My grin freezes, then fades.
Well, fuck.
She lifts a smug brow.
As I open my mouth to fire something back, she tilts her head, eyes glinting with cutting amusement.
“I thought I met a guy like that once,” she says. “My mistake.”
Her words don’t just land—they carve. Right through the armor I thought I still had.
I need to laugh it off. Roll my eyes, make some cocky remark.
Instead, I stare at her, jaw tight. This time I don’t have a damn thing to say.
The plane lights dim as the flight drags on, conversations fade and Rorie, for all her lethal confidence and sharp edges, has finally gone still.
She’s slumped in her seat, head tilted to the side—myside—and the faint glow of her phone screen casts soft shadows across her face. Her earbuds are in, and her breathing has evened out, slow and unguarded. Her scent floats in the air between us.
I could pretend this doesn’t mean anything. In fact, I should move. Shift away. Jostle her so she wakes up and spares me the torment of feeling her.
I don’t.
My pulse ticks up as her head inches closer, and then, with a barely-there exhale, it happens—she rests against my shoulder.
Something thick settles in my chest.
I don’t hate it.
I fucking love it, actually.
The weight of Rorie against me feels good. And when I think I might be able to hold it together, she nuzzles into me.
Jesus Christ.
My fingers ache to touch her, and before I can stop myself, I adjust my position so she’s more comfortable. It’s a small movement so she doesn’t wake up with a crick in her neck.
But it doesn’t go unnoticed.
Rorie stirs, whispering incomprehensible babble under her breath then she sighs. And it’s that sigh that kills me.
Soft. Content. Like she trusts me despite me already fucking that up.
Glancing down at her, my chest tightens even more. She’d die if she knew she’s all curled up next to me, letting her guard down.
Then she moves.
A shift. A tiny one.
But it’s enough.
Her arm slides, hand slipping from where it was resting near her lap, gliding downward until?—
Oh,fuck me.
Contact.
A delicate hand lands right between my legs.
