Page 99 of Vegas Heat

I lift my gaze to hers, and she’s studying me. The way she’s staring so intently at me, like she can see right through me…it’s unnerving.

“You think it’s hurting you more than it’s hurting me?” I ask quietly.

She lifts a shoulder and gives me a pointed gaze.

I harden my gaze on her, and then I push off the wall and stalk toward her. She backs up until she hits the wall behind her, and I pin her there with my hips. I grab her wrists between my hands,and I yank them up above her head, locking them in one of my hands while I use my other arm to haul her closer to me.

I have to lock her hands up there.

I can’t allow her to touch me. I won’t be able to resist her if she does.

Our bodies are pressed close, and I can feel the pounding of her heart against my chest, hers hammering as loudly and as rapidly as mine.

I drop my lips to her neck because I can’t go another second without tasting her skin. I breathe her in, memorizing every scent that’s not mine to have any longer.

It sure as fuck doesn’t belong to Spongebob, either, but that’s her choice to make.

“I don’t want to fight against this, Gabby. Believe me. But I have to,” I murmur against her skin.

She lets out a soft cry, and then she twists out of my hold. I let her go even though I have the strength to easily hold her there if I wanted to.

“I can’t do this,” she rasps, looking wildly around before she bolts away from me.

CHAPTER 18: GABBY

I don’t know what the hell that was, but it can’t happen again.

It can’t.

I happen to run into Justin as I get off the escalator at the second level and turn into the concourse.

Literally.

“Oof,” he grunts when I spin around the corner. He pulls back and grabs my biceps to steady me. “Whoa, girl. Are you okay?”

I shake my head, and he links his arm through mine and walks me through the concourse and over to one of the Club Level suites.

We collapse into two of the chairs there.

“What’s going on?” he asks quietly.

“I lied,” I say as I stare down at the field. I study the place where Cooper will stand for all the home games, all the practices, all the events. Third base.

Maybe telling Justin the truth is a mistake, or maybe I can finally unload some of this and have someone to lean on when I’m here at the ballpark.

I wonder if Cooper has told anyone.

“About what?” he finally asks after waiting for me to go on.

I draw in a deep breath and exhale it loudly before I answer. “Cooper.”

He presses his lips together. “What about him?”

“My friends took me out for my twenty-first birthday.” It feels like ages ago even though it was literally less than a month ago. “I sat at a blackjack table next to a hot guy who offered to teach me how to play. I spent the whole weekend with him, and wedecided to start seeing each other despite the almost twelve-year age gap between us.”

“You spent theweekendwith Cooper Noah?” he asks, his tone absolutely incredulous.

“That I did. And then he invited me to his place in San Diego, so I went there for the weekend,” I admit.

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