He pulls back enough to look me in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“I hand you a checklist, you tick it off, and then what?”
His brow pinches, and he sighs. “I don’t know what you want from me here.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I don’t know what I want from you either.”Liar. You know exactly what you want, but you’re scared.
Benji reaches up to thumb along my jaw.
God,his eyes.I’ve missed him so much.
“I can’t think when you look at me like that.”
“And I can’t breathe without wanting to kiss you.”
Benji leans down, and my eyes flutter closed as his nose touches my cheek. I can feel the soft heat of his breath against my skin.
“Paige, please. I wasn’t ready before, but I am now.”
I step out of his arms. “Well, I’m not. Did you ever think of that?”
“Every single minute of the last year.”
Fuck.
“Don’t say that. It’s not fair. You can’t walk back into my life and just decide for the both of us. You already made the call to end it a year ago. Does it even matter what I want?”
“Of course it does, and if you tell me you never want to see me, I won’t bother you again. Is that what you’re saying?”
“You know it’s not.”
“Give me something here, Paige. Haven’t you thought about what we could have?”
Every single minute of the last year.
Chapter Ten
PAIGE
BEFORE
April is counted by seventeen-point-two moments with Benji and one maddening council meeting. The point-two is less an encounter with him and more a prolonged swoon from the register while Benji helps unload slabs of wood from a delivery truck.
“Just go,” Skye says, spinning on a stool beside me. It’s her day to man the register. “We both know you want to.”
“I was just there at lunch.”
“Oh no,” she deadpans. “Then he might think you like him.” She slumps over the counter. “I’m begging you both to please stop dancing around each other. It’s been months since you met.”
Three months, two weeks, and five days. But who’s counting?
Once the truck leaves, Benji wipes the sweat off his brow with his forearm. His hair is messy and gorgeous. I want to follow him inside and ask him if I can run my hands through it. I keep staring until the moment he disappears back into his shop.
“And my plight continues,” Skye groans.
I jab a finger in her side, and she yelps.
Things with Benji are good. We’re taking it slow.
