Page 7 of Always Right

He took it all from me.

Because the way he looked at me, with such intensity, knowing, began to shake the ground underneath me, breaking the foundation to the walls I’d built around my heart. I could see it.

The regret.

The guilt.

The love.

Could he see it in mine?

I swallowed, looking away for a moment before clearing my throat and speaking.

“So, you’re back,” I managed to say, keeping my voice firm, steady, even though everything inside me began to crumble. “I’m assuming we need to talk. So...let’s talk.”

His lips pulled up, only slightly, a fire in his gaze as he sat on the edge of his desk. Not once did he break eye contact. Derek wasn’t afraid, no. He was thrilled.

And when he spoke, it took everything in me to stay standing. It was war...and one I wasn’t sure I could win.

“Alright, Hannah. Let’s talk.”

Chapter 3

Derek

She was beautiful.

More than ever before, more than I could remember. She walked in like she owned the place, and she very well could have. I’d give her the world if she would let me. Hannah’s gaze fell on me, the bitterness in her eyes darkening them even more, the hatred palpable. Another person would have been scared, terrified.

This was Hannah in her element.

This was the Hannah that wrecked everyone.

I brought her back to life by causing her pain, by breaking her heart.

It didn’t matter though. She was a complicated riddle I wanted to solve, a book that I knew front to back, as if I was her author. She held my gaze and I smirked when her expression faltered when I spoke.

“Alright, Hannah. Let’s talk.”

Her throat moved as she swallowed and I fought the urge to walk up to her and caress her, to feel her skin against my hand and see how much she really wanted this fight. We’d both lose, of that I had no doubt. We were doomed from the start—two broken souls who just happened to find each other, hoping they could heal the other.

She would be my undoing.

Hannah’s feet moved and she walked over to the sofa, dropping her purse on it but not sitting. She was quiet, eyes roaming the office, studying the place after months of not being there. My eyes skimmed her body.

Her hair was shorter, but it suited the beautiful features of her face. There was a strength about her, something I couldn’t pinpoint. She was angry, yes, but something was different. Something had changed.

“What do you want, Derek? Why are you back?”

The word was at the tip of my tongue.

You.

I want you.

Though I didn’t say it, her cheeks reddened, and she turned away, looking toward the desk behind me. I shook my head, letting out a breath. I wished she made it easy to pretend nothing ever happened between us, easy to erase our past, but she didn’t, not when she stood there, tension radiating from every cell of her body and colliding with mine.

“I’m sober,” I shrugged after a few seconds. “I figured I needed to come back and make amends like they told me in rehab. That’s all.”

---