“I saw them, Sarah. Hunter did, too. They were ready for a fight.”
“No. They weren’t. They were just blowing off steam.”
I stepped closer to her until her back met the wall.
“Don’t, Drey.” She went to step to the side.
I put my hand against the wall. “What’d you do?”
“Asked them…to leave. Not everything needs to end with fists flying.”
“How’d you do it?” I scanned her body but shifted back to her eyes. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to keep from kissing her.
“I asked them.”
“Something’s different about you, Sarah. Something…sexy.”
“Drey,” she whispered, but it sounded more like a plea. “We should get back to work.”
“You’re making me crazy. So…crazy.” I took a long breath of her scent. I needed it to tide me over. It’d been weeks since I’d opened up to her about my druggie past, but she’d not budged in sharing with me. Sure she’d hung around the store a little more, and I’d not seen her go home with one guy since then.
Maybe she was considering us.
Her tongue jetted out, and I wondered if she knew that it did.
“It’s like you have some power over me…over guys. The way you lured them out of their fight. Sarah, what’s your secret?”
Her eyes went wide then she clenched her jaw. “Drey.” There was a cold edge to her voice now. A shift like a switch flipped.
“Tell me, Sarah. Why won’t you let me in?”
“You don’t want anything to do with me.”
“But I do,” I said. “More than I want to, but I can’t shut it off. Can’t walk away.”
“You should, Drey. You really should.”
“Why? Tell me and I’ll make the decision for myself.” Though I already knew no matter what her secret was I wouldn’t care. I wanted her. No matter what.
“Drey, no.”
“Is it why you won’t let me kiss you?”
She glanced at my lips again. Oh yeah, she wanted me to kiss her. But I wouldn’t, not until she asked—no matter how much I wanted to. “It’s okay, Sarah.”
Tears lined her bottom lids. “It’s not…” she whispered. “It’ll never be.”
It hit me then that she’d been hurt, as inseriouslyhurt. How she melted against me when I’d held her all those weeks ago. How she turned on the hot and cold so violently. Her drinking—which she hadn’t been doing as much lately.
“Can I at least hold you?” I asked.
“Drey. We’re at work. I—”
“I don’t give a shit.” I nudged her chin with my finger.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed…hard, too. There wasn’t anything sexual or manipulative about it, either. Not that her body still didn’t feel amazing against mine, but it was more of an urgent, protective need than a lustful one that swarmed me.
I hugged her tight, resting one of my hands on her upper back while my other circled her waist, pulling her snug against me.