Hearts Like Ours | Red View Romance #1

🍎 Seventeen

Dawson was just stepping out of the house as Layla, Kenzie, and Marshall were jogging up, back from their morning run. The jolt of nerves that attacked his system at the sight of Layla was a feeling he wasn't used to. But given the way their conversation had ended last night, he couldn't bring himself to be embarrassed by the reaction.

In any normal scenario, he would say that the ball was in her court and let it be. Wait for her to make the next move. But when it came to Layla, things were more complicated than that.

Even if she was interested in him, she was engaged. Was she loyal enough to her cheating fiancé that she wouldn't even consider exploring the spark that was so obviously burning between her and Dawson? If she was, that only created a new question: how would she react if Dawson took the next step—whatever that was?

She didn't laugh him off last night, or dismiss him. Admittedly, she didn't have much of a chance to say anything at all. It left him feeling both hopeful and helpless. She felt it too, he was sure of that. But he had no idea if it meant anything more than that. He had no idea if her resolve for going back to New York was still as strong as it was before last night.

Dawson waved as he came down the porch steps, a gesture that was meant for all three of them even though his eyes locked onto Layla's. She smiled, and the flush that came to her face told him that at the very least, she was still thinking about yesterday evening, too.

"Didn't feel like running today?" she joked, tied-up red tresses falling over her shoulder as she tilted her head.

"Or any other day." He met them on the dirt path, reaching into his back pocket for his baseball cap and tugging it on to block out the rising sun. "I wouldn't mind trying that pilates stuff again, though."

Her eyebrow arched, gentle smile turning into a feisty smirk. "Really? How womanly of you."

The laugh that escaped him was well-deserved. "You're still not letting that one go, huh?"

"If I hadn't let it go, we wouldn't be talking right now."

God, she was as quick with her brain as she was on her feet. 

What did it mean, them talking like this, like nothing had been said last night? Would it be the same if they were alone? Would they be alone again to find out? And just why the hell was he overanalyzing every little detail like some teenager with a crush when he was a grown man? 

"Dawson," Kenzie spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. She was fanning herself, breathing heavy, but even through the mid-workout exhaustion her tone was clear to Dawson—and it wasn't good. "I need to talk to you, about Jack. Just for a second."

"Oh." Great. What was it with his brother now? Probably he'd done something to piss him off again and Kenzie was relaying the message as usual. At least she respected his pride enough not to do it in front of Layla and Marshall. "Sure."

Kenzie told the pair that she'd be over at the shed in a minute and they started towards it—but not before Layla gave him one last smile. Surely if she had any reservations about what he said last night, she would come right out and tell him—or, as long as they weren't alone, she'd at least give him a sign. A glare instead of a grin, no joking around. Layla had made it clear since day one that she wasn't the type of person to dance around how she felt, and he knew she wouldn't stand there and smile at him just to be polite and spare his feelings. Which meant...

"What the hell are you doing?"

Kenzie's hissed words snapped him back to the present, and he realized he was still watching Layla walk away.

"What?" The word fell dumbly from his mouth as he turned to look at glaring brown eyes. Jeez, whatever he'd done to piss off Jack had clearly done a number on Kenz, too.