Page 15

At first, I thought my luck was starting to run out and all of my chance encounters with Sky, whether influenced by me to some degree or not, were coming to an end. I was afraid I’d go all night without running into her, but by chance, I spotted her not too far away, and I knew I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity.

Initially, I wondered if I had been missing her by just a hair, or if she didn’t end up showing at all, but seeing her there only confirmed a new suspicion of mine—that she had been avoiding me.

The second I watched as she dismissed herself from the conversation with Gemma and some of our associates, only to head in the direction of the washrooms, my heart squeezed, and there was no doubting it then.

She was definitely avoiding me.

Something about that thought both made my blood boil and spurred me on, prepared to get even a moment with her if that was all I could have.

I didn’t know what I wanted out of speaking to her, but I just knew I had to. I needed to use the event to my advantage and spend as much time with her as I physically could.

That building need to be around her was only getting worse and it irritated me, but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t be without it. I couldn’t be without her.

Ever since I started that godforsaken operation in the office, my fixation on her had only gotten worse, and I wasn’t prepared to let Sky slip away again. Regardless of her hot and cold attitude toward me, I knew we had something between us, and I wouldn’t drop it until she outright told me to. But even then, I knew it would be near impossible for me to quit altogether.

I tasted her once, and I was determined to again.

As annoyed as I was about having to track her down, I couldn’t help but let my eyes linger on her black dress and how it seemed to hug her so perfectly.

Shaking those usual stubborn thoughts away, I picked up the pace just as she turned toward the hall leading to the washrooms, and managed to get a few steps behind her.

“Sky—wait.”

She startled at the sudden intrusion of my voice, and her shoulders fell slightly as she froze in her place. With a hint of reluctance to her movements, she turned to face me. A sheepishness seemed to emanate from her, surely at being caught at last.

“Damien…”

The way she didn’t say my name with any kind of enthusiasm made my chest burn slightly, but I urged myself to ignore it, and I took a step closer as I forced myself to be as normal as possible. Rather, to be cordial and more of a gentleman than I had been.

Essentially, I needed to tone down how overbearing and upfront I had been around her.

I didn’t know what she was hung up on or why she was avoiding me, but I was determined to not give her a reason to continue that way.

If my previous behavior had been an issue, then I was determined to change it for her. But before that could happen, I needed to understand what was going through her head.

“Can we talk? Please?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t use some kind of flimsy excuse to get away from me. I didn’t know what I’d do if she tried.

Sky avoided my gaze for a moment, letting go of a sigh, and then she finally looked at me and nodded. While reluctant, it was still a yes, and I wasn’t about to fumble it.

Gesturing with my head for her to follow, I began in the direction of a more secluded spot in the bar, hoping to not be interrupted by anyone. That was the last thing I needed after finally getting the chance to get some things off my chest.

Even if her arms were crossed and she looked half willing to hear me out, Sky followed and didn’t try to weasel out of it even as we reached the more secluded spot. While her attention seemed half splintered on listening to me and wanting to find a way out, I was going to take it anyway.

Taking a moment to glance around, ensuring we were alone, I focused entirely on her and let go of a quiet breath while I psyched myself up. It was important, and I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

For perhaps one of the first times in my life, I felt genuinely nervous—afraid of saying the wrong thing and pushing her further away. But that was how I knew she was important to me.

“I don’t think it’s a secret of how…weird things have been between us recently, but I don’t want it to stay that way,” I said, trying to keep my voice as full of conviction as I could without sounding too demanding. “I don’t know how you feel about us hooking up a few weeks ago, but I want you to know it’s not something I regret, and it's not something I can just easily forget. I just…I want to know what I did wrong. What I did to push you away, or why you’ve been avoiding me.”

Sky averted her gaze at the slight call-out, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before she sighed. “You know why…”

“I’m not sure I do,” I insisted, brows furrowing slightly despite how I tempered my impatience as best as I could. “I need to hear it from you directly.”

Looking slightly irritated about me asking it of her, she looked at me more pointedly. “I already told you before…you’ve been overstepping. Inserting yourself where you shouldn’t be. First, it was with the hovering, and more recently, it’s happening with you trailing me while I work on my assignment. It’s too much…too suffocating.”

“Suffocating?”

Not tearing her eyes away, she nodded. “Yes. What’s worse is you won’t even tell me what caused all of this. Why you’ve been watching me so closely.”

Aware that she was right to be annoyed by it all, I sighed and looked off at nothing in particular for a moment.

I hated how she had the power to make me second-guess myself, and I hated even more how regardless of that fact, I still didn’t want to be without her.

“I know I’ve been vague about it all, and I can guess how off-putting all of it must seem, but I need you to trust me when I say I’ve been trying to protect you for a reason.”

While I hoped those words would help subdue her, they only seemed to do the opposite.

Instead of taking my word for it, her brows pinched together as she looked at me with those eyes riddled with frustration. “How is that supposed to make me feel even better about it?”

I was fumbling it. I was ruining my chances of making things more tolerable between us, and I knew I was losing her in the process.

But I couldn’t let that happen.

“I can’t tell you the deeper reason just yet, but I’ll tell you this much…” I began, mustering up my conviction again as I took a small step closer and silently appreciated her gorgeous features. Not leaving any room for doubt, I gave her a look of pure sincerity. “I’ve been watching you, following you, and hoping for the slightest chance at any given moment to run into you because I can’t get enough of you. Dangers aside, I want to be near you…to get to know you and understand you. It probably sounds insane, but I’m completely infatuated with you.”

For a moment, my mind took a moment to catch up, and I couldn’t help but wonder what I had even said and if it was too much. But either way, the slight ramble came from an honest place, and I could only hope that was enough.

And yet, Sky blinked back at me as if trying to process it at the same time I was.

That startled widening of her eyes gave me a sense of hope and dread all the while I was banking on her having a positive reaction to my confession.

It was terrifying to be baring my complete feelings for her like that, in a bar of all places, but I wasn’t about to let that unsettling air linger between us any longer than it needed to.

“I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you right here and now, but I needed you to know, and I didn’t want any of this to be misconstrued,” I continued, unable to stop myself while she visibly struggled to wrap her head around it. “I didn’t have sex with you just for the sake of it. It was more than a spur-of-the-moment thing, and I know I’m selfish for thinking this, but I just want you for myself, Sky. I want to have and keep you, and see where this might go between us.”

She seemed to silently gawk at me, in complete disbelief at everything I was unloading on her. It was clear that she didn’t know where to start, and I felt at least a bit guilty for putting her in that position in the first place.

“…infatuated?”

Her voice was so quiet I almost missed it, but I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes…infatuated. You’re all I’ve been able to think about ever since I started my surveillance at the office. You’ve been consuming my mind without even realizing it, and it’s been…distracting, to say the least. I don’t think you know how badly I’ve been wanting you, especially after that night in the office.”

Once again, Sky looked completely stunned, and for a moment, I had half the mind to assume she was prepared to bolt.

But she stood there, just as confused and shocked.

I couldn’t miss how rattled she looked by the revelation, and as much as I wanted to think she was stunned by her happiness at the confession, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking or feeling.

More than anything, I wanted her to express her mutual interest and desires…I wanted her to tell me that she couldn’t stand the thought of being without me either. I wanted it to go my way and to ease the doubts I had swirling inside me.

I wanted to know that she was as invested in me as intensely as I was in her, but I also knew I was pushing it again. I was crossing a line that I should’ve steered far away from for both of our sake.

But at the same time, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I wanted her—needed her, and I knew that wouldn’t change any time soon.

Somehow, she managed to wedge her way into my head and my heart without even trying to, and I didn’t have the means to stop it. It was a hopeless fight from the beginning, and now, I was done resisting it.

I wanted Sky, and even if she didn’t want me in return, at least I could rest easy knowing I didn’t keep that fact to myself.