Hold Me Close - Talia Hibbert Page 0,266

over the last couple of weeks, because touching Rae was something he never wanted to give up. It always felt so easy, so right.

“If you want to share something,” he murmured, “you start like this. Hey, Zach, did I ever tell you about…?”

She smiled softly and closed her eyes. Began with an air of release, as if he’d given her permission. “Hey, Zach, did I ever tell you about New Year’s Eve three years ago?”

“No. Tell me.”

Her smile widened, and he saw it reflected around them countless times. The sight tugged at something in him, something raw and vulnerable and unfamiliar. Probably because he could already tell that this would be a sad story—not tragic-sad, but subtle-sad, like the fact that she’d never had a dog before.

He couldn’t stop thinking about that information, even weeks later. It had pissed him off royally.

“We had a party,” she said. “Kevin and I. We were the fun friends because, you know, no kids. So, every year, up until that year, we hosted. That night, I passed out on the sofa, woke up at dawn, and had this bright idea—if I cleaned up the mess before Kevin woke up, he’d be really happy. He hated untidiness, and the house was my responsibility. I suppose I got a bit nervous. So, I stood up to move all of the empty bottles… only, I’d forgotten about my heart.”

The smooth glide of the elevator became slow and weighty. They were almost at their floor, but if the doors opened and the world flooded in, this moment might shatter like glass. It took half a second for Zach to smack the emergency stop button. The lift jerked, then stilled.

Rae laughed, and he felt it, his hand still cradling her face. “What are you doing?” she asked, incredulous, delighted.

“Keep going. Finish the story.”

She nodded solemnly, like she got him, even though he barely got himself. “I stood up too fast. My heart panicked, and I passed out and dropped everything. Then there was all this blood, shouting… It was a dramatic way to ring in the new year.” She held up her hand and showed him something he’d never noticed before: fine slashes dissecting her palm, pale and shiny.

“Shit,” he murmured. When she lowered the hand again, his gaze returned to her face—to the scar by the corner of her lovely mouth. He found himself asking, “Can I touch you?”

She didn’t point out that he was already touching her. She didn’t even ask what he meant. Just whispered in the shimmering silence of the lift, “Yes.”

For some reason, that simple permission rung loud in his ears. He felt as if she’d set something caged between them free. A voice in his mind whispered, We were meant to touch, but the thought couldn’t be his, so he pushed it away. Pretended he hadn’t heard a thing, and swept an absent thumb over the fine line of Rae’s scar.

She sucked in a breath.

He froze. “You okay?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “I just… no-one’s ever really touched them before.”

He didn’t like that idea. Not at all. “Maybe it should be my job, then.”

He only realised how the words sounded after they’d left his mouth.

Her eyes widened, and she stepped away, out of his reach. The minute he lost her skin, her softness and her warmth, the spell broke. He blinked hard and caught sight of his reflection, the faint flush on his cheeks taking him by surprise. What the hell was he doing?

Running his mouth and making Rae uncomfortable, clearly. He cleared his throat, searching for some kind of joke that would lighten the mood, but a staticky voice filled the lift, cutting him off. “Everything alright in there?”

Oops. He pressed the button on the control panel beside the speaker. “Yeah. Sorry. Must’ve leaned on something.”

The response was a disbelieving huff. “Right.” Then the lift surged back to life.

Chapter 7

Keep it together. That was all Rae had to do: keep it together, keep her distance, and avoid freaking Zach out the way she had at the park. It should’ve been easy, but by the time the elevator doors slid open, her heart was shuddering with the effort. She’d barely managed to pull away from him, had almost succumbed to the urge to step closer. When Zach touched her, looked at her, spoke to her with so much feeling in his voice, something inside her trembled. Unwieldy emotions and dangerous thoughts battled their way to the fore. If this wild and ravenous need was