Page 53 of Wine & Dine

“Dolores?” I question. Don’t hate me. “I’m sorry.”

“You okay?” she asks, her voice trembles, and she shakes against my chest. I withdraw my fingers and fumble with redressing her. She gently pushes my hand away and straightens herself. I step back. I have nothing for her hand, and I shrug out of my coat and flannel, then offer the shirt to her. She doesn’t look up at me, and I sense I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.

Distance. She’s too close, Tin Man. But my newly restored heart sinks to my belly. I reach for her cheeks, forcing her to peer up at me.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

She nods once, rolling her lips. She doesn’t speak, and her eyes have that lost look again.

Dammit. I did this. I tug her to me, holding her tight to my chest with a hand at the back of her head and another around her waist.

“You…you do things to me, make me feel things, and I don’t know how to handle myself.”

“S’okay,” she slurs into my cotton tee, but I press her back. My eyes search her face, and I see it. The hurt.

“It’s not.”

She averts her eyes, fighting the hold my hand has on her head. My stomach roils. I don’t like her not looking at me, struggling to look away from me.

She’s going to leave.

Isn’t this what you want? My eyes find hers, and I will her to know that I’d never hurt her. And no. No, I don’t want her to go home, back to Georgia.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, and her head lowers for my shoulder. Look at me, I scream internally, but I did this to her, to us. My arms slip around her, and I tug her tightly to my chest. She doesn’t hold me back.

“Sweetheart?” She slips her arms up my back, pressing into my shoulder blades, sensing I need her to hold me in return. “Did I hurt you?” Is it physical? Was I too rough?

“Just my heart, Garrett.” Her voice is so low I’m not certain I hear her correctly. My heart hurts for her as well. It aches for her. How do I explain I’m protecting myself, but it’s a lost cause. I’m going to follow her down any path she leads me—yellow brick or not.