Free Act Like You Love Me (An Accidentally in Love Novel) (Entangled: Bliss) by Cindi Madsen

interchange between the Jack and Algernon characters.
    He lasted a minute or two before he was staring at Brynn again. Looks aside, there was something about her. An infectious enthusiasm he wanted to catch. Even when she was mad at him, it was as if she wanted to be mean but simply didn’t have it in her. Which was only more confusing—why was she working so hard to keep him away? He was trying to show her they could at least be friends, like with fixing her door all those nights ago.
    I bet she had one of those disastrous relationships and now she’s scared of getting close to anyone. He’d had a friend in college who was like that. The guy who liked her kept showing her she could trust him day after day, and now they’d been together for more than a year.
    For a brief moment, he had the thought that he’d show Brynn she could trust him. But that was crazy, considering she was off limits and by the time she wasn’t, he’d be headed back to New York anyway. He didn’t want to make it worse for her when he left. Still, that kiss wouldn’t leave his mind. There was a spark there, a desire he hadn’t felt in a long time. He needed to at least talk to her, and this time, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
    When they got to the end of the second act, he stood. “I think that went pretty well. We’ll start on the third act tomorrow.”
    Everyone started off the front of the stage, and Brynn headed in the other direction—trying to duck out the back again, no doubt. Sawyer charged up the stairs, against the flow of traffic, and slid behind the stage wagon with the garden scenery painted on it.
    Good, from here, no one else should be able to see us, even if they haven’t left the theater yet.
    There she was, about to pass through the curtains.
    “Brynn, wait! Come on, you can’t avoid me forever.”
    She glanced over her shoulder at him, and her eyes widened. “I’m not. I’ve, uh, just gotta—”
    He grabbed her hand to keep her from bolting, which was what it looked like she was about to do. “Tell me what’s going on.”
    “I need to…” She gestured in the direction of the exit, but he could hear the breathlessness in her voice. His gaze lowered to her lips as she said, “Got somewhere…to be.”
    His brain told him to stop staring, to forget how nice it had been to kiss her. That this was a bad idea and he should turn right back around and go home before he made things worse. But she looked so tiny and vulnerable, and he wanted to feel that spark again.
    He slid his arm around her waist and lowered his mouth to hers. Her hands came up between them on his chest, and he thought she was going to push him away. But then they slipped up around his neck as she parted her mouth under his.
    Desire flared through him, and he couldn’t suppress a moan at the way her body fit perfectly against his. He took his time exploring her lips, tasting her mouth, holding her tightly to him.
    When she swirled her tongue around his, every thought he’d ever had disappeared.
    Then she suddenly stepped back, the shock of going from a kiss like that to nothing a total jolt to his system.
    “I can’t do this. I need to go.” She pulled at the curtain, but there was only more fabric. She ran her hand along it, obviously looking for where it split, which gave him just enough time to realize he needed to do something to stop her from leaving.
    He put his hands on her waist and her posture stiffened. Not exactly what he’d been hoping for. “Hold up. I shouldn’t have done that, I know. But I feel like I’m missing something every time I talk to you. Tell me what’s going on.”
    “What’s going on is that this was a mistake. Now please let me go.”
    He dropped his arms, trying not to let it show that he felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
    She ran her hands over the velvet curtain again, still looking for the spilt. Managing to be adorable somehow, even as frustrated as he was with her. He was pretty