Cocking my head to the side, I give her a small smile, “You’re avoiding me.”
Her eyes soften and she crosses her arms over her stomach, hugging herself, “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”
Sliding my hands in my pockets to stop myself from reaching for her, I ask, “What’s the right thing?”
Her eyes look down and back to me, “Not getting involved with my employer is the right thing.”
I want to pull her to me, to feel her hands on me again, but lean my shoulder on the wall instead, “Is that the only thing?”
Her eyes flick to the side, but this time her face tightens as she thinks.
When was the last time someone did something for her? When was the last time she felt safe? I wait a few more moments and ask again, “Is that the only thing, Sloane? Is there something you want to tell me?”
Her eyes snap back to mine and I briefly see panic, but then she narrows them at me, “I already told you, I’m not sacrificing a perfect job so you can get a piece of ass.” Her tone is sharp now and her eyebrows pulled together, do I make her feel cornered?
Anger bubbles in my chest and I straighten to take a step toward her, “And I already told you that I don’t think of you that way and I never will. What if I want more?”
She transforms in front of me, her body relaxes and her face softens as she looks at me like I said exactly what she wanted to hear, but in that same amount of time her gaze lowers to my chest and defeat makes her shoulders slump.
“What was that?” I ask and she lifts her eyes, “What were you thinking that made you shrink like that?” After a moment of silence, I say, “You can trust me, Sloane.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I continue, “Why did you disappear off the grid two years ago? What has your brother done?”
Her eyes snap up and shock and panic are written in herwide eyes. Her voice is barely a whisper when she says, “You looked into me?” The look of betrayal that crosses her face nearly guts me, the hurt in her eyes is because I got impatient and couldn’t wait for her to tell me on her own.
Feeling like a shit heel, I cross my arms over my chest and say, “I had to. After you saw your brother, you wouldn’t talk to me, I had to find out what I was dealing with.”
The small step she takes back nearly breaks my heart, it’s only a step, but it means I’ve become the enemy.
Not willing to let that happen, I step toward her, I won’t let her shut me out completely. I softly grasp her wrist and slide my thumb across her soft skin. “You can trust me, Sloane.”
She tries to school her features so I can’t read her. She looks down at my hand on her arm and then tips her head back to look me in the eye, “Obviously, I can’t. And I already told you, I’m not interested.”
My chest squeezes and a jolt of pain shocks my heart, I hold her eye contact looking for a crack in her fake facade. The glare she is leveling at me contrasts the shallow breaths lifting her chest and I can feel a slight tremble in her arm under my hand.
I let go of her arm and turn away from her, I pull my cap off and scrub my hands through my hair and down my face as I turn to face her again, this woman drives me crazy, never in my life have I felt such a strong need to protect a woman. Never have I felt that a woman is mine to protect.
I decide I won’t let her push me away even further. I’m going for broke.
“Bullshit.” I move closer to her and lower my voice so only she can hear me, “Your chest and cheeks are flushed, your pupils are dilated, and I can see your heart rate in this little spot right there,” I lightly touch my finger to where her neck meets her shoulder and lower my head closer to her ear, “and I’m willing to bet my boots that if I touched you right now, you’d be soaking wet.”
Sliding the tip of my finger up her neck sends a shiver across her shoulders, I wrap my fingers around the nape of her neck to cup her head. Her shallow breaths are coming faster, “Admit it. Admit you want me as much as I want you,” I let my lips move against the shell of her ear as I talk and I can feel her softening under my touch, “I’ve wanted you since I first saw you in that bar and not a day goes by that my fingers don’t itch to touch you. I wake up every morning wanting to taste you and I go to bed every night wanting you next to me.”
Her forehead slowly drops forward and rests on my chest, a small act of surrender.
I’ll take it.
I move my nose to her hair and inhale, “I can smell when you’ve been in a room and I immediately want to find you so I can be close to you.” I slide my thumb across her neck under her ear, “Let me in, Sloane.”
The muscles in her neck go rigid again and she lifts her head, I move my head so that we are almost forehead to forehead, her beautiful eyes have turned the lightest color of green as they fill with tears and her nose turns red. She looks at me for the longest moments and I can feel her starting to crack, she swallows and her eyebrows briefly pinch together.
Tears start to fall down her cheeks as her eyes are glued to mine, but she seems to shake the softness from her expression and takes a deep breath, “I can’t.”
She takes a step away from me and I open my hand to let go of her, she takes another step, her eyes still locked on mine, before she turns on her heel and walks out of the room.
Fuck!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
