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“She’s not wrong,” he repeated. “I get bored after a while with all the socializing, so naturally, my eyes strayed to the bar. Since you don’t know a lot of people here or anyone for that matter, it's expected that you would go to the bar to sit in peace.”
“Thank you!” I explained, wondering how he could understand this, but she couldn’t.
“I didn’t have anything to do with you. I mean … no offense, but I just wanted to relax and drink when I went there, yet she was insinuating that I did it to get your attention.”
“She is right as well about that,” he said, and I stopped.
Something about my sullen expression made him laugh out, and the sound was so electric to listen to.
“She’s right?” I asked, nearly out of breath.
“It's very hard for a man to resist approaching a gorgeous woman sitting alone at the bar. That is the ultimate attention grabber.” Listening to him, I realized he was right, and so I sighed and gave up.
“I'm exhausted,” I said, and he smiled again.
“That’s why I came out here,” he said, his voice lowering even more dangerously. It sounded husky just like it had earlier that evening but was rapidly bringing memories to mind that hit painfully against my stomach.
The flashbacks… fuck! These damned flashbacks.
I couldn’t look away from him or breathe for that matter.
“I didn’t sit there to get your attention,” I said, and he nodded.
“Noted. I'm glad you did, though, because it made you easier to find.”
My gaze couldn’t help then but flutter down to his lips.
“Would setting some ground rules make you consider spending your week with me?” he asked, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
No! I screamed internally because this was exactly what I wanted, yet I knew it was wrong. Or maybe it wasn’t? My head was conflicted, but my heart… my fucking heart as I stared at him.
I looked away then, knowing that I needed to think straight.
“I need time,” I replied.
“Sure,” he said, “You can take as long as you need.”
He rose to his feet then, and I was a bit startled, so I rose as well with him.
He gave me a questioning look, but I couldn’t sit back down because it would feel even more awkward.
“I uh... I’ll be heading in soon as well, but of course, I'll wait till you're in. I have work to do.”
“You’ll wait till I go in first because you have work to do?” he asked, and I heard just absolutely how nuts I sounded. I soon decided, though, upon seeing his smirk, that he was for the most part to blame because he was the one intentionally misinterpreting my words. Of course, he knew what I meant. I wanted to hit him, but I simply just shook my head.
“I’ll go in first,” I said and started to leave, but then, before I could get out of reach, he caught my arm once again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Drake
I couldn’t let her leave. I needed to touch her, but still, she was still trying to make her decisions, and I didn't want to push her either. And so, for the first time in my life, I did something that I never could have imagined that I would ever do, I sought permission.
“Can I kiss you?” I asked.
She seemed quite stunned at my words, and it was understandable. I was surprised as well, but in the moment, it felt like the right thing to do, and I had learned over the years to trust my own instinct. She didn't respond. Instead, she seemed to falter slightly, so my hold tightened around her, and then she nodded.
She seemed a bit dazed, and in a way, I understood because as I slanted my head to kiss her, I felt the same way as well.
