It’s the first time I’ve seen concern on her face that isn’t wrapped in sarcasm. This is real concern that sucker-punches me right in the stomach.
I move my foot to step down the ladder, and her hands fall away reluctantly, like she didn’t realize she was still touching me. When I reach the floor, I step closer to her, putting only inches between us.
“Are you okay?”
She nods repeatedly. “I didn’t think the ladder would actually wobble like that. I was only joking about the whole falling thing, and?—”
I bring both hands up, cupping her upper arms. “You’re shaking.”
“No. I’m just cold.”
“It’s warm in here.”
“It’s drafty.”
“There’s no draft.”
Her jaw tightens, no doubt because she hates being seen. It’s not the polished version of Scottie she gives the cameras.
I should step back. I should turn away before I fall into the same spell we put ourselves in back at the apartment. Instead, my hand instinctively lifts from her arm, reaching for her face. My hand hovers under her chin, wanting to tilt her face up and assure her I’m okay.
But Levi appears, clearing his throat. “Am I interrupting?”
Scottie steps back like she’s been electrocuted, and I exhale. “Perfect timing,buddy.”
My hands fall to my sides like they don’t know what to do when I’m not touching her.
His grin says he knows exactly what he walked in on. He lifts his head to the ceiling. “Lord save me from slow burn fools.”
Scottie tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, hiking a thumb over her shoulder. “I-I should go. I just came to check in.”
I nod, watching as she takes one, two steps backward before turning on her heel toward the hallway. Before she disappears, she looks back. Her eyes drag over me—my hands, my body, then to the ladder and the ceiling. Worry lingers in her stare, no matter how hard she tries to hide it.
“Be careful,” she says softly. “You’re…important to this project.”
And there it is. The loophole she gives herself.
Project. Not me.
But I hear the part she doesn’t say anyway.
I swallow down the dozens of things I want to say to that, and offer her a nod instead. “Always am.”
She presses her lips together in a flat line and leaves.
The silence that follows feels huge.
“Dude. She’s gone,” Levi says, snapping me out of my stare.
“I know.”
“You can breathe now.”
“I am breathing,” I fire back sharply.
“Sure,” he draws out. “If that’s what we’re calling whatever the hell you’re doing.”
I shake my head, climbing back up the ladder. Where moments ago I was steady and sure, now my hands tremble.
