Page 134 of Under the Lights

“You wish.” She scoffed, but there was no real derision in her voice.

“I do.”

She cocked her head to the side. “You were playing like you were trying to prove something.”

I stepped closer, barely holding on to my control, and my every muscle coiled with tension, yearning to touch her, feel her. Her breath hitched, and she put her palms on my chest.

Holding me back or holding on to me?

“I was.” I jerked my head in agreement.

“To whom?”

There was no hesitation. “You.”

Surprise flickered over her face, rousing my curiosity once again. Was she surprised by my words in general, or was she surprised because I admitted it?

Her eyes, wide open and unguarded for half a breath, flicked to mine. I leaned in but didn’t touch her.

Just close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off me as my pulse raced under my skin. Her fingers started playing with the half-open zipper of my hoodie.

Was she …nervous?

“You can keep pretending I’m not under your skin Sierra,” I said, my voice husky and gravelly. “But I’m already buried deep. And I’m not goinganywhere.”

She swallowed. Hard. “You’re insane.”

I sucked my teeth, chuckling. “And you’re hooked.”

And then I did one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do — I walked past her, and this time I didn’t look back.

Because I knew she wasn’t here to run. She was here because she couldn’t stay away.

Let her feel it. Let hermissme.

Let her realize I was done being her secret.

I was the storm she’d invited in, and I wasn’t about to apologize for wrecking her plans.

Forty

Sierra

I was frozen in place, unseeingly staring at the spot where Dom had been standing. A hollow feeling spread inside my chest, like something vital had just been ripped away from me.

God, I fuckinghatedhow he got to me.

Hated how well he knew me.

Hated how he could swagger out of a locker room dripping confidence, toss a few words like lit matches, and leave me burning from the inside out.

“You’re hooked.”

He’d said it like it was a fact. Like someone describing gravity. Like it was undeniable, the truth.

And the worst part? He wasn’t wrong.

Clenching my jaw, I felt the sharp pain of my nails digging into my arms as I crossed them too tight.

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