“Excuse me but I am not running around anywhere.”
“—I had the time and inclination to come over here and bang up your patio.”
“You come over here and growl quite often. It stands to reason you’d do other things.”
“I do not come over here and growl,” I said.
“In fact you do.”
I held out my hands. “And that’s somehow worse than you coming over to SPOC to yell your ass off?”
“I have never once yelled my ass off. I’ve had—”
“You yell like a fucking banshee.”
“—plenty of reasons to have serious conversations with you but I’ve never raised my voice.”
I held her gaze for a moment as I took a step toward her, then another. This place was small enough that it only took one more step for me to reach out and scratch her Labrador between the ears.
“I didn’t see them outside,” I said, still staring into her dark eyes.
“They were in the office.” She arched a brow up. “You know, you’re not supposed to pet them. They’reworking. You know better.”
I let my gaze drop from her eyes down to her lips and then lower, to the skin exposed where the top buttons of her shirt sat open. In my mind, she was still a kid, the way Parker would always be a gurgling baby who belly-laughed anytime someone tried to steal his toes.
But being here with her, close enough to touch, to catch the fresh scent of her skin, I couldn’t convince myself I knew this woman. It was almost enough for me to believe this wasn’t completely wrong.Almost.
“I like your cookies,” I said.
She tipped her head back, her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
I lifted a shoulder. “It means I like your cookies.”
She watched me for a moment before that adorably evil grin spread across her face. “You didn’t think you would, right? It’s killing you to admit it.”
I stared at her mouth.God,those lips. “There are a lot of things killing me right now.”
Sunny looked down to where I stroked the German shepherd’s head. His tail thumped against the floor. “Tell me two of them.”
Sunny was beautiful. I’d known that since the first morning, but seeing her up close like this turned my heart into a racehorse and that was enough to sweep every rational thought from my mind. I didn’t need self-preservation and I didn’t need to know better when I wasright here.I didn’t need a damn thing.
I brought my hand to her jaw, pressing my thumb to her top lip. “One,” I said, groaning at the feel of her against my skin. I dragged my thumb to her bottom lip and died a little when I felt her tongue flick over me. “Two.”
“You’re unbelievable.” She reached for me, grabbing a handful of my shirt and yanking me flush against her.
A breath puffed out of me as I tilted her head back to get a better angle. I leaned in and—
The back door opened and all the noise from outside rushed in. We sprang apart as one door slammed and then another. I was halfway across the café before I caught Sunny’s eyes again. She pressed her fingers to her lips and stared at the polished concrete floor.
I ignored the pull in my gut, the blindness I felt when I stared directly at her, and spoke the first words to enter my mind. “That was a mistake. I-I shouldn’t have and—”
She stretched an arm toward the front door. “You should go.”
The German shepherd beside her growled. I nodded once. My legs were unsteady as I walked to the door like I was being carried by a wave. I stopped there long enough to glance back and find her gaze still fixed on the floor. I watched her mouth the wordsOh my god.
That was all the proof I needed to know I’d crossed every conceivable line with Sunny even if the warmth prickling inside me insisted otherwise. Even if the pressure in my chest seemed to demand I go to her right now.
But I couldn’t do that.
