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He barked out a laugh. “I woke up to you moaning my name, so yeah, I went a little crazy.”
Hurt bloomed across her face. “Crazy?”
Damn it, that wasn’t what he meant. He cupped her jaw and tilted her face up. “Not crazy for wanting to touch you, Cassie. Fuck, I’d be crazy not to. Crazy because I lost control with you. And losing control is not something I let myself do.”
Not before he met her, anyway.
Cassie’s eyes widened, then darkened with something that looked an awful lot like satisfaction. She liked knowing she’d made him lose control. His dick jerked in his sweatpants again, and he cursed. It was safer seeing dreams of white picket fences in her gaze than the awareness she had that kind of power over him.
He dropped his hand and stepped back.
“I’ll say it again. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you last night.” He laced his hands behind his neck. “It won’t—”
“Happen again.” She crossed her arms over her chest once more. “I’ve heard that before.”
“I mean it this time.”
She studied him silently, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?” His pulse kicked up. Was that disappointment he was feeling? Had he actually wanted her to push for this thing to happen between them when he wouldn’t?
Cassie pursed her lips and raised her chin, one eyebrow cocked almost defiantly. “You’re right. It’s too soon, anyway. I’m newly single. I’m not in the headspace to be with anyone. This?” She waved a finger between them. “This would only complicate things. Let’s just forget…” She faltered for the briefest of moments. “We should just forget it ever happened.”
She left him standing there and walked back into the bedroom.
Zac let out a harsh breath. Yeah, forgetting wasn’t going to happen. There’d be no way to erase from his mind the memory of her arching up under him.
But it was better for both of them to pretend he could.
* * *
“See you tomorrow night.” Zac hung up with a chorus of goodbyes from the rest of Crossfire ringing in his ears.
His attention was on Cassie, writing in her favorite spot on the bus. With the tension simmering between them since last night, he’d half expected she would retreat to her bunk with the others.
But she hadn’t. Without looking at him, she’d grabbed her notebook, and begun writing while he’d called Beau, trying not to acknowledge just how relieved he was.
At least the songwriting sessions were going well. Everything was finally coming together. The four of them were in a rhythm now, and he had a good feeling about this album. It could be the one that sent them to the top. But his thoughts weren’t on the music right now. Instead of doing the sane thing, which was packing up his guitar and heading to his bunk, he was watching Cassie scribble away.
“What are you writing?” he heard himself ask.
He didn’t like the cautious shade of blue her eyes turned when she looked over at him. He thought she was going to blow him off, but he should have known she wasn’t like that.
“Just something about… I don’t know.” She flashed a ghost of an embarrassed smile. “Bryan, I suppose.”
Zac’s jaw clenched, but he forced himself to relax and lean back in his chair. “Can I hear it?”
She looked down at what she’d written, then back up at him. “Do you really want to?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.” As a songwriter, her words called to something inside him, an essential part of who he was. And maybe it was also a way to find out more about her without admitting how much he wanted to.
She searched his face. “Okay.” She dropped her gaze to her notebook and licked her lips. He tried not to remember the feel of his mouth on hers. With a sudden stab of regret, he realized he hadn’t kissed her last night. It had been the smarter move, but it suddenly grated on him that he hadn’t. That he hadn’t gotten a chance to taste her again. That he hadn’t taken the chance to taste her everywhere.
She started speaking, her voice shaking a little. The same way it had last time. It tightened his chest that she was so nervous about letting anyone hear her poetry.
“You took what was empty and filled it
Took what was shadowed and made it bright
