Page 60 of Fighting For You
“Do we need to know?”
His gaze didn’t waver, and his presence was so steady and intense it made my mind a scattered mess. His thumbs rested at the pulse in my neck and he had to feel it singing for him.
I couldn’t be the first one to declare it—to say I wanted something with him. Call it pride or call it hard-won wisdom, but I just couldn’t. So I tried to walk it back a little, as though I hadn’t been reliving his hands on me, his demanding, giving kiss, and what it might mean since the minute we’d parted last night. “You’re grieving. And I’m…”
His lids dropped low. “Telling me how I feel now, eh? Isn’t that how we started arguing in the first place?”
Mm, kind of. I’d told him he didn’t love me. The memory of that brightened my blush, but I stepped closer. “I’ll work on it.”
A smile flickered over his face, and my whole body lit up in response. He was handsome as the broody grump, no doubt, but that rarely seen smile was absolutely devastating.
“And us?” he asked, ever pushy.
I could play coy or unsure at this point and walk away relatively unscathed. I’d just avoided admitting I might want something with him.
Butunscathedhad looked a lot less appealing as I reflected on all the choices I’d made to avoid risking anything romantically since Kurt. And even then, some odd part of what lay between me and him was a sense that I wasn’t risking as much with him.
It should’ve waved a red flag long ago when I’d started to understand I felt more upset at the concept of my fiancé leaving me than the reality ofKurtleaving me. And along with that, the pain of Beast betraying me by not telling me what had been going on, if he’d known, than being cheated on.
Hindsight could be a cruel lens, and yet a helpful one.
I didn’t want to get hurt again, but I was in a different place than I’d been when I’d settled for Kurt. I wasn’t desperate for companionship and love. I wasn’t so lonely I could feel my bones ache with longing for a family and a place I fit.
I had friends and a home and a job and even a town I loved. So choosing to try with this man… it wasn’t desperation.
It was curiosity. Hope, maybe. And oddly, a sense of inevitability I hadn’t been able to shake these last few days.Not that I would ever tell him that.
No, I couldn’t let him know any of this quite so clearly as I felt it—not yet. I could be hopeful and smart, soft and guarded at the same time. That was practically my brand.
“I think before we refer to anusyou probably need to ask me out, don’t you?”
One brow rose. “Will you go out with me, Jessica Korbel?”
“Sure. I’m free?—”
“Breakfast. Tomorrow before work. Diner.”
I chuckled, delighted by his sense of urgency andcovertly thrilled by that pushy nature of his demanding something good and anticipatory.
But all the fun good feelings came to a screeching halt when a rude voice interrupted like a record scratch.
“Aw, isn’t this a fun surprise? My former best friend and my former fiancée flirting while they’re on the job. Guess some things don’t change.”
Sure enough, Kurt stood a few feet away with a smirk like he’d caught us in the act of something forbidden that justified his every action.
Now, I needed to rely on my training to keep from punching him in the face.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jude
Kurt’s similarities to a cockroach were growing, but primary among them were that he just wouldn’t go away.
“Sorry to interrupt. Looked like you two were having a real moment. So I guess Ishouldn’tpity you then, huh, Beast? Have you finally plowed that field? Finally got your sloppy seconds?”
Before I even thought to move, Jess was in his face.
“I don’t know why you’ve decided to be such a jerk, but none of this is your business. Don’t talk to him like that, and definitely don’t talk about me that way.”
