Free Something New by Cameron Dane Page B

hands on her.
    Abby spun to face Rodrigo and plastered a go-to smile on her face. “So.” Her voice sounded a little high, so she cleared her throat. Holy Mother . Dark eyes watched her from just a few feet away. Why does he have to be so intense ? “Can I get you some breakfast?” she asked, forcing that chipper lightness into her tone. “I’ll admit I’m not really sure what the proper protocol is for a morning like today.”
    Rodrigo took a step toward her, but he abruptly pivoted and headed for the hallway, his jaw clenching visibly under his morning shadow. “I need to go too,” he said, pausing at the archway, his back to her. “I’m not running late yet, but if I don’t leave now, I won’t get home in time to shower and change for a lineup of meetings with my suppliers.”
    “Right. Cool.” Abby hung back, her legs and body not sure how or where to move. Her chest tightened, her stomach flipped, and she didn’t like it at all. “I’m not opening the store today, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have work to do. You know that better than anybody.”
    Rodrigo braced his hand on the wall, but still didn’t look back at her. “Yeah, I do.”
    Pinpricks dotted Abby’s arms, and she wished she had her robe to cover them up. “Bye. Have a good day.” Jeez, she might as well have told him she hoped he had a nice flight. It couldn’t be less personal.
    Silence thickened the invisible weight permeating the room. Abby stared at the stiff line of Rodrigo’s spine and the whitening of his fingertips as he dug them into her red-painted walls.
    Just as the air went out of Abby, Rodrigo uttered a few Spanish curses she understood very well. He turned and stalked her until barely enough space for breathing existed between them. His nostrils flared, and his eyes locked in on hers. “Listen,” he started, his voice low enough to make her shiver. “I don’t know what the fuck happened here this morning. And I’m not even going to try to figure out the Braden shit right now when I don’t know how the hell I feel about it yet, and he’s not here to say his piece.” Rodrigo’s gaze worked its way over her face before coming back to eye contact. When he did, some of the steel left his tone. “I just know you look at me sometimes in a way that makes me think you want to kiss me the way you just kissed him.”
    Abby’s heart suddenly th-thump th-thump th-thumped right up into her throat, and she couldn’t look away from Rodrigo’s piercing stare. “I do.” She licked the edge of her lip. Her mouth had gone bone-dry but as she watched confusion map Rodrigo’s face she found herself scratching out words that wouldn’t remain stuffed inside anymore. “When I’m not thinking about how much fighting with you stirs me up in a way that’s probably not natural, and when I’m not thinking about how I could lose myself in you if I slip up just once, I wonder about how great it might be if I could get over myself and let it happen.”
    A hint of a smile quirked Rodrigo’s sexy mouth up at the edge. “I probably need to get over myself some too.”
    This time, Abby snorted. “You think?”
    “Hey.” Rodrigo’s gaze flashed with glints of black diamonds. “That’s my noise.”
    Abby found herself grinning back at Rodrigo, and suddenly the crazy beating in her chest didn’t feel quite as terrifying as she’d always imagined it would during a moment like this.
    “Maybe I want a piece of it for myself,” she said.
    Something flashed deep in the darkness of Rodrigo’s eyes, and the safety of a second ago flooded out of Abby in a rush. Rodrigo curled his hand around her nape and drew her closer, settling her smaller frame into the nooks and crannies of his larger one. “Maybe I want a piece of you , Bit. Maybe I want it all. Maybe I’m not sure if I like knowing that, though. Maybe I don’t like how it makes me feel a little bit sick in the pit of my stomach when I think about how much I want you.