Throttled (Wild Riders #1)(23)

“Reid, please,” she pleaded.

“I know you want me to kiss you right now,” I said, rubbing my thumb over her bottom lip. It was taking a lot of willpower not to kiss her. She appeared to be exerting the same restraint. Her lips remaining still as she inhaled through her nose.

“We can’t,” she said, as I pressed my body up against her so she could feel exactly what I meant when I said she still had an effect on me. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t press her any further. I wouldn’t do that to her.

“No we can’t,” I said, taking a step back. I wasn’t going to be the other guy in this scenario and as much as I wanted to kiss her right there, I’d wait. “But we could. All you have to do is make a choice.” I took the ribbon from her hand and crouched down to retrieve the pushpin that had fallen to the floor. As I was standing back up, I dragged the edge of the ribbon up the outside of her leg and looked up just in time to see her close her eyes as she tried to swallow the sensation. “It’s there whether you are willing to admit it or not.” I centered the ribbon on her board and pushed the tack in. “Why don’t you come and see me when you’re finally ready to acknowledge that we are far from strangers,” I added before walking out of her office and leaving her speechless. The ball was in her court now, and I had a feeling she’d be passing it back sooner rather than later.





He walked out of my office, but not before he turned to look over his shoulder to give me one last look. A look that was a mix of desire and desperation. I wanted to follow him. To push him against the wall and show him that I had missed the feel of his hands and lips on me. I wanted to not be the rational, responsible, off-the-market me that I was, and admit the many things I’d been thinking since he’d returned to Halstead. Including making a reality of my reoccurring dreams I’d been having about him. Images of the two of us in my office would surely replace the track and what we did on his dirt bike would happen on my desk now.

Damn dreams.

But, it wouldn’t do me a bit of good to actually make a choice like he suggested. If I ended things with Beau and chose to be with him I’d just end up alone when he left me again. My heart broken into a million pieces. I’d barely managed to put the one I had back together.

When my boss returned, I told him that I had a few errands to run and houses to ready for showings and that I’d be out of the office the rest of the day. Best part of being a realtor was how easy it was to get out of the office when you needed to. I would have used any excuse to get away from what just happened in there. I tried to sit back down at my desk and pretend he hadn’t just been there, but all I could sense was him. The rough feel of his fingertips against my skin and the heat of his breath on my neck. I could smell the scent of him with every breath I took. He tainted my office with his virility.

“What are you doing home?” Georgia asked when I walked in the door, slamming it behind me. “And, whoa... let’s not break the door off the hinges.”

“Sorry,” I huffed, throwing my purse on the coffee table and falling on to the sofa.

“Rough day?” She surmised. The eye roll and shake of my head were enough to let her know the answer. “Want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Well too bad,” she said, sitting down to face me, her legs tucked underneath of her. “I’ve got thirty minutes before I leave for work and I’m not going until I know that you are in a better mood.” Georgia worked as a volunteer at the hospital. It wasn’t enough for her to just go to nursing school, she also spent every waking minute at the hospital. Even after my parents told her that they would pay for her education and that she should focus on her studies, she refused to quit working. “It’s good practice,” she had told them, even though all she did was check patients in and a bunch of other trivial things. I knew the real reason that she kept working and going to school was because if she sat idle for too long, she started missing Jamie and thinking about the future they were supposed to have together. “It will look good on job applications, and when I do my clinical hours there I’ll already be familiar with everything,” she’d added and managed to convince us all that she wasn’t just using it as an excuse to keep busy.

“Reid showed up at my office this morning,” I finally gave in and told her. Her puppy dog eyes and eagerness to help me solve my problems—and avoid thinking about hers—was too much.

“And...”

“And, he is refusing to leave me alone.”

“How does that make you feel?” she asked.

“Switching your major to Psychology, Dr. Bennett?” I chuckled, and sat up to face her.

“I might. You alone could keep me in business.”

“Very funny,” I deadpanned.

“Let’s continue our session,” she said, pretending to open a notebook and readied her imaginary pen. “You were getting ready to explain how it made you feel that Reid is being persistent.”

“If you must know, it made me angry. And sad. And kind of turned on,” I admitted, feeling guilty as the words rolled off my tongue. The heat that swept my face had to be a tell-tell sign that having this discussion was making me uncomfortable.

“Let’s talk about the turned on part,” she pressed on, ignoring my embarrassment.