AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Guilt constricted. I hated keeping the people who meant most to me in the dark. Deluding them into believing a veil of the truth. Because, yeah, there was grief, but it was shaped so different than they thought.
“I’m just living my life a day at a time, Cody. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll figure it out.”
He squeezed the back of my neck. “Know it, man, but sometimes we just need a little nudge in the right direction. And all I can say is follow your heart…or your dick if that’s what’s leading.”
The dude winked, cracking up again, and he left me standing there shaking my head as he hopped onto a stool next to Ryder. I came the rest of the way over and placed the pitcher and cups in the center of one of the high-top tables that we’d put together to accommodate our group.
As I was leaned over the table, Dakota edged up and slid her arm around my waist to give me a side hug. “Hey, Ezra. How are you tonight?”
“Can’t complain.”
“I bet you can’t since we have something extra special to get you out of your house tonight.”
I glanced at her. Her brown eyes gleamed. I swore, the whole bunch of my friends were schemers.
“Cody landing a big landscape job?” I played it off like I didn’t know exactly what she was aiming at.
“Oh, we know that my dear brother isn’t really what you’re here for tonight. I think there’s something or someone else that has you…interested.”
So fucking subtle.
What was even less subtle was the way the air shifted when Savannah slipped onto the stool beside Beth. The way I could feel the heat of those eyes on me again. The way my throat felt achy and raw when she peered at me through the murkiness of the atmosphere. She sent me this pink-kissed smile that was both sly and questioning, those shiny lips glistening with seduction.
I ignored the kick of greed. The intonation of lust.
“Just like I thought.” Dakota was suddenly in my line of sight, pulling my attention from where it’d drifted.
I scowled at her, and she patted me on the cheek as she laughed. “I think it’s going to be a really fun night, Ezra. Enjoy.”
I grunted as she spun away to talk to Paisley, and I sucked it up and decided not to make things weird since I’d already been ninety-nine percent certain that Savannah was going to be here tonight. And I’d handled myself just fine the last two mornings when I’d slipped into the café to check on her.
To make sure she was safe, playing off my presence like a tease.
I’d offered to be her friend, so that was clearly what I needed to focus on right then rather than standing there acting like some kind of creeper with his tongue tied over a gorgeous woman. So I sucked it down and weaved around to take the open spot next to Savannah.
Heat flashed, a throb of that awareness that had strummed since the moment I’d first taken her in.
“Hey, Savannah. How’s it going?”
I concentrated on pouring myself a beer from the pitcher rather than looking at her face. Staring at the woman who was just begging for destruction.
I could feel it, anyway, the intensity that swirled.
“Keeping out of trouble?” I tacked on, doing my best to keep it light.
Savannah giggled, though it was low and throaty and deep.
Every molecule in my body reacted to the sound.
“Are you going to ask me that every time you see me? You know a good criminal would never admit they’d been causing trouble in the first place.”
She knocked her shoulder into mine.
I took a sip of my beer, steeling myself to fully turn toward her. It didn’t matter that I’d prepared myself. My guts still fisted. “And do you consider yourself a professional?”
There was no stopping the low tease that rumbled free. It seemed Savannah Ward evoked something in me that hadn’t been there in a long, long time.
Her head tipped to the side. It sent dark caramel waves tumbling over her delicate, bare shoulder. Something sly and sweet danced along her plush lips. “I have skills, Ezra. Mad skills. It just seems yours are better.”
A coarse chuckle rolled out, and I folded an arm on the tabletop, taking a swig of my beer with the other. I swiped my tongue over my bottom lip to gather the moisture as I stared over at her.
The woman was so close. A fire that burned at my side.
“Yeah, I keep finding you, don’t I?”
Everything about her softened in a tenuous sort of vulnerability, and she gazed over at me.
Seeking.
Searching.
Before she shifted to face forward, and she fiddled with a napkin on the table, her words drifting out in front of her like she didn’t know if they were meant for her or for me. “I honestly have no idea what I’m doing.”
