Everything inside me is screaming—from the elation, and relief, of getting the building. From the irritation of Hadley intervening. From the proximity of her body to mine and from the smug look she’s flipping my way.
“Did you want this or not, Mach?”
“Clarify this.”
“Fuck you.”
I grin. “Is that an offer?”
Her arms cross over her chest, but the posture is muted by the way her lips part. “Clearly not.” She flushes. “But thanks for going there.”
“It was your mind that went straight to the gutter.”
She drops her arms at the same time she pulls her lip between her teeth. She’s definitely not doing it for my benefit because she has no way to know how hard it is for me not to reach forward and run my thumb along her jaw and free it. There’s no way she knows this is the exact look, complete with the lust in her eyes I’m scared of never seeing again, that I replay as I lie in bed alone and get off to memories of being entangled in my sheets with her.
“You could’ve just said thank you,” she points out.
“I could’ve.”
“You should’ve.”
“I would’ve if you hadn’t sidetracked me.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Whatever. You’ve never thanked me for anything in your life.”
I step toward her until her back is pressed against the bar. Her eyes are wide, her breathing as heavy as mine, but she makes no indication this isn’t where she wants to be.
“I can think of a few times I’ve thanked you,” I say. My voice is as thick as the air around us, gritty with the pent-up frustration I’ve had since she walked her tight little ass into Crave. “Are you going to pretend you forgot?”
“I never pretend.”
“So you remember when I thanked you for making those cupcakes up here for my eighteenth birthday?” The memory of what we did with that icing hits me in the groin.
Her pupils widen. “Yes.”
“And you remember when I thoroughly thanked you for picking me up the night Peck and I got caught throwing corn at the sheriff’s cars out by Bluebird?”
Whether it’s intentional or not, I don’t know, but she angles her body subtly toward me. Her breath is hot against my skin with every little gush of air that escapes her lips. Every move she makes floods me with the scent of her floral perfume and the sweet smell of her skin.
She swallows. “Yes. I remember that. Very well, actually.”
I don’t move. I’m rooted in place by her stare. It’s for the best because I’m not sure what I want to do first—shove my face into the crook of her neck or twist her around and bend her over the bar. Neither of which is probably a good idea if I really think about it. Good thing that not thinking things through is one of my best qualities.
My arm raises until my hand cups the side of her face. She gasps before a full-body shiver slides across her delicate skin. Her eyes are wide, glued to my lips, as I lower them to her.
She lifts her chin to me, her eyelashes fluttering closed. She lays a hand on the center of my chest. Her fingers flex against the cotton material. If she feels how hard my heart’s ricocheting off my ribs, she ignores it.
My lips hover over hers. She inhales sharply right before we touch—
“Hey, Machlan! I told Navie … Oh, shit.”
Still holding Hadley’s face, I twist my gaze to Peck. He looks like he’s seen a ghost. Or his executioner.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I growl. My eyes almost pop out of my head from the force of my teeth grinding together.
Peck stands there, mouth agape, but he’s shrouded in the red of my fury.
“Trust me when I say I had no idea we were about to walk in on that.” Peck gulps. “You’re gonna kill me now, aren’t you?”
“Brutally.”
Hadley slips from beneath my grasp and slides to the side. Immediately, I miss the softness of her skin, the warmth of her proximity. I want to jerk her back, swallow the excuse on the tip of her tongue, and kiss her like she needs to be kissed. Like I need to be kissed.
“Stop it,” Hadley says. She smooths out an imaginary wrinkle in her shirt and makes a point to stand a good few feet away. It’s not so much that point that boils my blood, but more of the wall I sense between us again.
She doesn’t look my way. Doesn’t acknowledge me at all, really. Just fixes her gaze on Peck and Navie and that’s what bothers me the most. That she doesn’t see me. That she can pretend she wasn’t just pressed against me and willing to let me touch her.
Damn it.
“I’m Hadley,” she says to Navie, clearing her throat.