Page 60 of Take Me Home

She still felt entirely out of control. “You surprised me.”

“A bad surprise?”

“No.” She felt her face flush. “Not bad at all.”

Two young women spilled out of the bathroom, and Ash gave Hazel another foot of space, nodding politely at the pair, who took one look at her, feral and breathless, and giggled. Hazel forced herself not to track their path into the bar, back to the figure that had sent her fleeing down this hall in the first place.

Whyhadn’tshe dragged him into this dingy, dark corridor to kiss him? She’d wanted to. She’d been so worked up all evening, turned on by his playful teasing, the private brushes of his hand at her back, on her hip, down her arm in the middle of the crowded bar. But it wasn’t her boldness that landed them here. She was a coward through and through, and in a few seconds, he would realize it.

She edged toward the heavy exterior door at the end of the hall. “Is there an alarm on this door?”

He scratched his forehead. “Not sure.”

She gave the bar a tentative push, and cold air licked inside the gap. No alarm.

“Your jacket,” Ash said.

“Don’t need it.”

He reached around her and pulled the door closed. “What’s going on?”

One second was all it took, one quick glance over his shoulder. He froze, didn’t turn back to her.

Hazel tried to be subtle, scooting strategically so his body blocked hers from everyone in the bar. And, more importantly, from Franny Bowman, who had just walked in.

He was silent for a long moment. Then, “Wait, is this whyyou—” He gestured at the wall they’d been pressed up against, then dragged his palm across his mouth, eyes wide. “And I—”

“Ash.”

“Christ, I was all over you.”

“I was all over you back.” She tugged at his shoulders, willing him to see in her eyes that she didn’t regret the kiss, even if it hadn’t been her intention.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, into his hair, making it stand up at odd angles that would have made her laugh if he weren’t so distressed. “I thought you were—”

“I was.”

“No,” he said. “You were hiding.”

“At first. But then I was into it. Couldn’t you tell?”

He leaned a shoulder into the wall, looking at her from the corner of his eye like it was the only way he could manage it. When Hazel shuffled two steps over to remain obscured behind him, his jaw tightened. She couldn’t hide anything from him. “What happened to ‘I’m a big girl?’ ” he said, throwing her overconfident claim from earlier back at her.

She shrugged, defenseless.

“You were really going to bolt?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” She hugged her middle. “Yes.”

“You used to be friends. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I don’t know, okay? I’m not like you. I don’t comb through the wreckage looking for something salvageable. I find somewhere that isn’t already wrecked.” Her voice was climbing, edged with anger. God, she sounded like she was attacking him rather than trying to defend herself.

“I’m not the one who wanted to come here,” he pointed out.

“I know. I know.” She petted at his shoulders, his chest, wanting to go back to when he was all over her.

“I feel like an asshole.”

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