But I can’t.
Cade Reyne is a force. My neck is still tingling where his hand brushed against it. Heat rises on my skin again when I think about it, and I throw more water on my face with a groan.
I need to go back out and work.
I need to focus on getting my own place, not on them.
But it’s hard when I keep scenting Cade in my hair, on my skin. When they seem intent on coaxing their way past my defenses, knocking them over one by one like confetti.
What do they even want with me?
The scent lingers for the rest of the day. Doing my best to ignore it, I push the Reyne pack out of my mind and scrub until my hands feel sore. I don’t see Hudson again until the end of the night, when he gives me my wages and escorts me to the door.
“I had fun today,” he murmurs, holding my gaze as the door opens. “I think we’d all like to do it again.”
Chewing on my lip, I throw caution to the wind and ask the question that’s been on my mind all day.
“Why did you take me for lunch today?”
His smile grows slowly until it spreads across his face. The look he gives me sends butterflies cartwheeling through my middle as he steps forward until we’re close to touching.
“I think you know,” he murmurs. Hazel eyes bore into me as he scans my face. “Don’t you?”
The butterflies morph into rocks.
“I…,” I shake my head. “I don’t think I can give you what you want, Hudson.”
My breathing speeds up, and he steps back immediately, giving me the space I need to compose myself without his scent clouding my senses.
“We don’t want anything you’re not willing to give,” he responds carefully. “But we’d like the chance to try, Gabrielle. If you’re comfortable with that.”
Hesitating, I wrap my arms around my waist, my head spinning.
“Slowly,” I finally confess. Glancing up at him, his eyes crinkle into a grin as he leans against the door.
“We can work with that.”
ChapterTwenty-Three
Axel
Hitting the button on the treadmill, I slow down to a walk, blowing out a breath. Sweat is pouring off me, but it’s not enough.
Music pounds through my headphones, thudding in time with my heartbeat as I start to run again, pushing up the speed until I’m flat out sprinting. When I finally stop, slipping the headphones down around my neck, I’m gasping.
“Burning off some energy?”
My head turns and I nod at Cade in greeting as he steps up onto the treadmill next to me.
“You could say that,” I croak.
He tosses me a bottle of water, and I suck it down gratefully as he waits.
“Want to talk about it?”
Mulling the offer over, I finish off the last of the water and toss the empty bottle into the trash can next to us.
Cade stays silent, waiting me out in that sneaky way he has to get us all to open up.
