Page 32 of Fight for You (Flirting with Forever 2)

I guide Hadleigh across the room with my hand on the small of her back, her warmth seeping into me. I look into her eyes and smile. Leaning down so she can hear me over the music, I whisper, “Did you know that around 1870 Darwin proposed that dilated pupils show heightened attention and focus … so basically, how attracted you are to someone?”

She looks up at me again with a huge grin. “In that case, you must think I’m pretty hot.”

I kiss her temple and rasp, “You know it.” When I stop at Willow’s booth, my brow furrows. “Hey, Will. Where’d Shaina and Steve go?”

“Oh, they wanted to go check out that new movie that’s finally playing at the theater. I just figured I’d finish my drink and head back home. You looked busy.” Her gaze slides to Hadleigh.

“Well, do you mind if we sit down with you for a few minutes? This is Hadleigh.”

She winks at us. “That’s kind of why I stayed. I was hoping for an introduction, but first I want to know if this is Hadleigh that you work with or Hadleigh you can’t stop thinking about?” She snickers at her own joke, and when I side-eye Hadleigh, I see she’s amused by my roommate’s sense of humor. Thankfully.

I slowly shake my head, looking between them. “Fuck. Tell me you two aren’t going to gang up on me.” I want her to feel comfortable with Willow and make sure she understands that our friendship is nothing she needs to think twice about, but I was unprepared for them to get along from the very first minute they meet. That appears to be what’s happening, though, and I chuckle to myself at the thought. Heaven help me.

Hadleigh winks at Willow. “We wouldn’t do that. Hi, Willow. The answer to your question is both, I think.” She holds her hand out across the table for a quick handshake as she slides in.

Willow gestures to Sawyer. “The big guy here was awfully worried you had the wrong idea about us from that last text you’d sent. Then when you didn’t respond … well, let’s just say he’s not quite been himself most of the evening. That’s the polite, won’t get me in trouble way of putting it.”

I sit down next to Hadleigh and take her hand in mine, holding it on my thigh. Caressing the back of her hand with my thumb, I shake my head at Willow. “Thanks, Will. As if all the text messages I sent her hadn’t already made her realize I was kind of worked up over the whole situation.”

Hadleigh’s cheeks blush a pretty shade of pink as she steals a look at me before directing her comment across the table. “He was right to be worried. I had it in my head that he’d been dating the girl I’d seen him here with—you—and when I found out he lived with you, I just—” She chuckles. “You know what? Let’s just say I’m an idiot sometimes and move on. I drew the wrong conclusion.”

I squeeze her hand, noticing how she cringes at herself out of the corner of my eye. I glance at Willow and shake my head before turning to face Hadleigh. “You’re not an idiot. You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman.”

Willow clears her throat, then holds up one finger like she has something else to say. First though, she finishes off her drink while we wait not so patiently. When she sets her glass down, we are all ears, curious what she’s about to hit us with. “We certainly couldn’t let you get away from him because of me. His last relationship burned him so badly it took him a long time to even look at a woman again.”

I growl. “Thanks, Will.”

She smirks and throws me a wink. “On that note, kids, I’m heading home. It sounds like you could use some alone time. I’m guessing you can’t really be together like this at school, huh?”

Hadleigh’s fingers clench my hand.

I look up. “No. Not really.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll let you have your time together, then.” She wiggles her fingers at us as she slides out of the booth. “See you at home, Sawyer.”

Once she’s taken off, I look down at Hadleigh. “Do you want to rejoin your friends, or—”

She shakes her head, her gaze meeting mine, her eyes full of turmoil. “Willow’s right. We’re going to have to be really careful at school.” I watch as she works hard to swallow before she glances down at our hands. “And maybe we shouldn’t really be seen together out and about too much until you and I aren’t working together in a professional capacity.”

I sigh. “You might be right. So, what do we do about that?”

She flips her hand over and grips my thigh tightly. A hint of mischief tips her lips into a smile. “Come back to my place?”

We are out of the bar and at her apartment building in no time flat. Hadleigh races up the stairs to the second floor with me right b

ehind her. She manages to get the key in the lock in record time, pushes the door open, and drags me inside behind her. She’s immediately tugging me down to her so her lips can find their way to my neck. Her hot mouth is like a brand, staking her claim. The way she doesn’t hesitate, like she knows just what she wants, fires me up like nothing before.

A little moan escapes her mouth. “You smell too good, Sawyer.” Her tongue flicks out, teasing me, and the sensation gives me an instant hard-on.

“Hadleigh.” I growl out her name right before I find her mouth with my lips and lose myself in her, my tongue stroking hers, tasting her, fueling the flames that threaten to burn me up from the inside out.

When I break the kiss to look at her, the longing I see in her eyes makes me think maybe she’s looking for something with me that she’s never had before.

A friend.

A partner.

A lover.

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