Page 157 of Snap Shot

Forget about Landon carving windows in the walls surrounding my heart, the sweet man managed to dismantle them entirely. All that's left to protect the stupid organ is my rapidly weakening resolve. It’s ready to sacrifice itself, setting partner track aside.

Admitting the truth somehow makes it tougher to swallow. I don’t have time to overthink what it all meant or if I’m blowing off my only achievement in life for a chance with him, because the doorbell rings with the arrival of my coffee delivery.

And what do I do in return? Leave the poor man with blue balls in the back seat of his car in the middle of the night.

For the first time since we started this…thisthing, I wonder how different it'd be if I wasn't standoffish and distant. How Landon would react if I let him know about the space in my heart that he takes up—the one he's always taken up.

Me:Areyou home from practice?

Gym Guy:Getting off the massage table now. Helga didn't mess around. I feel like a new man.

Me:Wanna come over?

Gym Guy:Absolutely

Me:Leaving the door unlocked.

Nervous butterflies flit and pace in my gut as I walk circles around the living room, muttering a pep talk through the last bite of a Ferrero Rocher truffle. Its foil wrapper shrinks in my sweaty fist hearing acreakfrom the apartment's entryway.

“Indi?” Landon whispers through the cracked door. He flattens himself, slinking between the two surfaces in his usual disguise, as if anyone could miss his six-two, two-hundred-pounds-of-pure-muscle frame.

A held-back breath hisses between my teeth as he clicks the door shut. “Hi.”

When he removes the hood, revealing an easy smile and those softened blue eyes, the bubble of my heart's restraint bursts. I rush the five steps and launch onto him.

He falls back onto the wall, open-mouthed in surprise, but relaxes into the unexpected embrace. His grip tightens around me, arms doubling until his hands squeeze my waist.

“Hi, baby.” Landon nuzzles at the hairline below my ear. “You miss me?” There's a sincere need for confirmation in place of his usual cockiness. I give it to him.

“Yes.” My heart rattles inside my chest as it presses into his, weight shifting between my tiptoed feet in an awkward slow dance. “Are you surprised?”

“Very surprised.” He strokes my nose with his. More sparks ignite in the half-inch gap between our lips. A sultry breath against the delicate skin there beckons goosebumps.

I inhale near his mouth where hints of artificial vanilla linger. “Did you just have a Twinkie?”

His soft smile stretches into something more devilish.

“Ooh, busted.”

“I'm not ashamed of enjoying an appetizer before themain course.” His brows waggle.

I narrow my eyes. “No way you said that out loud.”

“That's why you called me over, isn't it? Happy to oblige.”

“That's not why.”

“No?”

My pussy clenches. “I wanted to hang out.”

Landon purses his lips, considering my reply. “So, this isn't an ambush to see if I ended up watching that movie?”

“Hera Pheri?”

He nods in response.

“And since when do I ambush you?” His eyes flick to our locked hug and back up. “Fine. But you watched it?”

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