Page 63 of Crave Me

“I just… I mean…”

Wow, I’d never seen him like this before. Unsure of himself. Nervous around anybody he had taken a liking to.

“He wants to ask for your number,” I called over.

Her eyes lit up. “Sure. I—”

“Oh, fuck, I don’t have my phone on me,” he muttered. “Towel,” he said, tugging at it in frustration.

She chuckled and pulled her phone out of her purse. “Give me yours and I’ll give you a call sometime.”

“You’ll give me a call?” he asked, at a loss.

“Yeah, you have a problem with the girl taking the lead?” she teased.

“No… I mean… I’m not used to… it’s… sounds good, princess.”

“Princess? I like that. What does that make you?”

“Definitely not the prince, I can tell you that,” I jested.

Damien tossed me a look. “Thank fuck,” he said, before looking back at her. “He’s already got that title. Not my scene. More like the big, bad wolf for me.”

“Right up my alley.”

“Interesting.”

“I’d say so.”

This was… something else.

Finally, he gave her his number. They eye-fucked each other one last time, then she headed on out, and I heard Luke talking to her further down the corridor and escorting her out.

“Holy fuck,” Damien breathed, turning back around and coming to the bed.

He hopped up and sank against the headboard, looking all bright-eyed.

“Holy fuck indeed. I’ve never seen you like that before.”

“Like what?”

“Thrown off.”

“Well, she’s… there’s something about her. Something sweet and… innocent, I guess. I didn’t want to scare her with my usual heavy handed approach. It’s something I’ve been working on for a while now. Still a work in progress apparently, though.”

“Nah, you did well with it.” I eyed him curiously. “So your goal isn’t to tarnish that innocence you felt from her then?”

“The opposite.”

“What does that mean?”

“I guess… I could do with some of that in my life.”

“Well, she’s definitely a ball of sunshine. Just tread carefully, Damien. She’s been hurt a lot by that ex of hers. She’s also in recovery like me.”

“And she’s your friend.”

“She is.”

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