Page 47 of Things We Hide from the Light

I was close enough to kiss her. It would be easy enough to lean down and close the distance. To feel that smart mouth under mine and taste those secrets. Something about this felt so right. So fucking inevitable.

“All right. I’ll play. What if I do?” She had flecks of gold and topaz in those brown eyes that were sizing me up.

“What if you let me get closer?”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Exactly how much closer?”

I took half a step into her, bringing my body flush with hers. Every nerve in my body fired to life at the contact as if she were jumper cables and I was a dead battery.

“As close as you’ll let me. I don’t just want this, Angelina. I need this.”

“Are you saying you want me to be some kind of emotional support fuck?”

“I’m sayin’ I want to get as close to you as you’ll let me. The closer I get to you, the better I feel. Like right now,” I said softly. “I feel like I can finally breathe easy.”

She brought a hand to my chest and pressed it there. “That’s…a lot of pressure.”

“I know it,” I admitted. This wasn’t looking for a one-night stand. This was a quest for an anchor. Something I could hang on to in the storm. “Cards on the table?”

“Why stop now?”

“There’s a whole lot of reasons why you should say no. Not the least of which is I’m damaged enough to know there’s a chance I might not ever be right again.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” she said with a quirk of those soft, full lips.

I skimmed my hands up her arms and then back down just to feel the softness of her sweater, the warmth of her body. “Knox doesn’t want us anywhere near each other.”

“Too bad for him I hate being told what to do,” she said, bringing her other hand to my chest. She pressed it there and I leaned into the touch.

“I hate surprises and I don’t tolerate lies. Not even the little ones.”

“I despise boredom and routine. Some would even say I invite drama.”

“Until this summer, I was pretty set on finding a wife. Starting a family,” I confessed.

She let out a nervous laugh. “Okay. That one scared me a little. Now what are you set on?”

“Feeling alive.”

Her gaze locked on mine and it felt like the midday sun warming me down to my core.

“And you think I can help with that?” she asked.

My heart was beating strong against my sternum. An answering pulse echoed throughout my body, warming my blood, stirring my cock. “Angel, you already have.”

Her eyes went wide and I wondered if I’d gone too far.

“You’re not my type,” she said finally.

“I know.”

“I’m not planning on sticking around.”

“Got that too.”

“You just said you were looking for a wife, Nash.”

“I was. Now I’m just looking to get through the day.”