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 behind 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.
Someone who will treat her the way she knows she deserves but has never had before.
The struggle for control over what I want versus what I think she needs is very real. Everything she’s hinted about her past relationships comes rushing back to me and makes me want to use the utmost care in how I handle this next step with her. What I’d witnessed between her and Ed, even though it was just conversation, tells me that she’s been hurt before, used even, and that scares me a little bit.
I run my hands over every inch of her body I can reach, and they finally land on her ass. With a gentle tug, I pull her closer to me, allowing her to feel just how aroused she makes me. “See what you do to me, Hadleigh?” I growl next to her ear, “What do you want, baby?”
Her answer is to reach between us and stroke me, then undo the button on my pants, working the zipper down. Her plump lip is caught between her teeth when she shoves my jeans off my ass and slides her hand into my boxer briefs, pulling out my cock. She strokes her hand over me, her touch bold and sure, and it takes everything I have not to give in to what she’s doing.
A ragged breath escapes me. I, for sure,
