kick them out and drag her to my room and give her a million reasons to never leave. And if I was honest, very few of them were sexual just then. It was unnerving, but I couldn’t argue with the certainty I felt in my heart or my head.
I hadn’t been able to promise her anything on Monday, but I’d had a week to think about whether the risk was worth the reward. I’d unanimously – yes, with one voter – decided that I was willing to risk anything for how I felt about her. I’d convinced myself that the way I felt about her was the kind of feeling you only got once in a lifetime. I loved Hawk like a brother, but there was nothing fraternal in how I felt about his sister.
The point was moot if she still only wanted to be friends. But at least I knew, if she ever changed her mind, how I felt about it.
Of course, if our most recent interaction was any indication of our future, then I’d spent all week wondering for no reason.
It still didn’t stop me from keeping a not so subtle eye on the lift doors all night as I most certainly didn’t wait for her to come back. Thankfully, Hawk was just as watchful so my stakeout wasn’t indicative of anything that would get my arse kicked.
She rolled in at around one, obviously drunk but not messy. She kissed Hawk on the head on the way by, said, “See, whole and still untouched,” then said good night to us all and went to bed.
The team slowly dispersed over the next hour or so until I was left with an antsy feeling and a serious lack of wanting to go to bed. But I forced myself to not think about her and get some sleep. I was successful in so much as I managed to sleep relatively uninterrupted, but was thinking about her as soon as I opened my eyes.
“I need something stronger than coffee,” I muttered as I dragged myself out of bed and to the kitchen.
I set the coffee machine on then went to my study to turn on my computer. Saturday morning was a shit time to be working when I wasn’t expressly being paid but, if it took my mind off Amber, then I was going to do it. I just needed to stop thinking about her long enough to get over her. That was a legitimate strategy, I was sure.
“Something about camping?” I wondered vaguely as I headed back to the kitchen.
“What?” Amber asked, just before I ran into her coming out of the kitchen.
I looked down at her, my hand going to her on autopilot to steady her. Her hand rested on my naked chest. Her eyes widened and I licked my lip. She bit hers and my heart rate spiked.
That sexual tension was crackling between us. It was like pretending this last week had only made it stronger. It was supposed to have put it behind us, we were supposed to have moved on. But every time I saw her smile at me, every time we inadvertently touched, I yearned for more. I told myself not to – she was my best friend’s little sister, she was worth ten times better than I was, and we’d called just friends.
I watched her suck in a breath and bite her lip again like she wanted to say something, but something was holding her back. My skin tingled as it remembered the feel of her against it, of her fingers tracing the lines of my muscles and my ink. My heart constricted as it remembered the way she smiled at me, wrapped in my sheets and looking up at me with a shine in those beautiful violet eyes.
“Kit…” she breathed hesitantly. “I…I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful or anything…” Her chest rose and fell as she breathed hard. “But I can’t do this anymore.”
My stomach dropped. “You’re… You want to move out?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “What? No.” She shook her head. “Us, Kit. I can’t…I can’t do–”
I cleared my throat and looked away from her. “No. I know. That’s why we… That’s why we’re keeping our hands to ourselves. Just friends.” I took a step back, but she took my hand and I looked back at her.
“No. That’s what I’m talking about, Kit. Keeping our hands to ourselves. I can’t… I don’t want to…”
I had never felt such hope as what