Page 85 of Kiss & Collide
“I wasn’t sure—”
“I didn’t.”
He looked down at the carpet and blew out a breath, trying to dispel his nerves so he could keep going. “I mean, I know you guys have a past, so—”
“Chase.”
He looked back at her. She’d set her glass back on the bar and was gripping the edges of it with both hands. “I didn’t invite him there. I didn’t even know he was there until I showed up. First I had to deal with the sex workers Reece hired and then I had to deal withhim.”
“Sex workers?”
“Don’t ask. The whole night was a disaster.”
“Sorry.”
She shrugged dismissively. “It’s fine.”
Violet shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her arms still braced against the bar behind her, like she was afraid to let go of it. It was the closest to uncertain he’d ever seen her. “So LA. Cam and I didn’t set that up,” she said at last, eyes on the floor.
He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “She invited me.”
“So, is that—”
“No.”
Her eyes lifted to his again. “No?”
He shook his head. “No. I mean, she suggested it, but I said no.”
She let out a soft huff of laughter. “You said no to a woman?”
“It has happened, you know.”
She was smiling, even if it was slight, and he’d cracked a joke, so it felt like maybe there was something here, but he still didn’t know. Finally, he just couldn’t take it anymore. Whatever happened next, he just needed to know for sure. If this was going to end, then he’d end it. Like pulling off a Band-Aid, it was better done fast.
“Look, Violet, I gave it a shot with Madison because I thought you were with Ian last weekend.”
“I didn’t—”
“I know you didn’t ask him there. It was stupid, and I should have just talked to you about it. But I thought you just might not care, and that would hurt … Except here’s the thing.” He kept his eyes on a patch of carpet between his feet so he could get through it. Then he took a deep breath and forced the unfamiliar words out. “I’m into you.Reallyinto you. And if there’s no chance of you feeling that way about me, I’d just like to know it, so I don’t get in any deeper here than I already am.”
VIOLET WAS GRIPPINGthe edge of the bar so hard her hands hurt. She still hadn’t quite recovered from opening the door to find Chase there when she’d least expected him. She’d spent the entire flight to Mexico City imagining Chase with Madison.
It had been utterly humiliating, realizing that shehatedimagining Chase with Madison. The mental images of the two of them together were absolute torture. It meant, somewhere along the way, she’d developedfeelingsfor the bastard.
But now he was here, andnotwith Madison. When she’d opened her door and seen his dumb, gorgeous face on the other side, the wave of relief she’d felt had been terrifying.
She didn’t want to want him. She certainly didn’t want to need him. Part of her brain told her she should tell him to go.Don’t fall for me. I’ll only disappoint you.
But when she opened her mouth to say it, the words just wouldn’t come out. The other words, the ones telling him that she was in deeper than intended, too, also wouldn’t come out yet.
All she knew was that she was indescribably happy that he was here. And she knew she didn’t want him to leave again.
Pushing off the bar, she crossed the room to where he sat on the edge of the bed, leaning forward on his elbows, eyes on the floor.
She stopped in front of him. “Hey.”
He looked up at her and she felt a pang all the way through her chest, staring down at his pitch-dark eyes, the golden angles of his face, his jaw dusted with several days’ worth of dark stubble. She reached out and laid her hand along his jaw, her thumb rubbing across the roughness. His lips parted slightly. His mouth was indescribably beautiful. She’d thought so from the very first time she saw him.
