“Of course I did. I have every one of them in my desk at home.” Matthew sighed. “I thought you would find a husband in Spain who wouldn’t appreciate your childhood—male—friend sending you letters.”
She took the wine bottle back from him and took a sip. She stared into its inky depths as if she could find answers at the bottom. “I didn’t find a husband.”
“You cannot fathom how glad I am for it,” he said. “I want the opportunity to make things right—totryto rekindle our friendship.”
“We can’t fix anything if you keep hiding from me. You have to let me in,” Jasmine implored. “Why not tell me what’s on your mind for once?”
“You,” Matthew said simply.
She looked up from the wine bottle into his amber-brown eyes, closer than he had been before. His fingertips brushed over the backof her hand as he slowly took the bottle from her fingers, then set it to the side.
“Thoughts of you consume me. You cloud my judgment beyond all reasoning, and I find myself lost,” he whispered. “I can’t stop thinking about the kiss we shared in Ringwood.”
She remembered his conversation with Seth earlier. Hurt again, she looked away. “Are you really that angry over it?”
“Is that what you believe?” Matthew laughed. “That I’mangry?”
Not appreciating being made fun of, Jasmine huffed. “Why did you kiss me in the first place?”
Matthew paused. Then, as if it were obvious, he said, “Because you dared me to.”
Jasmine’s mouth fell open. “I didnot.”
Matthew spoke slowly. “If ‘you’re not brave enough to kiss me, Matthew Cooper’ wasn’t a dare, it wascertainlyan invitation.”
“I didn’t! I—” Jasmine stopped as the memory flashed through her mind. Drunk on mulled wine, she had matched Matthew drink for drink the entire night. When he joked about his plans to become a rake, she had laughed at him. How could he become a rake when he wasn’t…
She slapped her hands over her mouth.
Oh,Lord.She had!
It hadn’t been a dare or an invitation, merely a stated fact! Or so she thought. And howwrongshe was! She had spent all this time wondering and it had been her fault all along. Matthew hadn’t wanted to kiss her—he wanted to prove a point.
“It doesn’t matter if it was a dare or not, you didn’t give me express permission. I took advantage of you.” He inhaled deeply. “A better man would have done the right thing. I should have married you.”
“I wouldn’t have forced you into it.” Jasmine shook her head. “I released you from your obligation.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“We were both drunk—”
“I was sober,” he ground out. “I’m a large man. It takes more than three beers to get me foxed.”
“Oh, please. The ale was strong. You didn’t know what you were doing—”
“I knewexactlywhat I was doing.” Eyes intent on hers, he leaned in. His gaze traveled to her mouth.
Jasmine told herself that the heat coursing through her was because of the wine, and not his nearness. He trailed his fingertip over her hand, then up her arm, watching her all the while.
“Have you kissed anyone else?”
“No,” Jasmine whispered, as if the air between them was fragile. “I haven’t had the opportunity.”
“Truly?” He toyed with the sleeve of her dress, then hooked his finger underneath the fabric. He eased it down, exposing her shoulder. “That makes me the best kiss of your life.”
“Bold.” She laughed. To ease the tension, she teased, “That’s unfair, I have no basis of comparison.”
He didn’t laugh. His eyes followed the path of his fingertip, inching across her neck, ghosting along her jawline. Up.Up. Her breath caught as he traced the curve of her ear with his fingernail. He removed her earring, and she shivered as he soothed the strain with his finger and thumb.