Page 6 of A Night With You

Good, I write back, adrenaline surging through my body. I just woke up. There hasn't been time for me to tell anybody anything, and now Bennet's put out a press release about the kiss we shared? I don't know whether to be embarrassed or excited or both.

There’s nothing like living in a small town. The gossip has a way of bringing things to life that never should have existed. As if a small kiss between the two of us could ever be a scandal.

Good why? Marlena writes.

Because that's what happened

I leave it at that, fresh warmth spreading all over my face.

Gemma sends another text: You made out with Bennet last night?!?!

My front door opens downstairs, and this is it--this is when I talk about Bennet with my best friend in the entire world. If that doesn't make last night real and life-changing, I don't know what does.

"Aubrey Lynn Peters," yells Lauren.

It feels like the entire world has crowded into my bedroom. I know it's just my friends, but part of me thought that last night had been...subtle. That maybe nobody had noticed. That Bennet and I had been in our own little world.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. They all noticed. And then he went and told people, and I don't know what that means. Is he trying to play it off like it was no big deal, or is he telling people out of the same kind of excitement that I feel?

My face goes hot, and I burrow into my sheets and blankets as footsteps climb the stairs. A few seconds later, my bedroom door creaks as it opens wide.

"I know you're in here," Lauren scolds. "I can see you under the covers. Oh my God, Bree!"

I peek out from the blankets and find her smiling, her eyes wide and shocked at the same time. I've spent the last few years throwing myself into work and not spending nearly enough time with my friends, and now, on our first night out, I kissed a guy in the back room of the bar. No wonder she finds it surprising.

Lauren crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head. "You don't waste any time, do you?"

"I guess not." I pull the blankets back up and hide in them for another few seconds until it gets too warm. "The town is saying we hooked up last night? As in--hooked up hooked up?"

"Well, someone did last night." Lauren raises her eyebrows. "The town is saying it’s the two of you.”

My heart stops dead in its tracks. “We didn’t do that last night.”

“If it wasn't you and Bennet, then who was it?"

BENNET

I pick up another glass out of the rack behind the bar and wipe it down, watching Steve drop his face into his hands across from me. He looks tired, the way he always does--the man owns a bar, and he doesn't get much sleep even when things are good.

Hell, I didn't get any sleep last night, for almost the same reasons he didn't, which he's just spilled to me over a pot of coffee.

"Steve." He looks at me from over his hands. "You’ve got to be kidding me."

"Look." Steve lets out a heavy sigh. "No one can know. I'm serious."

"Nobody can know you kissed your wife last night?"

He grimaces. "She's not my wife."

"You're separated, not divorced."

"I know that, but she said before--"

"I'm pretty sure she's changed her mind if she kissed you last night."

"She doesn't want anyone to know," he insists. "Everything is so damn complicated right now."

I put the glass in its place and pick up another one. "But?"