on his face mirrored hers, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his ragged breath.
“Lexi, wait.” Vincent reached out and tried to grab her arm, but Lexi stepped away.
“That was the best kiss ever!” Maddie fell back on her bed laughing.
You have no idea, Lexi thought to herself. Her heart thundered in her chest, and she felt like she couldn’t catch her breath. She needed to get out of there. She desperately needed to be as far away from Vincent as possible. The other side of the Earth even seemed too close at that moment.
With unsteady legs, she took a tentative step towards the door, trying to ignore the taste of Vincent on her lips and fresh memory of his chest against hers.
“Maddie, I have to go now. It’s late. Vincent can finish reading to you.” She didn’t even wait to hear the girl’s response before she ran out the door and down the steps.
Lexi sped past Sean at the bottom of the steps. “We need to go,” she mouthed across the room to Hope, tears starting to fill her eyes.
Hope gave nothing away to Elizabeth or Robert who were sitting in chairs beside her. She gracefully stood up from the couch and gathered up Lexi’s purse as her friend paced by the front door. “Thank you for a lovely evening,” Hope said to Anna, giving a small nod with her eyebrow raised in Lexi’s direction to let her know something was up.
Anna wrapped her arms around Hope. “It was wonderful meeting you,” she said and then whispered something to Hope.
Lexi did her best to cover her distress as she hugged Robert and Elizabeth and waved to Anna over her shoulder. “Thanks for having us, Anna.
Sorry we have to run. Vincent’s upstairs finishing the story with Maddie.”
“Bye, Lexi!” They all called after her as she practically ran out the front door with Hope trailing behind her.
“What did Vincent do now?” Vincent heard Sean ask as he rushed down the stairs looking for Lexi.
“I don’t know.” Anna turned just in time to see Vincent come flying down, his eyes scanning the room frantically.
“Where’s Lexi? I have to talk to her.”
Sean pointed his thumb at the front door. “She just left, man. Ran out of here like a bat outta hell. You have any idea why that is?”
Elizabeth intently watched from across the room with Robert, waiting to hear Vincent’s response. “Let’s give them some space to talk. He needs Sean. He’s the closest thing to a brother he has right now,” Robert said. Vincent gave a grateful nod as his father led Elizabeth into the kitchen.
Vincent refused to look Sean in the eye. A noise outside caught his attention, and he focused on watching Lexi as she climbed into the passenger’s seat of her car, visibly upset. He pushed open the door and stood on the porch to watch the car speed away.
Sean came up behind him and put his hand on Vincent’s shoulder. “You want to talk about it?”
“I have no idea where to start.”
Vincent’s posture tensed, his arms folded across his chest in a blatant leave-me-alone gesture. Not scared off, Sean asked casually, “Can I just make an observation then?” Sean watched Vincent’s eyes flicker over to his, waiting for what was coming next. “You like her.”
“She’s my friend.” Vincent leaned back against the rail of the porch and sighed.
“I’m not talking about in a friendly kinda way, man.” He watched Vincent busy himself by picking chipped paint off the wood beside him. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. At the gala, at the office when she’s busy on the computer. Hell, tonight at the tea party, I’ve never seen you laugh so much.”
Vincent raked his hands through his hair before rubbing them over his face. “It’s complicated.”
“No, it’s not. You like her, she likes you. And she does, in case you haven’t noticed. She gets this cute little grin on her face when you walk in the room, and she watches you when you aren’t looking, all the time.” Vincent rolled his eyes but Sean ignored him and continued. “What’s so damn complicated? Explain it to me.”
“Oh, I don’t know—Jade.”
“Screw Jade,” Sean said, sitting down on the swing.
“Lexi’s nice and I’m not.”
“So be nicer.” Sean rolled his shoulders.
“She has a good heart.” Vincent hopped up on the railing near the swing and leaned against the post beside him.
“And so do you.”
“I don’t know if I can trust her,” Vincent said in a serious voice.
“And you trust Jade? Are you insane?” Sean stopped the swing and leaned toward Vincent. “Why are you still with her? She makes you miserable far more than she makes you happy.”
That was the question Vincent had been asking himself for months now. The only good things about Jade he could think of after a while were the facts that she traveled a lot and that even though she was a pain, he knew what to expect from her. She was predictable and safe. He would never allow her close enough to hurt him, and she frankly didn’t want to be that close to him either. She liked being with Vincent because of who he was and he knew that. She was shallow and petty, caring about a man’s status far more than his soul.
“I know what to expect with her. And I can keep her at arm’s length so she can’t screw me over. With Lexi, I don’t think I could do that. I’d want too much.”
“So you’re choosing to be miserable over being happy?”
“I’m choosing to be safe over sorry.”
Sean got up off the swing with pity in his eyes. “You have to let all that baggage go eventually, Vincent. Before it ruins you. Yes, people screwed you over in the past, but it’s in the past. Don’t let them continue doing it to you by keeping you from someone who might make you truly happy. You’re scared.”
Vincent hopped off the rail and began pacing the deck. “I’m not scared, Sean. I’m just not ready to trust someone completely again, if ever. I did with Adria and others before her and look what happened.”
“Adria was a bitch and a money grubber who wanted power and her own company. She was and still is a sadistic shrew who has probably screwed men out of all sorts of things. It’s what she does. She spreads her legs to get what she wants. But that was years ago. Your life has nothing to do with her anymore, so don’t let her take something else away from you. Just think about it, please.”
There was deep sadness in Vincent’s eyes as he smiled at his friend. “I’ll think about it.”