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Crossing her arms over her chest, she put up that invisible wall between us. “Okay, but that has nothing to do with me. I also don’t see why I have to explain any of this to you.”
She shouldn’t need to. But something in me wanted an explanation.
“It has everything to do with you! I don’t want him taking advantage of you or using you to get to me.”
Sara gave me a dubious expression. “And why would he do that?”
“Because he has something against me, that’s why. If he somehow found out I cared about you, then he’d use that to his advantage.”
She scoffed. “And what, this is you caring? Turning up at my place just to yell at me?”
“That’s not why I came here!” I shouted back, losing control of the jumbled emotions. The confusing blur between hurt and anger.
Even if they were only friends as she suggested, it still didn’t make me feel any better to know she had been with him. That was enough to make my blood boil. I trusted her, but I didn’t trust him.
“Then why did you come here?” She asked, pulling back from me.
“To see you—to talk. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“And how was it supposed to be then?”
Flustered, I tried to find the right words to express myself with, but I didn’t even know what I meant to say. Between fighting back my wolf and being in her presence, I was so riled up and lost that nothing made sense anymore.
“It was supposed to be nice and normal like we had been the last while. I wanted to get something off my chest but smelling him on you set me off. You can’t trust him, Sara,” I rambled, hoping she would at least heed my warning.
“I guess shouting at me for being around another man was more important than that,” she snapped back, face fixed into a scowl. “I don’t appreciate you putting me in this position.”
While I knew it would do me well to reel myself back in, I just couldn’t help myself. She drove me wild, and I didn’t know what else to do with that pent-up anger.
“I don’t appreciate him thinking it’s okay to touch you,” I returned, feeling that burning wrath as it coursed through me. “Not when I’m here.”
Sara, caught off-guard by the latter statement, cocked a brow. “You’re jealous.”
Shame washed over me, even as I tried to fight it. “That’s ridiculous, I’m not—”
“But you are,” she insisted, wearing an unreadable expression. “You can’t stand the thought of him taking me out and spending time with me. Him hugging me is enough to make you freak out. Admit it.”
As she spoke, warning growls left my chest. She was right, but I didn’t want her to know that. I didn’t want to be reduced to a jealous man.
“I am not.”
She gave me a testing look. “But you are.”
As the situation came to a halt, I realized very plainly how familiar the situation sounded. We were back in the same position we used to be in—bickering and fighting over petty things that didn’t matter.
I recognized the neighbor I used to know with the pretty face and desire for cordiality despite giving in to my stubbornness. The one who wouldn’t back down, even if going head-to-head with me made her look just as bad.
The neighbor that just wanted to be helpful and friendly. The girl everyone in Rose Valley got along with but me.
Except, things were different, and the longing simmered in my stomach long enough to be so potent, I couldn’t ignore it.
Snaking a hand around her waist, I pulled her closer and watched as surprise filled her gaze. A glimmer of desire quickly replaced it.
“You’re insufferable,” I mumbled, noting the narrow space between us.
Before Sara could say anything, I dipped my head until our lips melded together.
She stiffened at the contact as I held her as if contemplating whether to accept it or not. But she melted, giving in to the kiss. Her hand fell against my chest as she moved with me, getting lost in it.
