Page 33 of Midnight Kiss
Mike stood, frowning at me, Reginald peering up at him, wagging his tail.
“Mike?”
“I’m not one of the girls, Emily.”
“Sheesh,” I said, waving a hand, “you know what I mean. You’re a friend. You’re not?—”
He strode toward me, Reggie coming along with him. With his free hand, Mike took mine and squeezed my fingers. “I want to be more than a friend, and I’m tired of acting like there’s nothing going on between us. I want you, Emily. I want to be with you.”
Morgan had been right.
I pulled away from him. “Is that why you’re friends with me?” I asked. “Because you want to— You want more? Is that the only reason we hang out?”
“Emily, what? No. We’re friends, but I want more.”
“You could have said that from the start,” I said. “Mike, I appreciate that you’re being honest now, but is this the way you’ve always felt?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I moved in next door,” I said. “And we met for the first time, started hanging out, did you want more than just friendship from the start?”
Michael hesitated. “Look, I don’t know. When you moved in next door, I thought you were something special. Beautiful. And I kept having this intense urge to protect you and watch over you. I just wanted to keep you safe.”
“I don’t need to be kept safe by you,” I said.
“Emily, you can’t walk two steps without landing in trouble. You were nearly attacked the other night,” Michael said.
“Twice,” I said. “I was nearly attacked twice. Once at the library. The night you convinced me not to call 911 because I’m delusional. Remember?”
“I didn’t say you were delusional, Emily. That’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair is telling someone you—” I broke off as a wave of nausea hit me. Not this again. “What’s not fair, is you acting like you want my friendship when really, you’re just pretending to be friends with me because you want more. At least have the balls to come out and say it.”
“I’m telling you how I feel right now.”
“Well, it’s too late,” I said. “I don’t want anything more than friendship, Michael.”
“Why?” He spat out the word like it was poison. “Why not, Emily? It’s him, isn’t it? You’re so obsessed with that asshole that you can’t?—”
“Don’t talk about him like that,’ I said. “You have no idea who he is.”
“And you do? Do you even know him, Emily? He’s dangerous. Can’t you tell? He just appears out of nowhere and inserts himself into your life, and you’re just more than willing to let him?”
“At least he’s clear about what he wants from the start, unlike you,” I said. “You acted like we were besties, when you were just trying to get into my pants.”
Reginald barked and jumped up against Mike, but he ignored his dog, glaring at me. “I wasn’t just friends with you because of that. Do you blame me for having a crush on you? That’s kind of toxic, Em.”
“Toxic?” I swallowed, sweat building on my brow. “It’s toxic to want people to be honest?”
“No, it’s toxic because you’re mad at me for liking you when it’s no longer convenient,” he said. “Just because of some guy who’s acting like he cares.”
“He is not acting. He kissed me. We kissed.”
Michael jerked back a step like I’d slapped him.
“Michael, I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have thrown that in your face. I just got so angry.”
He raised a palm. “You don’t want to be friends with me, Em? That’s fine.”