Page 32 of August

He caught her forearm. “No,” he said, his tone gravelly. He needed to get this shit off his chest before he combusted.

***

Gigi cocked her head an inch. “No?” Scanning the parking garage, she couldn’t see a threat other than the cars on either side of them that’d surely ding the Tahoe’s doors.

August also didn’t appear concerned about their surroundings, but his rigid shoulders and hard glare made her freeze.

“What’s wrong?”

His jaw worked in a side-to-side motion.

“August?” she pressed.

He swept his attention over her face, pausing on her mouth and then landing on her eyes. “I’m not sure how to act here, Gig.”

Her shoulders bunched. “What do you mean?”

Seconds passed, and for a moment she expected him to end the conversation and get out of the car.

“I’m having a hard time forgetting about our history.” He spoke slowly, as if blowing them through a straw.

Gigi rubbed her thumb over the pads of her fingers. The awkward moment was inevitable. Being around August was like living in a shaken bottle of soda. An eruption was bound to happen. Still, she floundered. She cleared her throat, and the sound resembled a squeak. “I—Uh—You don’t have to forget.”

“You have.” His rapid-fire response made her shrink in her seat.

“That’s not true.” She fought the urge to tunnel her hand through her hair. August agitated her. No, this August agitated her. Because she was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t.

She’d tried keeping up a wall and clearly that’d hurt him. But she couldn’t exactly say everything she felt. There was no way to explain the pull he had on her. No way to describe the way her pulse thrummed in his presence or how an ache as wide as the Grand Canyon had opened up in her heart when he left.

Before she’d gone into witness protection and he’d been around all the time helping Rami protect Ivy, there’d been an obvious tension between them.

One born of resentment and... and what? What was the feeling that made her belly coil?

Need. But not just the physical kind. Being scared and alone for over three months had made her crave so much more than physical touch. She and August had a connection. And no matter how much she tried to ignore the arc of electricity between them, she couldn’t. “I don’t want to make a mistake. Things didn’t work out the first time, and—”

“Didn’t work? We never tried.” He didn’t say it, but the we screamed you.

She bit her bottom lip, weighing her words. He stared at her as if daring her to contradict him.

“I didn’t want to get news you’d died,” she said. “There’s a difference.”

“You found someone else.”

“We’d only known each other two weeks.” God, why had that come out so defensively?

“So we had nothing. Is that what you’re saying?”

“No,” she slapped back, without missing a beat.

“You didn’t feel anything for me?”

“No,” she yelled. “I mean yes,” she said more quietly. “I mean—” She groaned. “I felt enough that I didn’t want you to die. I didn’t want to go through that.”

He nodded slowly. “Okay, then. Let’s go.” He carefully opened the door and slid out.

She huffed and followed, irritation ping-ponging through her. She waited as he pulled their bags from the back seat then followed him into the vestibule. He punched the elevator button and the hydraulics hummed. Tension sizzled in the air.

Gigi folded her arms across her chest and fought the urge to tap her foot. Indignation roared against her eardrums. He was making this all her fault. And sure, part of it was. But it wasn’t as if they’d been engaged, for god’s sake. She hadn’t even known if he’d wanted to see her again.

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