Page 84 of Home Field Advantage
My head turns to the voice, and Dallas stalks down the tiny hall toward us.
“Ah, Dallas.” Ben lights up. “My man! How are you?”
Dallas stops next to us, eyes bouncing between us, and I can tell they linger a little longer on me, ensuring that I’m okay. “I’d be a lot better if you weren’t cornering Poppy here in the hallway,” he says to Ben, but doesn’t take his eyes off me, as if I’ll disappear if he does.
“It’s not like that.” Ben laughs, oblivious to what’s happening here. “Poppy and I go way back. Don’t we?”
I shake my head, but Ben doesn’t notice.
“Oh!” Ben continues to Dallas. “Let me buy you a shot, Dallas. I’ve been wanting to for a while now, as a welcome to town kind of thing. And because you’re…well, you’re Dallas freaking Westbrook.”
“Why don’t you run off and do that,” Dallas tells him.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Ben says, running back to the bar and leaving us alone.
Dallas repositions himself across from me, the same way Ben just was. My back is still pressed against the wall, but the discomfort from before is gone. It’s been replaced with a calm. It feels like I can breathe again.
“Are you okay?” he asks flatly.
“I’m fine.”
His molars grind together as he glances down the hall. I feel the effects of the alcohol mixed with his presence through every inch of me. I’m not even thinking when I reach up, running my fingers along the sharpness of his jaw, forcing him to face me again.
“This is all hard and tight. Are you angry?”
“Yes,” he says quickly.Too quickly.
We stand there in silence. Gravity pulls my body off the wall, putting us closer than we were before. I have to angle my head up to get a good look at him.
“I’m okay, Dallas. But curious minds would like to know…were you jealous?”
Damn, alcohol mixed with a clear mind is making me bold.
He grumbles some kind of denial under his breath, but I can’t make out what it was. He leans in, letting his hand fall to the wall over my shoulder, leaning down and pressing his lips to the shell of my ear. “Do you really want the answer to that?”
He pulls back, locking eyes with me again. Instinctively, I bite down on my lower lip, which forces him to look down. My breathing picks up—labored and uneven. I couldn’t even form a coherent answer if I tried because everything about this man stirs up new and strange feelings in my body.
He’s still close. So damn close that I wonder if he will kiss me this time.
Please. Do something. Anything.
I nod, answering the question he just asked.
“I’m trying really hard to be a gentleman here.”
I know I want this when I shouldn’t. I want to feel his lips on mine and taste whatever is on his tongue. It’s wrong because I’mSage’s teacher, and it’s so unlike me. Panic surges at the thought, but I keep everything under control the way I always do.
“And I’m trying really hard to be professional,” I say back.
He stays silent, just staring. The two of us are in this tiny hallway with no one else. My back to the wall, his one arm caging me in. If anyone rounded the corner and caught us, it would look exactly as it seems.
Two people fighting to remain in control and not cross the boundaries.
But my head is screaming,kiss me, dammit.
He’s still frozen in place, heat radiating off of him, refusing to break the intensity of the stare. The longer he looks at me like this, the thicker the air feels around us. I’m ready to break. I’m ready to end this inner fight with myself. It’s the first time anyone’s ever looked at me like they’re obsessed with me—intoxicated with me. And I know it’s not the alcohol.
What if I just leaned in?
