She rolls her eyes but allows me to help her into her jacket, then she grabs her bag.
“So cocky.”
“Come home with me,” I whisper.“No pressure.”
She doesn’t speak as we walk out of the restaurant, but I can feel it in the way she walks beside me, how close she stays.
The shift in her energy.
She hasn’t forgiven me fully, but she’s leaning in.Curious.Tempted.
“Okay,” Sabrina says, and I feel the victory down to my marrow.
“Okay,” I echo.
Then, I open the SUV door for her and slide into the driver’s seat, my hand flexing on the gearshift to keep it occupied.
Because if I let it wander, it’ll find her thigh.
Or her neck.
Or her pretty hand I haven’t stopped thinking about since she touched me the first time.
The drive is quiet.
The good kind of quiet.
At a red light, I glance over.She’s staring out the window, biting her lip.
Thinking.Always thinking.
“You okay?”I ask.
She doesn’t look at me.Just nods.“I think so.Just still processing.”
“You want me to shut up or talk?”
She smiles.“Surprisingly self-aware of you.”
I smirk.“I have my moments.”
“Talk,” she says after a beat.“Tell me something true.”
Something true.
Shit.She really doesn’t ask for much.
Just everything.
I exhale.
“Okay.Truth?I used to think I was only good for one thing—hurting people.That’s what I was trained to do.What I was recruited to do.Then I started working private security, and it got a little better.Protecting instead of punishing.”
A pause.
“Then I met you.And suddenly it wasn’t about the job anymore.It wasn’t even about protecting.It was about you.Your laugh.Your anger.Your goddamn resilience.You’re changing me, Angel.”
“Is that good?”she asks quietly.
