“It’s beautiful,” I say after a pause.
“Aren’t you scared?”
Silas smirks, his eyes drinking me in as if I’m all that exists for him.
Stop, I silently yell at myself.
Dad’s rightthere.
Silas walks past me, standing at the edge. “Try it over here. If you think you can handle it.”
I’m about to reply when Dad’s phone starts to ring. He quickly answers it like he always does. He’s a dedicated worker.
“Yeah,” he says. “Okay. I can do it. Just wait. Yes.”
“Is everything all right?” Silas asks when Dad hangs up.
“Yeah, just need to make another call to help with a small supply issue. Do you mind showing Lauren out?”
“I can find the elevator, Dad.”
“It’s fine,” Silas says, but his voice is tight.
I can imagine him thinking,Great, saddled with the kid.
As if I’m that same girl his gaze passed over, because of course it did. He’s not a creep.
But it still made me feel small, invisible.
Is it so wrong to want him to notice me?
Dad walks from the office, leaving Silas and me together.
Dad obviously has no doubt he can leave me here, and Silas will take care of me…the way any family friend would.
Not a crush. Not my inked muscular man.
Silas looks at me, and his jaw is tight. Buster sits at his side, shifting as though sensing some of his owner’s mood. It’s like, now that Dad’s gone, Silas has dropped all effort in trying to be civil.
“I thought you had a challenge for me?” I say.
His smirk returns. “After you, then….”
I walk toward the window, standing right at the edge.
The glass is so clean, like it’s not even there.
It’s like I could fall and….
My belly jolts. My feet take me backward.
I feel like such a dork, and I start to laugh, but that’s when I bump into Buster, and he quickly darts out of my way.
I’m falling.
This is going to be the most embarrassing thing ever.
But then I feel his arms wrapped around me, the infusion of heat, his body pressed against mine telling me everything’s going to be okay. Just like I dreamed.