Page 98 of Holding On To Good

“And since you seem confused,” he went on as if she hadn’t spoken, “let me make myself clear. I don’t want Miranda.”

She swallowed to work some much-needed moisture back into her mouth. “Urban—”

“I don’t want Miranda,” he repeated again, this time in a husky whisper that skimmed along Willow’s every nerve-ending. Had her skin tingling with awareness. The hair on her arms and nape of her neck rising in trepidation. “The only woman I want, the one woman I’ve always wanted, is you.”

Chapter Seventeen

There was a strange, hollow feeling in Willow’s head. As if her brain had melted and leaked out her ears leaving a cavernous, air-filled space where every harsh, shallow breath, every rapid thud of her heart echoed.

Where the low, gruff timbre of Urban’s voice rang, clear as a bell, again and again and again.

The only woman I want, the one woman I’ve always wanted, is you.

She gave one quick shake of her head, but the words remained. Growing bigger. Louder. Until her head was full of them, those words that had the power to change everything between them.

Words she’d long ago given up on ever hearing.

Crossing her arms, she glared at him with enough heat to singe the whiskers right off his handsome face. “No.”

No, he couldn’t say something like that to her. Not now. Not ever.

No, she wouldn’t go down this dead-end road with him. Wouldn’t risk their friendship or their business.

No, she wouldn’t believe he meant it.

Urban studied her, giving her denial, her rejection, the serious consideration it was due.

Considering them, but not accepting them.

“Yes,” he said, his soft tone a mix of understanding, apology and stubbornness.

As if he knew damn well he was messing everything up, but while he felt bad about it, that guilt and worry weren’t enough to get him to reverse course.

She blinked rapidly several times. Shook her head again, though all that shaking didn’t seem to be getting her anywhere and could possibly be causing some sort of brain injury, because when she tried to speak, it didn’t work out so well. “I… you… we…”

She pressed her lips together.

Great. She was a stuttering, stammering, nervous wreck.

And it was all Urban’s fault.

He, on the other hand, was as controlled and quiet as always—easy not to stammer when you kept the number of words you spoke to a minimum.

Sticking his hands into his pockets, Urban rocked back on his heels, more than willing to wait until she could manage to gather her thoughts.

“Is this because of the other night?” she finally managed to ask. “Because if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a dozen times—I. Was. Drunk. And I’m sorry. Truly. Sorrier than you’ll ever know that I did it. It was wrong and a complete violation of our friendship. But it didn’t mean anything. Certainly nothing that should have you thinking… that makes you believe…”

He raised his eyebrows. “Believing that I want you?”

“Stop saying that,” she ground out from between her teeth. The last thing she needed were more memories of his deep, gruff voice saying even more tempting things to her. “You don’t want me.”

“You can tell me you don’t feel the same way. You can tell me you only kissed me because you were drunk. You can refuse to talk to me about what’s happening between us, what’s been between us from the beginning, and you can tell me to go to hell. But you don’t get to tell me how I feel.” He edged even closer, his thigh pressing against hers, his voice dropping to a low, rough note. “I want you, Willow. I’ve wanted you since I was sixteen. It never stopped. Not for me.”

His words blew through her, had her vibrating with a mix of anticipation and nerves, excitement and fear. Heady stuff, that. Headier still was when he slowly, so slowly she had ample time and opportunity to evade, lifted his hand and skimmed his fingers so very, very lightly across the ends of her hair. Let those fingers brush against the curve of her cheek before dropping his hand.

She held back a tremble but couldn’t stop from shutting her eyes to better soak in that barely-there touch.

To hide how it affected her.

---