“Bad fucking news. I got into quite a bit of trouble in my misspent youth. Boosting cars. Stealing. Those days are long behind me, but I learned a lot of invaluable skills and painful truths that have come in handy in my reformed years.”
“I bet.”
The coolness emanating off her does nothing to quell the heat I feel with our bodies this close. It has nothing to do with the crush of people making their way past us or the warm sunlight streaming in the atrium. This warmth somehow just exists when we’re in the same space, sharing the same air, even when she’s trying to ice me out.
“What are you doing here, Gage?”
Fucking hell…
Hearing my name from her lips tightens my chest as a much lower part of my body hardens, and I step in another few inches until my chest brushes hers. “I came to see what all the fuss was about. Everyone’s been talking about the opening.”
Bishop stands absolutely still, not reacting to our proximity or me invading her personal space. With her stuck between me and the wall, we both know she could grab my arm beside her head and have me down on the floor in a millisecond to free herself if she wanted to, but she doesn’t budge.
She knows what that would mean—surrender.
And this isn’t a woman who ever surrenders.
She stares me down, challenging me, daring me to move even closer. “Have they?”
I tilt my head and examine her, searching for a crack in the armor I can pry at. The warning I just gave her was very real, yet she appears unfazed by it, by me being this close. Simmering unease continues to bubble within her, but she keeps herself calm rather than lashing out with accusations against me when she has nothing but her instincts to back her up.
“You don’t trust me, do you?”
Her brows rise slowly. “Should I? I don’t know a single thing about you.”
“Of course you do. I’ve already told you lots of things.”
More than I should have.
But this woman knows the right questions to ask.
“And how do I know the things you’ve told me are real, that they’re the truth?”
I don’t bother to fight my grin at the way she just proved my point about her perfect intuition. “Because I’ve been told I’m a shitty liar.”
She doesn’t miss a beat. “You’re lying right now.”
Good God…
It takes everything in me not to kiss her right now. Not to grab her face and drag her lips to mine. Not to devour her here and now despite the way she just saw right through me. Because of the way she just saw through me.
That makes this even more dangerous.
I should walk away and never look back.
I should take my own advice to never let anyone distract me.
I should keep focus where it belongs.
But I can’t look away from her.
“You’re right, Bishop. I am lying. But it’s not about what you think. I did come to see what all the fuss is about, but my real reason for being here today?” I tip my head until my nose brushes her soft cheek, that heady jasmine scent making my already semi-hard cock throb. “Was because I wanted to see you.”
She tenses again, and when I pull back, she offers me an incredulous look that screams she doesn’t believe a word that just came out of my mouth.
But both reasons for being here are true.
One was just a stronger pull than the other.
