Michelle: Maybe I want to?
My mouth fell open. Michelle was flirting and being cute and surprising the hell out of me. Asking to see me and admitting she wanted more than a booty call? Holy shit.
Michelle: Erase that message. It’s not my brand.
Brooks: I’m saving it. Forever.
Brooks: Come over after your shift. Stay with me tonight.
Michelle: It’s late though.
Brooks: I don’t care. I can pick you up, drop you off at work?
Michelle: I need some stuff from my place.
Brooks: Want me to stay at yours?
Her response wasn’t immediate, and I regretted pushing my luck. Her asking to hang out had to be her way of apologizing from assuming I was leaving her without a word. I knew she had baggage. That was obvious. But I was strong and could hold it if she gave me the chance.
Michelle: I’d like that.
Brooks: I’ll see you at midnight, Mitch.
Michelle: : )
Wow, a smiley face, too? It must be a full moon.
* * *
I hated where she worked.
The restaurant sat in a part of town that was one bad night away from making the news, tucked between a Cash Now & Loans and a liquor store with bars on the windows. The kind of place where people disappeared and no one asked questions.
And she worked here. Every damn day.
I gripped the steering wheel, tapping my fingers against it, trying to keep my thoughts from boiling over. She would pull away if I told her how much I hated her being here.
She would assume I was trying to control her life, and that would be the quickest way to lose her completely. And I wasn’t willing to risk that.
But fuck, it was hard.
I spotted her as she walked out, her long hair loose, her skirt swaying around her thighs, and it hit me all over again.
She was so fucking pretty.
Pretty in a way that made me ache, in a way that made me want to keep her. Not in a possessive way.
But in an I want to wake up next to you every morning, I want to know how your day went, I want to share the good and the bad with you kind of way.
She flashed a smile when she saw me, but before she could take more than a step toward the car, I saw movement behind her.
Two guys.
Fast strides. Not quite a run, but definitely not a walk.
Fuck.
I threw the door open, my heart hammering as I moved toward her. She must’ve heard them, too, because she turned around before I could reach her.
