satisfaction knowing she had given Cullen evidence that she wasn’t sitting at home pining for him—or working her vibrator raw lusting after him. She was a big girl, taking her own life by the horns. Still. Her chest ached in a way that felt far from okay.
She slid behind the wheel, started her engine and backed out of her spot without even yet buckling. Almost as though she expected him to give chase. Of course he wouldn’t. There would be no reason for that.
She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror, noting her flushed face and overly bright eyes. It had nothing to do with Greg and everything to do with Cullen.
Lowering her gaze, she wiped a hand over the back of her mouth, ridding herself the memory of Greg’s mouth there. It had been necessary, but she still longed for Cullen. His lips, his taste to erase and replace all others.
As she departed the parking lot, the pulse at her neck steadied, and a hollow feeling spread throughout her chest as she realized that she might not be able to forget her night with Cullen. Ever.
At the first red light she reached, she managed to buckle her seatbelt. Staring blindly ahead, she wondered where this put her. If she couldn’t stop wanting Cullen, craving him as more than a friend, where did that leave her?
How could they be friends at all?
Chapter Eight
Cullen managed to cool his heels at Java Joe’s for an entire five minutes after Huntley left. His hand opened and flexed at his side, the urge to hit something strong and crushing inside him. Huntley on a date was bad enough. Watching her kiss that asshat … that was worse.
“So. You’re totally just going to sit here like that whole thing didn’t bother you?”
He shot a glance at Sheridan as she prepared someone’s drink. “Why would I be bothered?”
She snorted. “Right. You spent the last few years hanging out with Huntley and now she shows up with a date. Not a big deal.”
“We’re just friends.”
“Is that what you call it these days?”
Shaking his head, he stood up from the barstool. “See you later.”
“Keep it real,” she called as he headed outside and made his way to his truck. He started for home, but his mind rebelled, wondering if Huntley was going to see that tool again.
He beat the steering wheel once with a curse. He couldn’t believe she had let that guy kiss her. Sure, she was single and free to give her lips to any man she wanted, but after last night was she really so eager to be with someone else? She was the only female he could think about. The only one he wanted.
Maybe you got her primed and she’s looking to seal the deal with someone else.
“Fuck,” he growled and turned his truck around in a hard U-turn that broke a dozen traffic violations. He didn’t care. He pushed his foot on the accelerator without even thinking, only one destination in mind.
* * *
She had just changed into one of her favorite softest T-shirts and yoga pants, scrubbed off her makeup, pulled her hair up into a ponytail and began the stare-down with her refrigerator, contemplating a snack of cheese cubes and yogurt, when the knock rapped at her front door.
A quick look through the peephole revealed Cullen standing there, one hand braced somewhere to the right of the door. She gasped. Sweet Jesus. He even looked hot through the peephole. She jerked away from the door, her hand flying to her mouth. She suddenly regretted taking off her makeup. Rolling her eyes, she mentally called herself ten shades of fool. Cullen had seen her without makeup before.