The Proximity Factor by Jennifer Peel

Author:Jennifer Peel [Peel, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jennifer Peel
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

I SAT ON THE EDGE of my bed, eyes fixed on the door separating me and Lanie. At least physically. Mentally, she wouldn’t leave me. The frightening part was, I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to. Although I’d only been able to work a forty-hour week and was behind schedule, I was finding it hard to regret all the time I’d spent with Lanie. Being around her almost made me feel human again. Too human. So human, I wanted to march over to her room and beg her to watch a movie with me just so I could look at her the entire time—the way she smiled at the romantic parts with teary baby-blue eyes, or how she gasped and jumped when something scared her. It made me want to take her hand into my own and let my thumb brush over her soft skin as if to say I would protect her. My favorite part was when she would look over at me with the most content gaze, as if she wanted to do nothing else but spend the evening with me.

It had been a long time since a woman had felt that way about me. Maren stopped looking at me that way years ago. I’d failed to recognize her discontent, mistaking it for just settling into married life. But observing Javon and Brynn, and Pete and Anna, I realized now that being content with your spouse isn’t something that should go away. If anything, it should grow.

I threw my glasses onto the bed, lowered my head, and covered it with my hands. What was I even thinking? I knew what I was thinking. I was thinking about the gorgeous creature who giggled and beamed brightly every time a firework burst in the sky, or who made me come out of the shell I’d created for myself over the last few years. All her little touches when we played games or ran together were not only driving me mad with desire but bringing me back to life, little by little.

Lanie was penetrating every wall I’d built up, and damn if I didn’t want to let them crumble. But what if they did crumble? What then? Was Lanie going to magically want to be with a grumpy older guy? Would people perceive me as the epitome of a midlife crisis? And there was no telling what her mom would do to me. The woman already had me on edge by threatening me. She made me feel that if I didn’t show up to the Fourth of July parade, she would assume I only had ill intentions for doing this experiment and would see that I suffered. There was no doubt in my mind she would make good on that promise.

What worried me more was that Goldie Davenport knew exactly how enamored I was with her daughter, and part of her didn’t mind. She was testing me to see if I was good enough for Lanie. I wasn’t sure if I was more afraid to fail or pass that test.

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