Page 89 of Reverse

“If you’re this bossy at the office, I’m not sure we’d make it as coworkers,” he jests.

A nervous laugh escapes me, and as soon as the alarm begins to beep, I rush him out and remotely lock the door. Turning, I start at a dead sprint around the side of the building and pastSpeak’sdesignated parking area. Glancing toward the street in a panic, I feel his eyes on my profile as I weigh whether or not we’re far enough away from the security cameras. Dad should already be on the golf course with his best friend, Marcus. I know this because I spoke to him half an hour ago. Mom is at the spa with her girlfriends from the station. Even knowing they’ll have no reason to scan the cameras, my anxiety spikes significantly at the idea they might. Easton’s minty exhale hits the side of my neck, causing my lashes to flutter briefly as his arms encase me. When his fingers curl around my waist I look up at him and feel nothing but the same debilitating attraction that’s been haunting me for eight straight weeks.

“Are you fucking crazy?! What were you thinking?”

“That there was only one car in this parking lot, and I doubt your dad drives a hybrid with a bumper sticker that reads ‘World Dominance’ with a stiletto heel running through it.”

“This isn’t funny,” my scold contradicts my smile. The friction of his fingers against my bare skin has goosebumps erupting on my flesh, despite the heat, as I grapple with the fact Easton’s in Austin. “Seriously, what are you doinghere?You’re supposed to be on tour.”

“I am. I was in the neighborhood . . . on Butler Street.”

I frown.

“In Oklahoma, where I have a show in,” he pulls out his cell and checks the screen, “six and a half hours and another tomorrow night in Dallas, so we need to get you packed.”

“Yeah, right,” I scoff, loving the feel of his hands on my hips, putting my entire focus on him and instantly wishing I hadn’t. I can’t bring myself to remove his hands as he continuously sweeps lazy thumbs along the bare skin above my skirt.

He gives me the barely-there lift of his lips. “Tell me you aren’t happy to see me.”

“I am . . . really. I am. It’s just . . . I can’t come with you to Oklahoma, you know that.” I glance around nervously. Dad’s probably three beers in with Marcus already. Damon’s supposed to join them both. I could text Damon to confirm they’re occupied. When I look back at Easton, everything starts to dull, the world around him blurring into nothing but a backdrop.

“There you are,” he whispers.

“I’m just . . . I’m freaking out. You can’t ever do that again, okay?”

His grip on me eases as his nostrils flare. “Right, bad idea. Got it.”

“I’m serious.”

He ignores my blatant reprimand. “You have weekends off, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Come with me then,” he says, his eyes sweeping me intimately.

“You’re making this so hard for me.”

He smirks. “I could say the same.”

“Not funny,” I snap, my heart picking up rhythm.

“Then why are you smiling?”

I push against his chest so he’s forced to loosen his grip on my hips, his touch too seductive. “I’m so happy for you. Seriously, I’ve been watching the progress. Areyouhappy?”

“Yeah,” he gives me the half-smile I love so much. “I am.”

“So, where is everyone?”

He lifts his chin in the direction of the back of a coffee shop less than a block away. “They’re waiting in a van out front.”

“You’re really doing it.”

“Yeah, I really am,” he lifts a hooked finger to trace the side of my face, “and it’s been a mix of awesome and fucking terrible. I brought them with me so you can get to know them on the way back to Oklahoma.”

“You seriously drove from Oklahoma to pick me up, thinking that I would come after not answering your phone calls for two months?”

“Fuck yeah, I did. I’m pissed at you, but I can’t bring myself to act on it yet because I want to give you a proper tongue lashing.”

---