Wildly, Crystal tugged at her wrist, determined to get away from him. Without seeming to pay her much attention, he drew her against him, holding her tightly against his side.
“Sure. I can do that. You, too, Elle.”
He hung up the phone and grinned at her.
“They’re expecting me. Let go of me,” Crystal commanded.
“I can’t. They said they can’t meet with you for another thirty minutes, and would I mind keeping you occupied in the meantime. I said I was more than happy to do so.”
“I don’t need to be kept occupied!”
“Your aunt Elle said you did. And I’m delighted to do my neighborly duty.” He ran a finger along the side of her face, brushing back the wisps of hair that now escaped the dangerously loose knot.
Traitorous chills raced through her veins. “Mitch, let me sit on the sofa. I don’t want to be this close to you.”
He let go of her. “Methinks you protest too much, but that’s okay. You always had a hard head. Let’s sit down and chat about our schoolmates.”
“I don’t want to make idle conversation.” Her heart was still hammering from their kiss. How could he act so nonchalant about it? No one had ever kissed her the way he did. Sadness overwhelmed her. The truth was, she did want a man—the right man for her! How could she ever find him when he had to compete with what Mitch could do to her with a simple kiss?
“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport.” He patted the leather sofa where he’d taken a seat. “You’re safe with me. Your aunt asked me to keep you company for a few minutes while they finish cooking something. You can stay here without losing your cool.”
Her temper began to rise again. “I believe you grabbed me, not the other way around.”
“Well, a guy should remember his ex-girlfriend’s birthday, or he wasn’t much to start with, right? I like to think I have some romantic qualities.”
She ground her teeth, not taking the seat he’d offered. He lounged on the leather sofa, completely unaffected by her stern expression. “Any guy who has two dates to a senior prom most certainly has delusions of romantic grandeur. As for me, that’s not what I look for in a man.”
He perked up. “So tell me what you are looking for. You must be picky to have remained unmarried in a town like Lover’s Valley where marriage is practically in the air everyone breathes, piped through the water systems, and sung to babies in their cradles. And you run a bridal shop, too.” He shook his head. “Maybe you got hung up on one man and couldn’t find anyone to live up to him.”
“Absolutely not!” Her hands went to her hips as she glared at him. “Mitch, I know what you’re hinting at, that I never got over you, and it’s simply not true. I’ve dated a lot of men. I am waiting for the right one. There is no good-through date stamped on me, I’ll have you know!”
“Lucky for you this is the twenty-first century, or you’d be called a spinster, you know,” he said, his tone reasonable. “I’ve always thought that was such an ugly term. Spinster, maiden aunt, it all speaks to lonely, unloved existences, in my mind.”
“Thankfully, your mind is not what counts where I’m concerned,” Crystal snapped.
“Don’t you want to know why I never married?” Mitch asked, his grin teasing.
“No.” She turned her back as if to leave. “I am not going to play this ridiculous game with you. I knew that was what you were leading up to all along.” Her curiosity was burning, but she would have stuck one of her straight pins in her eye before she admitted it.
“Okay,” he said agreeably. “We won’t talk about me. Let’s talk about you. Now that you’re a successful business owner and an avowed recluse, what’s the next goal in your life plan?”
“To live through the next fifteen minutes with you,” she said between gritted teeth as she turned to stare at him again. “Why I ever thought I needed to apologize to you is beyond me.” Why she still found him attractive was another mystery, too unpleasant to delve into deeply. Why, why, why?
And he seemed to know her thoughts as he reclined against the sofa arm, gazing at her. His eyes sparked with mischief and reckless fun, much the same as in more youthful days. But now…now he was so much more handsome. No young boy, but a grown man broad of chest and shoulders, his muscled arms not nearly concealed enough by the clinging white polo shirt. Darn him. Though his eyes were still those of her teenaged Romeo, his face had planed into maturity. A five o’clock shadow surrounded well-formed lips, those lips that had just left her breathless with a kiss every bit as heart-stealing as their cherished kisses of the past.
“Now, Crystal, admit you’re glad to see me.”
“I don’t think telling lies is honorable.”
He vaulted over the sofa back to stand in front of her. “I’m glad to see you,” he said softly. “I’ve thought about you a lot.”
Her heart froze, suspended like a cold rock in her chest. “You have not,” she said weakly.
“I have. How could I forget you?”
She couldn’t stand it any longer. Common sense told her she didn’t want to know, but her foolish heart was already crying to know the answer. “Why didn’t you take me to the prom?” she asked on an anguished whisper.
“I wanted to. I was looking forward to it.” He reached up, finally snagging the red Chinese sticks and removing them so that her hair fell to her shoulders. Laying the sticks on the sofa table, he pulled her into his arms. “I couldn’t,” he said, brushing a kiss against her lips. “I just found myself in a position I couldn’t extricate myself from,” he murmured against her mouth, before tasting deeply of her.
He pulled back and his words brushed her lips. “Crystal, I tried to talk to you a hundred times after the prom, and you ignored me every time. You wouldn’t return my calls. Never replied to my notes—which, by the way, I saw torn up in the trash after we cleared out our lockers. You didn’t attend our graduation night party, and I knew then that you’d avoid me at any cost.
“And you did, didn’t you, Crystal? And today I’ve just teased you a lot to keep from scaring you off again. I didn’t want to lose you then—” but I can’t have you now, he finished silently.
Crystal clung to him as if there were no tomorrow. There were no family members waiting on her, no birthday dinner with just her relatives woefully eyeing the carefully counted candles on her homemade birthday cake. She was seventeen again, and nothing would ever come between her and Mitch. Nothing.
“What was it?” she asked on a gasp, feeling his thigh part hers and push against the serviceable dress she’d worn to work.
“I can’t tell you,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I wish it had been you I was with that night.”
Stunned, she stared up into his eyes. He ran a thumb lightly over her lips. “Why can’t you tell me?”
“The reason is confidential. I would be breaking Kathryn’s confidence to tell you.”
Splinters of jealousy flew into her heart. “I was never sure how Kathryn got to be part of our big night. When did the two of you get to be such good friends?”
“She had a problem that she came to me for help with.” Mitch gazed at her, his expression longing. “I can say no more than that. You have to trust me, Crystal. I wanted to be with you.”
A long moment passed as she weighed whether she really wanted to ask the question that popped into her mind. Most likely, she didn’t want to know. “Did you kiss her?” she asked, her face flaming as soon as she said the words.
After a moment, he