Chapter 10 #3
He thought about her dancing—about how angry she’d looked, how beautiful and raw and unguarded her movements were. He’d never seen her that stripped of control before. Never seen so much emotion on her face… She’d danced like she was trying to survive herself.
And it was all because of another man. The jealousy he was trying to bank swept through him, as hot as the winds feeding an out-of-control wildfire. That another man could raise such hot, wild emotions in her was a dagger through his heart, a kick to his kidneys.
He ran a hand over his jaw, forcing himself to look away. Then he shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, his eyes on her partly hidden face.
“I thought we had something. He didn’t, and he sort of broke my heart.” Wren rubbed the back of her neck. “Tonight, he told me he made a mistake, that he wants me back, and that he wants us to try again.”
Her words hit like the fist he wanted to slam into Alex’s nose.
He wanted her back. Dane felt like he did when he was under immense pressure in a disaster zone, when the earth was trembling with massive aftershocks, and he had a patient on the table.
His mind sharpened, and his hand tightened at his sides.
His training kicked in, and he pushed down his flare of fury.
Anger wouldn’t help the situation, nor would a verbal explosion.
He needed to think and process this new information.
Alex. The guy she danced with, spent years with, had a thing—whatever the hell that was—with. The guy who already rejected her once. Was she considering him again?
Judging by her reaction, she was giving the idea some serious thought.
What the actual fuck?
He clenched his jaw, and his molars ground against each other. His temperature gauge was revving in the red, and he could feel his pulse pounding in his eyeballs. He loathed feeling like this. Despised caring this much.
He needed to separate his thoughts from how much he wanted her; he needed to be the detached surgeon, calm and composed. He didn’t know if he could do it.
“And what do you want?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, honesty bleeding into her voice. “You make me feel like I have a livewire inside me, like I am at the center of a firework display.”
It took everything in him to ask. “And how does Alex make you feel?”
She shrugged. “Known. Seen. He knows my history, my work, my rhythms, me.”
He’d lost her before he even had her. The thought made him feel helpless, like a patient had died on him without him knowing why.
I don’t want her to go to him.
And he was shocked that he was prepared to fight for the chance of her. This wasn’t him; he didn’t compete. Not for a woman, anyhow. He wanted to lie to himself, but couldn’t. Wren wasn’t just another lay, a summer distraction. She… Fuck, she mattered.
“We’re just getting to know each other, and we have that chemistry you mentioned, Wren. It’s rare, not something you trip over every day.” Her shrug annoyed him. “You can’t just pretend it doesn’t exist,” he told her, his voice sharpening.
Inside, his heart turned into a hammer, beating against his ribs. When last, if ever, had he felt this combination of fear and frustration?
“I could reach for you right now, kiss you, and within a few seconds you’d be kissing me back. Within five, I guarantee you’d forget him.” It wasn’t a brag, he knew exactly how it would go. They were that combustible.
She nodded. “You could do that,” she said. “But you won’t.”
He raked both hands through his hair. “Why not?” he demanded.
Her eyes drilled into his, pinning his feet to the floor. “Because you know that’s not best for me right now, Dane. And I believe, I have to believe that you aren’t going to do anything that’s not good for me.”
Her words deflated his anger, and his frustration fluttered away. She was right, he wouldn’t take her in his arms. Because she didn’t need his attraction. She needed space and understanding. His ego didn’t matter, but her feeling emotionally safe with him did.
Shit. Fuck. Damn.
“I have just one more thing to say…”
He waited until she looked up at him, all big eyes and exhaustion before he continued.
“If his returning, him asking you to try again is such good news, then why did you throw yourself around the studio, dancing like you had demons fighting for your soul?”
Her eyes widened when his words landed and detonated.
Having made his point, and because there was nothing more he could say or add, he gestured to Luna’s front door.
“Go inside, Wren. Try to sleep.” He hauled in a deep breath and tried, but failed, to smile.
“If you come to any conclusions, let me know.”
Wren nodded, tucked her hair behind her ears, and slowly turned, her feet dragging as she walked up to Luna’s deep-purple front door. Then she opened it and slipped inside, as quiet as the spirits she didn’t believe in.
* * *
And across the road, the trio of ghosts—Silas, Lila, and Ruby—watched, their mouths open and eyes wide.
The evening had taken a turn that none of them had expected.