He flinched at the memory. He flinchedevery fucking time. Because he wasn’t that guy. He didn’tdothings like that.
As though she heard the conflict inside him, Addie’s eyes softened. “This doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
It did. Itwas. It was a huge damn deal. He could have hurt her. One more second stuck in his head, and he would have.
He retreated, as if her sheer closeness could push him to hurt her.
“You were always going to realize it was me,” she said softly.
That was the thing—he wasn’t sure that was true. “If you decide that you don’t want to work with me—”
“I won’t.”
His hands tightened into fists. She didn’t seem even a little bit fazed by what had happened, whereas for him, it had changed everything. Made him feel unsafe in his own skin.
She took another step toward him. This time he didn’t move. But he did smell chocolate. This womanalwayssmelled of chocolate. “Did you visit Jules?”
Her lips cracked into a smile. It was wide, and damn if it wasn’t radiant. “How did you know?”
“I can smell it on you.”
She chuckled. “I consider smelling like hot chocolate a compliment, so thank you. She has a new salted caramel flavor.” She lifted the to-go cup and sipped before groaning. “It’s un-freaking-believable. I’d offer you some but that would mean one less sip for me.”
This woman… One second, they were talking about how he’d basically assaulted her, and the next, she was joking about not sharing her drink. “I thought you were cutting back on the chocolate.”
“I told you that?”
“No, I heard you telling Jules on Tuesday.”
“Oh. Well, I am. So far, I’ve only had one Hershey’s Kiss. And this is liquid chocolate, so it doesn’t count. Plus, I said no to the whipped cream and caramel drizzle. That’s progress.”
He was tempted to tell her that the lack of cream and caramel had nothing to do with cutting down on chocolate, and yes, liquid chocolate did count, but he kept his mouth shut.
“I should get back to the guys.” He and Colt had been walking the team from the zip line to the bouldering wall when he’d seen her walk into the office. He’d forced himself to follow her in here because he’dneededto talk about the incident. It had taken him too damn long as it was.
“Do yourself a favor—get one of these.” She held up the cup.
“I’m not really a hot chocolate kind of guy.”
“Everyone is a salted caramel hot chocolate kind of guy unless they’re a salted caramel hot chocolate girl.”
His lips twitched. And this was why he was drawn to the woman. She was the only person who could make him smile in what felt like a fucking hurricane.
He cleared his throat. “Have a good day, Addison.”
“You too, Noah.” She smiled before turning back to the computer.
And fuck, even the way she said his name held him hostage.
He forced himself to turn and move. But the second he passed the front desk, the memory popped back into his mind. He could still feel her skin beneath his fingers. And the nightmare…the way it jolted him back to the hell in which he’d almost died.
He shoved outside, ignoring the anger that pulsed through his veins. Anger at himself. That he would allow himself to get pulled so deep into a memory that it caused him to cross a line.
He scrubbed a hand over his face as he hurried down the path. He’d thought he was okay. That leaving the Marines, coming here, would push all the shit that had happened on that last mission to the back of his mind.
It wasn’t the case.
A hand touched his shoulder, and he flinched and spun to find Rhett, one of the new hires, behind him.
