Closing the office door, I strip out of my wet clothes. I slide into my clean, dry shorts, and am just getting ready to pull my new shirt over my head when the door opens. I glance up expecting to see Aubrey, but it’s not her. It’s Landon.
“Shit.” I rush to hold the shirt to my chest.
His eyes are heated as they rake over my body. “Em.”
“Turn around, Landon!” I screech. He does as I ask and I pull my shirt over my head as fast as I can.
Chapter 10
Landon
I’m turned around facing the door, and my heart feels as though it’s about to beat out of my chest. Emma and all the creamy skin. My cock throbs in my shorts, and I suck in a deep breath. She’s fucking gorgeous. This I already knew, but now… how will I ever get that image out of my head?
“You can turn around.”
Slowly, I turn to face her. “Em,” I whisper, and reach a hand out to her.
“Don’t.” Her words are final.
My hand drops to my side. “Are you okay? Your ankle?” I ask.
“I’m fine, Landon.”
I’m suddenly in new territory. I’ve never cared enough to step in or get… jealous. It’s not an emotion I’m used to feeling, but I’m a smart man. I know that’s what it was. When I saw him hovering over top of her, the way they were laughing and she was peering up at him. I hated it. Every single second of their connection. It took everything in me to not rip him off her. Lucky for him, he seemed more interested in me than he did her. That is until he mentioned the date.
She can’t date that guy.
“I’m not your girl, Landon. We’re barely even what I would call friends, more like two strangers who have shared a couple of meals. You can’t just go around spouting off that kind of shit.” She’s seething and her green eyes are lit with fire, my cock doesn’t understand that she’s mad at us as he begs for her attention.
I shift on my feet, to alleviate what she’s doing to me. “I’m sorry.” Two words I don’t say often, but I can admit when I’m wrong. “I saw the two of you, and I just… I’m sorry.” Those two words are easier to say than the truth. That I’m falling for her. I don’t know what to do with that.
“Okay.”
That’s it?
“You can’t do that. I’m not your concern, and what are you even doing here? I told you that we had plenty of help today.”
“Practice was shorter than normal. I brought you lunch.” I point to the bag on her desk that I’m sure she missed in her haste to change her clothes. Maybe she missed it due to her anger at me. Either way, it’s there in front of her. “Turkey club and chips,” I tell her. “It’s not much, but….” I shrug. I don’t know what to say.
“Thank you.” She looks over to her desk where the bag filled with our lunch sits. “That’s very nice of you.” She pauses to turn and look to me. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, I… uh… got some for you, me, Aubrey, and Chance. I wasn’t sure if he’d be here.” I shrug.
“Have a seat. Let me go tell Aubrey and grab us a couple of waters.”
She moves to walk past me and I hold my arm out stopping her. My arm hits at her waist and I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. “I’m sorry, Em.”
“I know. It’s fine.” She pulls out of my hold and moves around me to grab Aubrey’s and our drinks.
It can’t be that easy? Is she really not going to make a big deal out of this? Is she not going to make me grovel?
“Here you go.” She hands me a bottle of water a few moments later. “Aubrey said Chance is on his way. He went to pick CJ up at daycare. We can go ahead and eat without them.” I pull two sandwiches and two bags of chips out of the deli bag and hand her one of each. “Thanks. You can grab Aubrey’s chair or sit at her desk,” she says, taking a seat in her chair.
Not willing to miss an opportunity to be near her, I grab the chair and roll it to her side of the desk. We both dig into our lunch, letting the quiet surround us. This quiet isn’t comfortable. It’s full of everything that goes unspoken between us. I need to tell her that I’m feeling things, things I’ve never felt.
“I appreciate you looking out for me. You were being a good friend. I can appreciate that. Just… pipe down on the ‘my girl’ stuff,” she says, offering me a kind smile.
Friend-zoned.
“Sure,” I say, swallowing my lunch that now feels like cardboard in the throat. I guess if I can’t commit to how I’m feeling, being friends with her is the next best thing. I can be
