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“Ready to go?” Brick asked when she returned. At her nod, the firefighter lifted a hand in farewell.
“See you around, doc-to-be.”
The cops gave her a warm nod. She felt like she’d been marked and noted, in a good way. Brick had probably told them he’d appreciate them keeping a friendly eye on her, if she came into the diner when they were there.
She’d grown up in a small community where people looked out for each other, so it didn’t offend her to feel it in this setting. But the way Brick acted toward her gave it a different quality. Not necessarily bad, but unsettling.
He handed her up in the truck. He was going to take her back to the condo, and what then? She thought about inviting him in for coffee. Which clearly could lead to something else.
Or maybe not. Her study group would be spread out at the kitchen table. He’d be pulled into an inquisition slash flirting session. As pretty as some of them were, it might encourage him in the direction Rory had teased him about.
He'd already warned her not to go down the emotional deflection road with him, but it was hard not to do it with herself. The thought of him flirting with them felt like hitting herself in the face with a bag of oranges. She wondered if he was going to kiss her again. Or if she was brave enough to try and kiss him.
He held her hand throughout the ride, rubbing her palm with his thumb. With any other man, maybe that would seem a casual gesture, but it telegraphed exactly what he intended. Being touched by him, after imagining it for so long, gave her shivers she didn’t want to stop.
When they pulled into the parking lot, she collected her mother’s box and his gift, holding both against her. Belatedly, she realized it sent the message she didn’t want to be kissed again. Or have him come in. Which she did.
Though she shouldn’t. Hell. She wondered if she could get away with bolting from the truck with a hastily tossed, “I had a great time, thanks, enjoy your training.”
She was panicking. The stew in her head was about to overflow the pot and burn. But she couldn’t afford to do this. She had no time for this. She needed to set boundaries, be responsible.
Before she could say anything, Brick shut off the truck and turned to look at her. “We need to get something straight between us. I need to set something straight.”
“Okay,” she ventured.
“Put down the box.”
Her fingers couldn’t move, her heart pounding faster.
“Are you going to make me repeat myself, Celeste Joy?”
Her full name, the one no one used. Except her mother, if Les was about to be in trouble. What would it be like to be in trouble with Brick?
Moistening her lips, she put the box and his gift on the floor by her feet.
“Come here,” he said.
This time there was no pulling her to him. He was requiring her to use her own steam to close the gap. When she did, he didn’t touch her right away. He just looked down at her face.
He was right. Seconds could take a lot longer than they seemed.
She felt as if she was supposed to stay still, motionless on the outside, while her insides turned to flame. Heat moved to all corners, reaching her cheeks, making her lips tighten.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “So you’re busy. You’re overwhelmed. No time for a relationship. It’s in your eyes, your voice, and whatever’s churning inside you. Tell me.”
His tone stilled the other voices, that clack and blather, all the insecure stuff. It held her on the one point, what the question and answer was.
“I’m keeping my head above water, Brick, but barely. This year, and probably for the next several years, that’s all I have the energy to do. I have to see this through before I focus on anything else just as important. I have to succeed.”
She’d almost derailed herself with Bart, and she’d promised herself that wouldn’t happen again. She glanced down. Their hands were clasped on the console. She didn’t know if she’d reached for him or him for her, but the linking helped, the pressure of his fingers adding to the words he spoke to her next.
“Okay. But if and when you have the energy, do you want what I’m offering? No strings attached to the question.”
She opened her mouth and said words she hadn’t expected herself to say, either from fear of scaring him off, or making herself too vulnerable. With Brick, none of it seemed like an issue. At least in this moment.
“Yes.” She swallowed as his eyes flickered. What was there was as intimate a response as his hands upon her, making her repeat the word. “Yes. I’ve thought about you for a long time, Brick. Long enough I’d decided the reality couldn’t possibly be better than what I imagined.”
Which she’d used as a way to accept that was the beginning and end of it. A special girlhood memory to cherish in the years to come, a part of her past.
