Page 12 of Heart Break Her

“Yes.”

There’s a long pause, but her eyes don’t leave mine. The weight of her decision fogging the air around us. For the second time tonight, I’m sure she’s going home, but she surprises me by taking my hand and following me to the couch.

We kick off our shoes and she settles on one side, so I drop down onto the middle cushion, casting whatever rom-com bullshit pops up first on my app and hitting play.

“So why did you take me up on my offer then?” I ask her, genuinely curious. “If this isn’tyour thingand you don’t normally go back to hotel rooms with random rock stars, why tonight?”

Her chest rises and falls with her thoughts, and the light from the TV casts a warm glow on her face. She stares into the distance with an expression that’s a strange mix between sadness and thoughtfulness. And when she turns back to me, the warmth in her eyes punches me in the stomach.

“You’re Sebastian Kane.” She lifts an eyebrow. “Which, I guess for most people, could be enough of a reason. But as we got to talking… I don’t know. I got the impression you’re also notSebastian Kane.”

My eyebrows pinch, confused. “Not following.”

“I’m going to be embarrassingly honest with you right now, if that’s okay?”

I grin, not missing that her eyes drop to my mouth. “Please do.”

“I like your music, a lot. Obviously. It’s my ring tone. And then there’s the fact that you’re you.” She waves her hand at me and rolls her eyes.

“Which means?”

“You’re hot.”

I can’t help but laugh. I’m not sure a woman has ever been so awkward while hitting on me. “Okay.”

“Merry knows I’ve always had a little bit of a crush on you. So she thought, what better way to celebrate my college graduation than to…” she pauses, lifting both eyebrows, “you know.”

“Fuck a rock star? Sounds like Merry.”

Cassie’s lips press together with a sharp inhale through her nose, and I can imagine that exact reaction from her in my bed.

“Right,” Cassie says, seemingly nervous.

“And what were your thoughts on Merry’s plans for you?” I stretch an arm over the back of the couch, and it brings my hand right beside her shoulder.

“Mixed,” she says.

“Fair enough.” I reach for a piece of her hair and play with the pink tip, glad when she lets me. I’ve never liked pink anything, but there’s something about the way she wears it. “What tipped the scales in my favor then?”

Cassie narrows her eyes and looks me over, reading me the same way she did when she first spotted me leaning against her car. Like my entire fate is in her hands, and I just want to know which way the scale is going to tip.

“Well, we talked, and yes, the attraction was there, but…” She shrugs. “Up close, without the microphone and the fans—I don’t know. You also struck me as a lot more. I didn’t want to walk away just yet.”

She’s right, I am more—a drunk, a pothead, a disaster.

Cassie’s gaze says none of those things. She looks into my eyes and steals a piece of me I hide so deep I’m not sure if it exists anymore. Wringing me out and leaving me with remnants that feel too close to hope.

It’s not something I’m prepared to feel right now.

I lean toward her, getting a hint of her honey-sweet scent. Sugary goodness mixed with the smell of fresh cut grass on the first day of summer. Dragging my soul back to a time before it went through a woodchipper.

My finger playing with her hair moves to her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw, and I can’t tear away from the blue-green eyes staring at me.

Seeing me. Through and through.

Wanting me, but not like women normally do. Cassie’s eyes wander deeper and sink to the very pit of my soul.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” I say, knowing she could get up and stop me if she really wanted to.

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