Chapter 22 #2
Her hands shot up, wrapping around my wrists like a vise. Eyes closing, she inhaled and exhaled.
“Teddy,” I said, brushing my nose against hers, feeling her breath tremble against my lips. “If it was nothing, tell me. If it scared you, tell me that too. But don’t pretend I imagined the way you kissed me.”
Her lashes dusted the tops of her cheekbones, eyes firmly closed. I wondered if opening them would reveal the truth.
“It wasn’t nothing,” she whispered, the confession so weak it barely made it past her lips. Vindication filled my every thought, making my skin pebble with delight. My smirk spoke volumes. Her eyes opened then, wide and aware of what she’d admitted.
“Why did you run?” I asked.
She nibbled on her lower lip and hesitated just as footsteps echoed behind me. Her gaze flickered there briefly, and I shifted on instinct, angling my body to block her from view. The conversation paused as someone walked past us and into the bathroom.
That pause gave me the chance to be close to her again, her delectable scent snaking around me.
Near enough that she didn’t have room to retreat, near enough that I was able to track every breath as it left her mouth and brushed my neck.
I stayed exactly where I was, resisting the pull to close the space between us. Letting her decide what happened next.
The bathroom door opened again, and the same person walked out, footsteps fading down the hall. As she quiet between us rushed back in, Teddy didn’t pull away. If anything, she shifted closer, enough that the thud of a heartbeat boomed between us. Hers. Mine. I couldn’t tell.
She looked up at me, eyes catching on my mouth before lifting to my eyes. “It scared me. There are a hundred reasons why I shouldn’t have… done that.”
“What, kissed me?”
“Yes.” Her voice cracked at the end, and it did something to me. All the heat between us shifted and stretched into something that felt dangerously close to tenderness. I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t think she had either.
She moved her head to the side, a small instinctive movement, almost like she needed a second to get herself back under control.
Her gaze dropped, but she didn’t pull away again.
I gently squeezed the hair still wrapped around my hands, hoping it would ground her, pleased when her nails dug gently into my arm, solidifying that.
The heat from her skin on mine tracked down my spine in response.
She looked directly at me and relief chased away all the shadows behind those baby blues.
“What if wanting this isn’t the problem?”
“That’s exactly the problem.” She scoffed, but didn’t make any attempt to break our connection. “There’s no way this works out.”
“Is that what you want here? For this to be long-term?” I was pushing now, we both knew it, but since she was being so accommodating, I refused to stop until she’d had enough.
When she didn’t answer, I grazed my cheek along hers and settled near her ear.
“Maybe you don’t know what you want, but your body figured it out the second you touched me. ”
She blinked slowly as I pulled back, eyes darting once to my mouth, that thread tugging at both of us.
“You’re going to kiss me again, aren’t you?” she whispered, drawing a line across her lips with her tongue. I wanted nothing more than to press my lips against hers, my cock thickened just at the temptation of it.
I smiled and moved slightly closer. “Only if you want me to.”
“D-Do you want to?” she asked quietly, that unsure tone coming from her made me move her impossibly closer.
“Teddy,” I breathed, my forehead leaning into hers. “I want to do more than kiss you. I want to feel you lose control with me.”
Letting go of my wrists, her hands wandered up my chest instead.
Lust shot through me like a bullet I was helpless against. Then I remembered where we were and who we were.
Two professional athletes caught canoodling in the dark corner of a bar wasn’t what either of us needed.
Still, I searched her face for any hint of fear or uncertainty, and while I came up blank, I still needed her to know one thing.
“When you decide you want more, I’ll be waiting.”
It took more effort than it should have to push off the wall and step back.
My body wanted to stay close to hers. I wanted to give her space without giving her an out.
I hoped, possibly too much, that she wouldn’t take my step back as an option to run.
If she did, I knew I’d replay this later, wondering how I misjudged it, if she needed me to hold my ground instead.
But everything I knew about Teddy Sloane was that she liked clear boundaries, and I was trying hard to identify them here with her.
I also needed her to be by my side to attend St Brigid’s. But watching her try to avoid fidgeting and eyeing the exit, I realized that even though I could talk myself out of it, if she ran again, I’d chase her.
Her eyebrows raised and mouth opened in a soft gasp. And then something in her posture shifted, her walls visibly rising between us. My fingers curled at my sides, a part of me itching to undo what I’d just done.
Was she going to run after all?
I hadn’t planned on not kissing her. God, I wanted to kiss her.
In fact, I would take her to my place right now if I knew that was a way to get answers and make her stay.
Only, I don’t want the same uncertainty to plague me if anything else happened.
I had to be sure. If Teddy wanted something, she was going to have to show me that it wouldn’t be a mistake. She had to choose it.
Didn’t mean I couldn’t give her a little push, though…
I took another step back, ignoring the pull. “I’m sending you a calendar request for next Monday.”
Her eyebrows immediately met. “Wait, what? What’s Monday?”
I reached into my back pocket, pulled out my phone, thumbs tapping on the screen. Her curiosity flared as she inched closer to me. My phone swooshed as it sent the request to her.
PR at St Brigid’s girls’ school - Q&A + skills session. Pick up: 9 a.m.
Her phone buzzed. “Might wanna check that, sunshine.”
Then I turned and left.