Page 45 of Feel It in the Air

Slowly, he drags his hand down my torso, and for the first time since he touched me, I can see that he’s feeling the same shivers that are running along my skin. Stepping into him, I place my hand on his chest, wanting to be closer to him. Wanting him to know that his methods are working once again.

“Ummm, Margeaux,” Jace interrupts. I whip my head toward him, feeling my cheeks flush, as if my dad just caught me making out with my boyfriend. And based on the look Jace is giving me, it actually does kind of feel like my dad just caught me making out with my boyfriend. “If you could please act like King Kong here is attacking you, rather than flirting with him, that would really help demonstrate the techniques a lot better.”

Right…

I nod, not bothering to hide my amusement at Jace referring to his older brother as King Kong. Especially since Gus doesn’t bother to hide his annoyance. At least the crowd seems amused by it all, since they are also laughing, like we planned this whole thing.

We reposition ourselves, this time actually following along with Jace’s directions, with Gus a few feet behind me. I can feel his presence, my body missing the feel of him against me from a few moments ago. Wanting to know how we get that back. How I get him to keep that routine rather than the gentlemanly one that he had on display last night.

Out of the corner of my eye I see movement, my senses going on high alert. Without thinking, I react. I throw back my elbow, hard, connecting with something. My fight response is fully activated, everything I learned when I took the Hayes self-defense class years ago coming back to me. I’m not quite Sandra Bullock up on that pageant stage chanting solar plexus, instep, nose, and groin, but I move before I realize what—or better yet who—I’ve hit.

Gus.

I spin around, right as the crowd gasps. Gus stumbles backward, the heel of his hand pressed over his left eye. My heart sinks, the realization smacking me straight upside the head. My elbow. It connected with something. And that something was Gus. Very specifically, Gus’s eye.

Oh fuck!

“Gus!”

I rush over to him, cradling his face in my hands, trying to survey the damage. Pretty sure this was not what he had in mind when he pressed me up against his car last week and told me he wanted to take me on a date. Fuck. Well, pretty sure that’s going to end whatever future I thought he and I had. And potentially whatever future I thought I had at Hayes Industries. Papa Duck’s, here I come.

Gus moves his hand, blinking rapidly. He looks down at me, his big broad smile returning. Right along with all those damn butterflies.

“My girl can defend herself, good to know,” he says.

His girl…

I swoon, Jace’s voice filling the background once again like some strange, unwanted narrator for the moment. His girl. Gus thinks I’m his girl. Well, that’s a good sign.

“I took a Hayes self-defense course in college,” I retort. “I’ve got the advanced certificate.”

Gus throws his head back laughing, wrapping an arm around my waist and yanking me into him. Our bodies collide, the soft thud getting lost in the noise of the expo center. The uptick of my pulse isn’t lost on either of us though as Gus steals a kiss, letting his lips linger for a half second longer than he probably should given the crowd. I don’t care though. Right now, the only thing I’m focused on is how good it feels to be this close to him.

And the funky color his eye is turning.

“We should probably get you some ice.”

Running my finger lightly along his cheekbone, I sigh, my heart feeling heavy that I caused this damage. We’re going to have to come up with a hell of a cover story for work on Monday. Because there is no way we are walking onto the Hayes campus, much less into the legal department, and openly admitting that I gave Gus a shiner during a self-defense demo in Savannah.

The crowd starts to disperse, a few people hanging around to talk to Jace. Gus doesn’t move though, so neither do I. I’m more than willing to let this moment drag out for as long as he wants. Forever even.

“Here.”

A deep male voice cuts into our reverie, jarring us. Standing to my right is an EMT, holding out a cold pack, knowing smile firmly in place.

“Thanks,” Gus says, taking the pack and placing it on his eye.

“Nice hit,” the EMT tells me. “Not sure what he did to deserve that, but damn, girl.”

I open my mouth to respond, but Gus beats me to it.

“I’m her boss.”

He says it with such a straight face that there’s no choice but to believe him. The EMT’s face falls, eyes going wide. Nodding slowly, he pulls his lips into his mouth, looking for a way to respond.

“Well then, I’m just going to keep my next comment to myself.”

With another nod, he backs away, leaving us alone again.