Page 64 of Hold Me Until Morning

I pinned the biggest grin to my face as I pulled her straight into my arms, one arm locked around her waist and the other taking her by the left hand. “Where do you think you’re going, gorgeous?”

Surprise billowed from her on a gasp, and I was struck with the sweetness of her presence. With the heat of her body. With everything that this girl possessed that was driving me straight out of my mind.

Nothing seemed rational when it came to her. Just this innate feeling like I needed to get close to her.

Her surprise dwindled into uncertainty that was all fronted by the fire that lifted her chin. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I started to move in time with the music, leading her along the floor in an easy two step.

“Dancing with the prettiest girl in the club,” I told her.

Crystalline eyes rolled. The blue depths tossing diamonds beneath the slow strobe that rolled over the crowd. “You are nothing but a flirt, Cody Cooper.”

“Ah, a Cody coming from your mouth. I like it.”

“I bet you do.” Something both timid and teasing touched the edge of her decadent mouth.

Greed fisted my stomach.

“I’d probably like to hear it in a different context even better, though you can be sure that you’d still be in my arms.”

Her exasperation was lighthearted, and the girl peeked up at me as she tried not to laugh. “You have no filter, do you?”

“Well, I can promise you that picture wasn’t filtered last night.”

Redness climbed from her chest and up her throat, splashing her full cheeks in this pretty glow that tugged somewhere behind my ribs. “You are a whole lot.”

“You bet I am.” I winked before I spun her. When I pulled her back close, I sobered. “I want to apologize for sending that picture. It was inappropriate after you’d made it clear you didn’t want to go there with me.”

Blue eyes dipped, those lashes so long as she looked down and off to the side for a second before she returned her gorgeous face to me. “I nearly begged you to show me.”

“But you regretted it,” I pressed, not even phrasing it a question.

Her nod was slight. “Wanting you makes me feel…” She winced as her confession trailed off, a murk rising up to clot out the brightness she’d been glowing with. Phantoms of memories swirling around her in a cloak of darkness.

I wanted to press her, but she beat me to the punch. “My life is…” She paused, unsure before she looked up at me with this sadness that stabbed me right through the heart. “It’s complicated, Cody. And I don’t do one-night stands, and I sure don’t have time for a fling. But I think I’d really like to be your friend.”

I shifted her, taking her by the chin and tilting her face upward. “I think that could be arranged.”

The riot of need that blazed around us was probably less than friendly, but it could be ignored.

Controlled.

Beat into submission.

At least I fucking hoped so since I nearly came unhinged when this cowboy prick came sauntering up like she and I weren’t having a moment, all kinds of cocky as he barely glanced at me and claimed, “Excuse me, brother, I’m gonna have to cut in.”

Really fucking brave considering I was two times his size and I’d snap him like a twig.

Every instinct in my body screamed to make a claim.

The idea of someone else’s hands on her made me feel like I was the one who might snap.

But Hailey and I had already established a boundary.

Made a pact.

And I really needed to get away from her if I was going to maintain it.

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