“Don’t.” I shook my head. “Don’t say anything.”
“You could end this amazing day of yours with abang, pun intended.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” She grinned. “Not even close.”
Blake finished off his one drink in the midst of his conversation with Dr. Wileman before finding me at the other end of the bar, where I was talking to Marie and a few of the other nurses. “Hey, I think I’m going to head out.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll, uh…let me walk you out.” I didn’t give him a chance to protest before I started moving toward the door.
We stepped outside and walked down the sidewalk to the parking lot, turning into it and moving to the far back corner.
When we neared his parking spot, he turned, and we both leaned against the driver’s side of his Jeep, facing one another. “I need you to do something for me before you leave.”
He arched his brow. “And what’s that?”
“Tell me something real.”
“This again?” he deadpanned.
“Yes,” I replied with a smile. “Consider it a congratulatory gift to me for passing my exam.”
“I wasn’t aware I was supposed to give you a gift,” he quipped.
“Well, now you are. So, humor me.”
Blake sighed. “Something real…” he muttered, shifting his eyes as if to think about it before meeting my gaze again. “I’m proud of you.” I tilted my head, giving him a look for his answer because itwasn’twhat I was looking for…but hearing him say that made something in my chest flutter. He shrugged with the ghost of a smile. “It’s the truth, so it makes it real.”
“Fine. I’ll take it,” I said with a hint of amusement. “And thank you for helping me study so I passed.”
“That was all you. I didn’t do anything but read some words off a page.”
“That’s not true. You explained things. And you made me not second-guess myself as much. So, just accept my gratitude.”
He let out a quiet laugh. “Fine. I accept it.”
As I continued to stare up at him, my thoughts tumbled back to the other night—standing on my front porch, the flutter in my stomach when I saw his eyes drop to my lips, not just once but several times. Now, I was the one looking athislips. It’d been three months since we hooked up, and in thehaze of alcohol and time, I’d nearly forgotten how it felt to kiss him.
I found myself suddenly wishing for a refresher course in the art of kissing Blake Pierson.
“You need to stop looking at me like that,” he said, his voice more gruff than it was moments ago.
I unconsciously shifted closer, bridging the small gap between us a little more as I searched his blue eyes. The scent of his cologne—crisp mountain air with earthy undertones of sandalwood, rugged but not overpowering—filled my senses. “Like what?”
“You knowwhat.” Despite his words, he didn’t move away. He stared down at me with a look in his eyes I couldn’t quite decipher. “We should stay away from each other like this, Haley,” he said, his voice even lower now. “This is twice now.”
Twice. He was talking about the other night.
“Well, maybe that means we don’twantto stay away,” I said, my voice carrying a soft, playful lilt as I stared up at him. God…he was the size of a damn tree, and I wanted to climb him like one.Again.
Despite my words and my improper thoughts, I took a step back. Because something told me he wasn’t going to cave. And I didn’t want him doing something that, deep down, he didn’t want to do or, worse, would regret.
Blake gently shook his head, letting out a breathy chuckle that I could have sworn sounded like a mix between disappointment and relief, though I wasn’t sure. “You’re trouble.”
A slow smirk curled on my lips at those words. “Yeah…you told me that once before.”
I saw his eyes flare with recognition. He rememberedexactlywhen he last said that to me, and what we were doing.
