Page 67 of Fly Back to Me
“Well, what am I allowed to discuss with you?” I snap, my insides shriveling at the thought that I might only be useful for eye candy and some flirty banter.
Fuck that.
The jangling of glasses strikes the air, the only noise for the next few seconds before Cade answers. “Not that.”
Resentment lathers his tone, but I’m not so sure if it’s because of me, or because of his dying relationship with his girlfriend.
I’m not sure which is the more dreadful truth.
My jaw sets as I step down from the barstool, my legs carrying me to the rear of the brewery. “I’m not a slut,” I demand. “I can be a friend. A really good one if you’ll let me, and I refuse to be treated like some floozy side piece.”
Cade harshly plants a glass on top of another before standing up. “Hey,” he fires back, palms curling around the edgeof the counter. “If I thought you were a slut, I would never entertain the idea of you, so cut it out.”
His reassurance grounds me, the roots of our story wrapping back around my ankles as my heartbeat lifts from its idled state.
I turn to saunter over to the wall next to the end of the bar, mindlessly tracing the reclaimed brick with my finger. “Entertain what?”
When he falls mute, I tangle my arms in front of me. My chest heaves through a jagged breath, eyes still connected to the wall before my chin slopes toward the floor.
“I know what it’s like to be looking for something,” I say. “To crave something you’ve been tirelessly searching for. And when you finally find it, it’s out of arm’s reach.”
The tap of his heavy boots echoes louder with every step. My pulse bangs beneath my skin, my body jerking when I spin around and fall against the brick.
A quivering breath rolls off my lips when Cade slips in front of me, heat singeing my back as my gaze lands on his face. Those steel-blue eyes the sea I need to jump into before my soul completely burns to the ground.
“It’s the most excruciating pain,” I whisper. “But it’s the pain that lets you know you’re living.”
His Adam’s apple bobs before his rough palm cups my cheek. My eyes flutter closed, and I melt into the hot pressure of his hand.
My head absently angles up as my fingertips trace his tattered forearm. I lock my gaze on his untamed stare, electric sparks erupting when I caress the jagged skin. His throat cocks through clenched brows, and my brain begs me to release the truth.
But my heart can’t take the leap. My heart wants him just like this for as long as possible.
And I know that’s intense.
I know that’s senseless.
After all, my heart was bred for a wild love like this.
I’m falling in love with a man who isn’t mine to claim. A man who wears scars because of me.Forme, so I didn’t have to wear them myself. But beyond that, he’s witty and intelligent and loyal. And the fact that he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on is just the first of the beautiful layers that stand before me.
His long fingers wrap farther behind my head, gently tugging on my hair as his free palm glues to the wall. A firestorm stirs within me, crackles of heat bursting along my back when he leans down.
My eyes hood as his pillowy lips graze mine for the very first time. A simple gust of friction. Nothing more.
Hints of mint and wood collide, the intoxicating blend paving a path along my mouth as my skin breaks out in goosebumps.
“I’ve thought about every smile I could wear to erase any grief I’ve ever felt,” he whispers. “To replace all the half-smiles I’ve been dressed in for way too long.”
His mouth is a torch against my skin, lighting that forbidden flame. Threatening to break it free and slip it through our fingers.
Consequences be damned.
“I’ve been entertaining thoughts of these lips.”
An aching pulse ignites between my legs, my strained breath now knotting with his own. “What have you been thinking about?” I pant.
Our lips part in tandem, his mouth petting mine in a teasing fervor as our noses brush. “How perfectly they’d wrap around my own,” he rasps.
