Chapter 74: Company
[Jasmine’s POV]
"Oh my Goddess! I can’t believe he kissed you under the moonlight!" Mindie said and sighed wistfully. "How romantic."
It was the morning after my date with Axel, and I was parked outside the Laken’s mansion. I still had a few minutes to spare before I started work, so I called Mindie to give her all the details about my date.
"I’m so happy that you are really giving Axel a chance and putting yourself out there," my best friend continued. "I’m so proud of you! Okay, so give me all the details about the kiss. Did he lean in first, or did you?"
As I answered all her in-depth questions, my mind wandered. Why did Mindie want to know so many details? It was a simple kiss. Weren’t most kisses the same?
But that wasn’t true. Not at all.
Last night, I couldn’t sleep. I spent most of the night comparing Axel’s kiss to Gareth’s. Axel’s mouth had been gentle and sweet. But his kiss was nothing compared to Gareth’s strong and insistent mouth on mine. Axel’s kiss didn’t leave my knees shaking. Or made my heart flutter, or stole my breath away.
But kissing Gareth had done all those things and more.
I shook my head, frustrated with myself for thinking of any sort of future with Gareth. I knew that, to him, I was nothing of importance. In his eyes, I was nothing but a charity case.
Someday—maybe even soon—he would choose one of the many women vying for his attention and settle down with her. Especially if he thought Michelle would benefit from having an actual proper mother figure in her life, and not a fraud like me. But just the thought of another woman being her mother made my heart ache.
When I looked at the clock on my dashboard, my stomach jolted. I was already three minutes late for work.