Page 14 of Caught Up In You (The Monroes 2)

But he didn’t reach for her hand. He smoothed her auburn hair back behind her shoulder, keeping an eye on her face as her breath caught. For a woman who wore no makeup, nothing fancier than a T-shirt and jeans—granted, they were perfectly molded to her frame—Cora Buchanan was the most stunning woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And speaking of...

“Your eyes are the most beautiful color,” he murmured before he could keep the thought locked away.

“They used to be my favorite asset. Now they’re . . .”

His heart clenched. This was the first time he’d heard a glimpse of her sadness over being blind. Her eyes were her best asset, and she had some great assets.

“They’re violet. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Cora closed her eyes and turned her head away. “You can’t say things like that to me,” she whispered.

An invisible band around Braxton’s chest tightened. Damn it. He knew he shouldn’t have opened his mouth. Now that awkward tension thickened and that was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.

“Sorry I made you uncomfortable.” He forced himself not to take her hand because he didn’t want her to jump or feel threatened. She didn’t know him and here they were in a basement and he was flirting. If Zach or Liam could see him, they’d kick his ass and he’d no longer be allowed to interview or show the new employees around again.

But Braxton didn’t care about the other employees the way he did Cora.

Cora shook her head and faced him. “I’m not uncomfortable. I know my eyes are unique. I used to love the shade they were, playing around with makeup and getting compliments on how expressive they were. But since my accident, I know they’re not expressive. I know they look lifeless and I wish . . . damn it.”

He watched as a myriad of emotions washed over her face. She battled so much, more than she’d let on so far.

“My mother told me they weren’t bright like they used to be,” she whispered, hurt lacing each and every word. “I don’t know if that’s true. I mean, she’s . . .”

Cora shook her head and whatever she was about to say regarding her mother was locked inside now that she’d thought better of it. Braxton wanted to know. He wanted to know why a mother would say such things. Why anyone really would be purposely cruel.

Whatever issues Cora had with her family, her parents in particular, were vast. He wasn’t going to ask, still none of his business, and especially because the subject of his birth parents was definitely not one he’d ever want to explore with anyone. If she wanted to talk, she would, but he knew that need to keep things private, to hold on to the ugliness and not let it creep out and affect your new life.

The large black hole he carried deep inside him was always on his mind. One day he’d break and he felt sorry for whoever was around then because there was only so long someone could hold so much hurt inside. Cora was the same way. He could see it in her eyes. While he didn’t know the severity of her past or what she was hiding, he knew a wounded spirit when he saw one.

“I’m going to touch you,” he warned before reaching for her hand. As soon as he stepped against her, she trembled beside him. Her frustrated sigh matched his own mood.

“You want to continue to ignore this or do you want to get it out in the open?” he asked, knowing he was seriously on shaky ground but he hadn’t been lying when he’d said he valued honesty.

“I’m fine ignoring it,” she told him, her fingers laced through his. Wasn’t threading the fingers together more intimate than just regular holding? Braxton nearly groaned. He was analyzing how she held on to his hand. Great.

“Are you?” he retorted, taking another risk by closing that final gap until her body pressed against his. “Because every time I’ve touched you, your body has trembled, your breath has

caught, and your eyes are too expressive. They’re bright, they’re beautiful, and they don’t lie.”

Cora swallowed and gave a brief nod. “Fine. Maybe I do respond to your touch, maybe my eyes are just as expressive as they’ve always been. But ignoring whatever is between us is the only thing we can do. I need this job, I’m not looking for any type of relationship. I already got out of one and the last thing I need is another.”

“I never said anything about a relationship,” he countered, offended she’d already shut him down. And why was he offended? Her verbiage matched his thoughts; he just didn’t like to be the one on the receiving end of that rehearsed speech. “This tension between us is strictly chemistry. It’s not going away.”

“If we keep ignoring it, it will,” she said, sliding her hand from his.

That soft tone held no conviction. “I feel the opposite,” he informed her, pleased when her brows shot up in surprise. “I say we tackle this head-on and then we can move forward.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Oh, all the ways he wanted to answer, but Braxton went for the safer route. Leaning just his face toward hers, he came within a breath of her lips.

“Cora,” he murmured. “I’m going to touch you again.”

That was all the warning he gave before he closed his mouth over hers. As much as he wanted to back her against this wall and kiss her good and hard, he kept his touch light. Because even though every part of him was wound tighter than a coil ready to spring, he wanted to remember this, wanted to have her taste, her touch embedded into his mind.

Those delicate hands came up to his biceps and slowly roamed up over his shoulders. Cora pressed herself fully against him and sighed into him. The woman was beyond potent as she returned his kiss with more force, more intensity.

Braxton was never one to deny a woman, so he did exactly as he’d wanted to and cautiously backed her against the wall as he framed her face with his hands and cocked her head so he could claim everything she offered. He needed more. So much more. But this was all he could have and he was a selfish bastard for taking it.

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