A Moment by Marie Hall Read Free Book Online Page A

lashes flutter like a tiny paintbrush upon the tops of her cheeks.
     
    “I still dream about it,” she admits in a quiet voice.
     
    Green eyes swallow me up, look straight through me. I hate it. But I need it too. When I’m around her, I feel alive.
     
    “Finding you. Holding you.” She clamps her lips shut and something in the region of my heart shakes.
     
    Inhaling deeply, she gives me a grim smile. “Yeah, so. Thanks.”
     
    She’s slamming the door, angling to get away. Taking a side step to the left, I know I’m a glutton, why can’t I just let her go?
     
    “Have you had lunch yet?” My knuckles pop when I flex my fists.
     
    I should just let her go. Let her walk out of my life forever. But for three months all I’ve thought about is her. Why she did it? Why she cared? I have to know.
     
    “That’s actually what I was coming here for.”
     
    “I know a better place.”
     
    Her smile holds so many mysteries, unfathomable like the Mona Lisa’s smirk and I can’t help but return it.
     
    “Better than the world’s best coffee?” There’s a note of doubt there in her tone.
     
    “I’m pretty sure the place I’m thinking, has the market cornered on that. You like sushi?”
     
    Pursing her lips tight, I can see the indecision warring on her face. “Coffee and Sushi? That’s like my kryptonite. Gross, but true.” She laughs. “You drive a really hard bargain. Fine. But,” she holds up a finger, “this isn’t a date. Got it?”
     
    Grabbing it I gave it a quick squeeze. Her eyes widen and my blood thrums at the nebulous heat that zips between us.
     
    “I never said it was,” I grin like I hadn’t felt it. Like I hadn’t noticed she’d felt it too. Like the world hadn’t just titled on its axis from the point of contact.
     
    “Lily bean?” A familiar voice calls over my shoulder ruining the moment.
     
    Her eyes tear from mine and a huge smile stretches across her face, looking almost like relief. She runs to Alex, jumping into his arms the moment he spreads them for her.
     
    Their hug is quick but fierce and it’s a hammer blow to my gut.
     
    Alex gives her a quick peck on the cheek and I’m seconds away from bum rushing my cousin. Thankfully she moves out of his arms before I act on it.
     
    “Venti mocha latte soy with no cream?” Alex says, walking behind the counter and throwing a white dish rag over his shoulder.
     
    “Actually, no.” She glances back at me and the smile she’d given Alex is no longer there, but there’s something else. Something that makes my breathing hitch. “Ryan’s asked me out to lunch.”
     
    Dammit, the second she says it I know Alex is going to give me the look.
     
    He whips his head up, and his eyes say clear as day to stay the hell away from her. Any other girl, Alex doesn’t care. But there’s something about Liliana that makes him crazy.
     
    I take a step back.
     
    Bro code says you don’t hit on the girl your buddy wants. But Alex swears there’s nothing there, tells me that over and over. But maybe I shouldn’t. She’s seen me in a horrible way, she knows something about me I wish she never did. Maybe I should stay out of her life, be content with the dreams and the possibility of what may have been.
     
    “Don’t let him give you crap,” Alex cautions, never looking away from my face. And I know he’s giving me the green light, even if he doesn’t really want to.
     
    “Don’t worry,” Lily tosses me a flirty grin and my heart almost stops beating, “I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself. Besides, I can never turn down sushi.”
     
    Glancing at her wrist she says, “I’ve got forty minutes before I have to get back. Is it close?”
     
    “Yeah,” I nod and gesture toward the door. “Let me pull the car around.”
     
    The minute she’s out of earshot, Alex walks back around the counter and grabs a fistful of my shirt. His jaw’s clenched so tight it’s like it’s made of granite.
     
    “I’m