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“No, I am. I promise.” I put on my most serious face, but inside I was smiling.
Sadie turned to look at me. “I can’t be a genius unless you get to be one, too. You got Colton here tonight, and you made getting kicked out of the museum and going to IHOP fun. Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is if we both get fired for letting Ainsley climb up an unstable wall, I want you to know I’ve enjoyed being on your team. And that’s saying something because I’m not usually a team player.”
“Go team.” I held out my fist, and she bumped it.
I didn’t ask if I could walk her up when we reached her apartment complex. I just did it. I craved more time with her. Tonight had been wild and fun and weird, but I needed more of the downtime and de-stressing that came afterwards. That was what we’d done that night when she fell asleep with me on my couch. Only this time, I’d say goodbye and go home.
We stopped on her doorstep, and I stuck my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out for her. Marcel’s admonition that I respect her boundaries was on my mind. I didn’t think he meant just physical ones. Sadie felt safe with me, and that was a trust I’d hate to break.
Sadie pulled her keys out, but then stuck them back in her pocket and turned to me. “Friends can hug, right?”
“Last I checked.”
She stepped closer and threaded her arms under mine and around my back, tucking her face into the curve of my neck, like she planned to stay there for a long time. Fine by me. I breathed her in, wrapping her up tightly in my arms and then loosening my hold enough for her to escape whenever she wanted to. But she didn’t seem to want to. She pressed into me tighter, and her hands at my back fisted, like she couldn’t get enough of me and didn’t know what to do about it. That made two of us.
The strange thing was, I’d missed holding her, and I hadn’t realized how much until this moment. So, I held her and felt myself relaxing more and more.
“Denver?”
“Mm?” I cradled her neck with the palm of my hand as she tipped her head up to look at me.
She bit her lip. “I like your layers, too.”
Her face was so serious. And so beautiful. I smiled at the raw affection I saw there, coaxing a smile from her in return. She blushed and dipped her head, hiding it against my neck again, and letting out a contented sigh that just about did me in. I rubbed my hands against her shoulder blades in tight circles, wishing I could press into her just how important she’d become to me. I was afraid to say it, not just for how she’d take it, but for what it meant for me.
Her hold on me loosened, but she didn’t let go, she just shifted, tilting her head ever-so-slightly while the tip of her nose began tracing a trail up my neck. And just like that, the mood shifted from affection to something more. Something potent and dangerous, putting me on high alert. I was waiting to be cleared for takeoff. Poised. Ready. Patient. Mostly patient. The anticipation was killing me.
She paused in her perusal, and her lips pressed into a soft spot under my jaw. Then the spot above that, only a little more open-mouthed. My whole body felt like molten lava.
Done being patient, I was about to lower my head, but then the porchlight flipped on, and her apartment door opened, flooding us with even more blinding, mood-killing light.
Sadie jumped away from me like I might be on fire. Which was accurate.
Jenny and Noah froze in their tracks. They’d been about to step outside, but now they were just standing there. Staring at us. So. Much. Staring.
“I’m sorry we interrupted.” Jenny wrung her hands together, looking to Noah like he could somehow fix this. He could not fix this. Unless he had the power to rewind time five seconds and not come out here. Not that it was their fault. Why would they check the peephole before leaving?
“Nothing to interrupt,” Sadie said breezily, except she made the mistake of turning to stare at my neck, and then my chest where a lipstick mark said otherwise. We’d laughed about it at the restaurant with Colton and Ainsley, but now it felt like a brand on my chest, or maybe a beacon. The Eye of Sauron. But lips. The Lips of Sauron.
Noah frowned at it. Jenny looked positively jubilant.
Both reactions made me want to reach out and close the door in their faces.
There was an awkward pause I felt obligated to fill. “It was in the maze. Sadie launched herself at me. I mean, she jumped, and I caught her with my chest.” Wow, I was making this worse. So much worse.
Sadie patted my shoulder as if to say, nice try, buddy. Then she squeezed around Noah and Jenny in the doorway before turning to look at me over the top of Jenny’s head. If this was tag, she’d just reached home base. “Jenny, your hair is gorgeous. Is this wedding hair?”
Jenny touched the back of her hair and smiled. “Yeah. A trial run, anyway. My cousin’s doing it. She came over to practice tonight.”
With everything else going on, I hadn’t noticed Jenny’s hair. It was half up in an elaborate twist with tendrils here and there. But my eyes immediately went back to Sadie. She was hiding from me. I had half a mind to squeeze in after her, and she knew it.
She gave a tiny shake of her head. Nope. I’d missed my moment, and she almost looked smug about it. “You were right, Jenny. I should have gone with the smudge-proof lip stain. Good night, Denver.” She winked at me and walked away.
The perfect revenge. Leaving me with all the insinuation, but mostly just leaving me. My night was over. Or at least the Sadie portion of it.
I took off before I’d have to walk out with Jenny and Noah to wherever they were going. When I got home, I headed straight for my rowing machine. I rowed and rowed until sweat dripped down my neck and back. I might have crossed an ocean or two, trying to get the feel of Sadie’s lips off me. It didn’t work.
Chapter 31 – Sadie
