A Cosmic Kind of Love(71)

And now this?

It felt like a surreal dream.

“Althea’s going to kill me.”

“She won’t.” Derek stood up from the table and leaned down to kiss my cheek. “Go get him.”

“Let me at least pay for my drinks and—”

He scowled at me. “Don’t even think about it.”

Damn, in another life, this guy . . . “I hope I’ll see you again.”

“I think Althea is close to adopting you, so I have no doubt we’ll see each other again.”

Impulsively, I hugged him. “Thanks, Derek.”

He chuckled and gave me a quick squeeze. “Go, woman. I don’t want to end up in a bar fight with a beloved national hero.”

Laughing, cheeks flushed at the thought of Chris being jealous over me, I left Derek to his evening and strode on shaky legs toward the exit. As I stepped out, I caught sight of Chris on the sidewalk. A cab pulled away from him and he turned.

Our eyes met, and it felt like every inch of me, every nerve zinged with life like I’d just been shocked by electricity.

He’d never looked at me with such raw desire before.

My knees shook.

Suddenly he crossed the distance between us and took my free hand without a word. His grip tightened, his thumb brushing across the top of my hand in reassurance. He felt right. His hand in mine.

In my heels, I was almost the same height as him, but he slowed his stride so I wouldn’t have to hurry at his side.

Assuming we were grabbing the subway back to his place, I was surprised when he hailed a cab. Well, I guess we were in a hurry.

Inside the cab, Chris sat close to me, my thigh pressed against his, his hand still in mine. Butterflies threw a rager in my belly. I hoped my palm didn’t feel sweaty. Drawing my gaze up his strong throat, from his sharp jaw to his mouth, I bit my lip to stop myself from reaching for him.

Never had a mouth tempted me as much as Chris Ortiz’s.

“Hallie,” he whispered my name on a groan, and I lifted my eyes to his.

I squeezed my legs closer together as he swallowed hard.

How long would this goddamn cab take?

“I want you to touch me,” I admitted in a whisper.

A muscle in Chris’s jaw flexed, and he released my hand, only to settle it on my knee. My skin tingled beneath his palm. “Soon,” he murmured as we watched his hand. He moved it, his fingertips caressing my inner thigh. I shivered, and I knew he felt it because his fingers flexed on my skin.

He didn’t move it any farther, but he continued to make circles on my inner thigh until I was so ready to combust, it wasn’t even funny. I let out a little moan and saw the cabdriver’s head snap up toward the rearview.

I caught his suspicious gaze and flushed furiously.

Chris chuckled, but he didn’t stop tormenting me.

I had never, in my entire life, felt the hazy, all-consuming control of my hormones. While I had a ton of questions for Chris, important ones I knew we should discuss before anything else happened, my priority was to get him naked.

“Oh, thank God,” I choked out when the cab eventually pulled up outside Chris’s Brooklyn apartment.

He laughed, releasing my thigh to pay the driver.

And then he was helping me out of the cab, my hand tight in his again as he hurried up the front stoop to let us into the building. The silence was thick, our breathing a little loud, a little shallow, as we took the stairs to the second floor.

Chris’s scent hit me fully as we entered his place. It wasn’t the apartment in Manhattan, but it was a good size, and it was furnished comfortably. He’d made it feel like his place already somehow. Maybe because it smelled like him.

Speaking of, I wanted to bury my face in his throat.

He released my hand to stride across the living room and drop his keys on the kitchen counter.

Disappointed by the sudden distance between us, I waited a little unsurely near the entrance.

Chris turned to me.

His expression was no less heated than before, so I attempted to relax.

“I didn’t bring you up here for a casual night together,” Chris said, his tone almost stern. “You need to know that now, because if that’s all you want from me, I can’t give it to you. I can’t because . . .” He released a long breath, something beyond tender and special settling in his expression. “I care about you a lot, Hallie—I have real feelings for you. Serious romantic feelings. I was going to tell you before now. I wanted to tell you last weekend, in fact, before your mom called. So I want you to know that this isn’t a jealous reaction to Derek. Yeah, I was jealous, but I was going to tell you how I felt before I saw you with him.” Suddenly he looked fearful, which confused me. “Hallie, I need to tell you something, and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m terrified that once I do, you’ll turn around and walk out of my life and I’ll never see you again.”

Stunned, apprehensive, the heat flushing my skin cooled. “You . . . you can tell me anything.”

Chris took a deep breath, expression wary. “I knew you before we met at Darcy’s engagement party. That first video you sent apologizing for watching my videos reached me. I was in a bad headspace when you sent that first video. All I heard you say is that you watched these private videos of mine, and it irritated me. I told Kate to make you think the email bounced so you wouldn’t contact her or me again. But you sent another . . . and I couldn’t help but be drawn to you.”