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“I have people.” The way he says it is sexy, importance and power wrapped into a sultry tone.
“Hear that?” Tab asks. “Your date has people.”
My first instinct is to deny that he’s my date, but Micah holds my stare as if daring me to. I can almost read the implicationthat if I deny it, he’ll make me wish I hadn’t. By what means, I’m not sure. Right here, right now, in front of Tab? Or when we’re alone again?
I press my lips together. I didn’t come here with a date, but I am leaving with one. To deny it would just be empty words.
Micah Freeman has done the one thing I never thought he would bother to do: charm his way into my life.
8
Micah
At the end of the night, I’m torn between wanting to capitalize on this new boundary I’ve crossed with Raeann or leaving her wanting more so that by the time we finally do come together, she’ll practically be begging for me.
I want her to feel the way I do. I want her on the edge of her seat, like her heart beats only for the next chance to see me.
I’m not sure when I turned into this person, only that I’ll blame it on Raeann if anyone asks. There’s no other possible explanation.
Once again, Raeann’s arm is looped through mine as we head out the main doors. The wind takes her honey-blonde hair and streaks it across her face like she’s a mysterious woman in a painting.
“Well, I’ll see you…sometime,” she says.
“A date,” I remind her. She’s not getting away with downplaying it. In my head, we’re already a thing, and if she can’t even say we’re going out together, I have more to do than just casually inserting myself into her life.
Tab has walked a few paces ahead with Athena by her side, and after Raeann checks on them, she nods once, smiling. “I own you. I mean, I won you,” she clarifies, shaking her head.
Whether that was a slip of the tongue or not, she does own me, and I want her to stake her claim. Rise above the doubts in her head and live as freely as she can. “So, you’ll text me? Call me? Think of me?” I add, my voice pitching lower.
“I’ll…yes,” she says, cheeks pinking.
“Don’t make me wait.”
Her free hand comes up to press against her chest, and I imagine she’s checking to make sure she’s still breathing. “I doubt you’ll be waiting around listlessly.”
I stop and face her, lifting her chin with my finger. “I have a game tomorrow. I’ll be thinking about you before, during, and after. When I get home, I’ll think about you. Hell, I’ll probably dream about you. I’d be so much happier if rather than only thinking about you, I got to spend time with you.”
“You make it hard for me to respond,” she says, her chest flushing now, the pretty bloom of pink highlighting the swell of her breasts—what little I can see, anyway.
I’m second-guessing playing this game and just throwing all my cards on the table now, but I don’t want to scare her away. It’s like walking a tightrope between needing her to realize how much she wants me and me proving it to her right here, right now, like I did in the shadows in the event room.
“Should I call the valet for you?”
“Oh, we walked,” Raeann informs me. “I use any excuse to get Athena out of our small apartment to stretch her legs.”
“But it’s dark.”
“Tab is with me.”
When I don’t respond, she lifts her chin. “Athena would never let anything happen to us.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“No, really, it’s fine. We love to walk.”
Uneasiness squeezes my stomach. Just when I think I have her, she takes a few steps back, giving me another clear boundary. I have to figure out how to cross it. And quickly.
“It would be my honor to drive you all home so that I know you’re safe. Nashville can get pretty hairy, especially on a Friday night.”