Page 55 of Tripped By Love
“We do,” I told her. My heart was heavy and light all at the same time. I wanted her. I wanted us and hated myself for it…for even having the audacity to think I might be able to make her my own.
“Give me twenty minutes to wrap up here,” she said.
“I can help. Just point me to what you need done.”
“You going to mop floors?” she teased.
“I did worse in the military,” I said, and my heart almost seized. I didn’t talk about it with anyone, and yet it had slipped several times with her.
Her eyes widened because I’d brought it up after telling her I didn’t like to talk about it. I couldn’t take the look she was sending my way, as if there was only good beating inside my chest. Half of me wanted her to continue to see me like that, but I knew I had to rip away her rose-colored glasses and allow her a chance to run before I drew her close. Before we tangled more than tongues.
I stood up. “Point me to the mop.”
She stared for a long moment before directing a finger toward the supply closet.
She went into the back and finished the prep work for the next day while I mopped the entire restaurant. The simple job allowed me time to think of all the things I’d done wrong in the last week. All the things I couldn’t take back and didn’t want to. Brady should have hated me. He should have been asking for me to be transferred to another detail because I’d crossed the line. Instead, in his typical Brady way, he’d teased and taunted us.
I wasn’t sure what any of it meant.
The only thing I knew was that the tastes of Cassidy O’Neil I’d had only made me wild for more.
