Page 88 of First Chance

Now, I’m fucking agitated.

“Who?”

She hesitates, searching my eyes for my intentions, but when I cock my head, urging her to tell me, she relents. “That guy in the white cut off.”

A few minutes later, the guy returns our way with a cup of beer in his teeth and one in his left hand, leaving his right hand free, using the crowd as a distraction to cop a feel on countless innocent women.

Just before he passes Jo again, I snatch his hand away before he can let it brush across her hip. “Touch her again, or anyone else, and I’ll rip your fucking hand off.” The beer drops from his mouth and splatters all over the ground, but I don’t flinch, squeezing his wrist until I near his bones’ breaking points.

He nods frantically trying to get away so fast that he falls to his ass in the dirt as I let him go. I fake a step forward like I might snatch him up again, and he scurries off. “Scumbag,” I mumble to myself as I turn back toward our table.

Jo looks at me like she’s about to scold me. Instead, I scoop her up under her arms and set her gently on the tabletop so she’s out of the way. “Don’t,” I warn her, before she tells me I was being over the top. “He deserved to get his ass whooped but there are children around.”

Her eyes soften. “Thank you,” she says gently, kissing my cheek.

Feeling her lips against my skin steals the breath from my lungs, but I’d choose another touch from her over oxygen.

I would jump off a cliff and swim through shark-infested waters for the opportunity to feel her lips against mine without repercussions.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I left a lipstick mark.” She moves to wipe it off, but I catch her wrist before she can.

“Don’t.”

She looks at me curiously, trying to read my face. All it will tell her is how starved I am for her.

“Lochlan,” she utters as I watch my name form on her lips.

My desperation for her is clawing up my throat. I could kiss her right now, and not a flicker of it would be fake. I could take her first real kiss from her, and she might not regret it, not right away, but if there is even a seed of doubt, then I’d never forgive myself.

She tilts her head, leaning towards me, and giving me the consent that I’m dying for, but I hesitate, letting the buzz of the crowd around us filter in and force me to my senses.

I can’t kiss her. Not here, in front of all of these people, not for the first time.

Not ever.

My head dips, cutting off the connection between us, and I watch the rejection sweep over her face.

“I’m ready to go home,” she utters flatly.

“I can take you,” I start, but she holds up a hand to stop me.

“Can someone take me home?” She asks the table.

The poor guys look caught in a trap, blinking back and forth between us. I should argue and insist that I take herhome, but I don’t.

Hayes looks at me with pity in his eyes because he knows all about the torture in my head. I nod at him and step out of her bubble, letting her hop down off the table.

“Don’t worry, my birthday is in a month, so this charade won’t be a burden much longer.” She turns and walks away as I throw my keys to Hayes, letting her go.

* * *

I knock on Jo’s door for the third time, but she doesn’t answer. I should leave her alone, but I can’t go to sleep knowing that she’s upset with me. She feels rejected, and I don’t know how to make her understand that I’d choose her in every lifetime if I could.

It’s just not possible for her to choose me in this one.

I sink down onto the porch steps when I see Hayes leave the garage. He usually stays up working on his bike even though it’s in impeccable condition. He sees me and comes my way despite my lack of desire for company.

“What are you doing?”

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