Page 37 of Pucking Tangled
She took a sip before answering. “Not really.”
“Yeah.” He nodded slowly, watching her. “Didn’t think you would.”
Mia glanced at him briefly, her mouth tightening like she wanted to snap something back but was still weighing her words.
“You’ve been thinking,” he added, tone dropping slightly.
Her head tipped. “You’re real observant this morning.”
“Hazard of being around you. Hard not to notice when you’re wound up, Blondie.”
She narrowed her eyes at the nickname, but there was color rising in her cheeks. “I’m fine.”
“Of course you are. Never said you weren’t.”
Mia’s jaw tightened. “Are you seriously going to pretend it didn’t happen?”
There it was. The firstcrack.
Waylon’s lips twitched into a small, dangerous smile. “You want to talk about it?”
She swallowed hard. “Do you?”
He took a step forward, slow and deliberate. Her spine stiffened, but she didn’t back up. Brave girl.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about it,” he confessed, voice low. “Not for one damn second.”
Her eyes widened slightly. For a brief moment, he saw it—the spark, the hunger, the same pulse-pounding pull he felt clawing inside him.
But then she rallied, crossing her arms, raising an eyebrow. “Then why did you walk away?”
He ran his thumb across her lips. “I told you. Casey would kill me.”
“And I told you, Casey doesn’t make decisions for me.”
Waylon moved even closer. He could feel the heat of her body and there was no way that she could miss the effect she was having on him. “Want to know a secret, Mia?”
Her mouth opened, then snapped closed again but she nodded.
“I don’t do this. Ever.”
Mia arched a brow, challenging him. “You don’t do what, exactly?”
“I don’t let myself get twisted up over anyone. You seem to be the exception.”
Her gaze shifted, dropping to the floor. “Lucky me,” she whispered.
“Look at me,” his voice cracked. “Please.”
Her pulse fluttered in her neck and her eyes met his as she held the coffee cup against her chest like it was her protective armour.
“I can’t pretend yesterday didn’t happen,” hewhispered. “But I am trying, real hard, to respect what feels like a really precarious situation. And things none of us are ready to acknowledge.”
Mia stood taller even though her voice came out quieter—vulnerable. “You mean like the fact that you’ve all shared women before?”
His chest tightened.
Fuck. She knew.
