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She sighed. “It’s not you.”
He stared mutinously at her, and it grated on her nerves.
“Fine.” She stood up, too, hating that he still towered over her. “You wanted to be friends, right? Well, friends don’t lie to each other.”
“What are you talking about?” He seemed genuinely bewildered, and that really ticked her off.
“You said you weren’t interested in me because you weren’t ready to date yet. That’s fine. Except now, I find out you’ve been talking to your coworkers about me! Were you laughing at me? It’s not as if I haven’t been rejected before, but you were discussing me like some silly girl with a crush. Plus, you’ve been avoiding me, and I don’t care if you were just trying to spare my feelings, I know you said she was just a coworker, but she is so pretty and the way she put her hand on your—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s slow this down so I can get a word in here,” he said.
Hannah, breathing hard, waved her hand. “You want a word? Have a whole sentence.”
His mouth twitched, and Hannah decided if he had the balls to laugh at her, she was going to walk away again.
He managed to control himself. “Thank you. Now, first of all, Megan is a pain in the ass. She’s a friend, but that is all, and I didn’t talk about you to her. Best probably told her about you, because he is a gossiping asshole.” His hand came up, and his fingers grazed the side of her face, leaving trails of heat in their wake. “But I would never hurt you, Hannah. Not on purpose, at least. As to avoiding Dale’s, it was just so I could have some time to figure out what I wanted. Believe me, I wanted to see you. I drove by here almost every morning hoping to catch a glimpse of you but was too afraid to come inside.”
Hannah could feel the blood leave her face. She’d acted like a crazy, insecure freak, and there was no reason for it. God, why couldn’t she just stuff her emotions down like a normal person?
Sheepishly, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and stared down at her feet. “So, yeah . . . I’m crazy, don’t mind me.”
She tried to make a joke, but it fell flat, especially when she could feel his eyes on her. She looked up finally to find him staring at her in the weirdest way. It wasn’t scared, and he hadn’t taken off running to get a restraining order, so . . . was that a good thing?
“You were jealous.” His statement jerked her gaze up to his, and she could have sworn he’d looked pleased. Excited, even.
There was no use denying that she’d been jealous. She’d acted like an insane stalker.
“Yes, I was.”
Did he step closer? His hand caught her under the chin, and he tilted her face up. “You know you could have asked me instead of being passive-aggressive.”
Now she was flushed with embarrassment. “I really didn’t think it was any of my business, and I was trying really, really hard not to let it bother me, but I . . . I like you, Blake. I can’t help it.”
What the hell was wrong with her? In a million years, she’d never thought she’d be spilling her guts in the back of Dale’s Diner, especially not to Blake.
For a second, his thumb smoothed across her lower lip, and she thought he was going to kiss her. Her breath caught in her chest as she waited, longing to feel the press of his mouth on hers, the caress of his fingers against her skin.
But he stopped, dropping his hand from her, and it fell back to his side.
“I like you, Hannah. I do. I just needed some time and space to think, and I didn’t want to hurt you in the process.” His hazel eyes bored into hers, and she was frozen to the spot, unable to escape. “Which is the last thing I want to do. Believe me, I want you more than I can put into words. I just need more time to sort through what that means.”
Hannah’s heart hammered at hi
s words. He wanted her? Like really wanted her?
He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and held out a twenty-dollar bill. “This is for breakfast. I’m not really hungry anymore.”
Hannah took it, unsure of what else to say. She didn’t even turn around as he walked away; what was the point? He’d been perfectly clear about how he felt, and she had her answer. He liked her.
Just not enough.
BLAKE CURSED A blue streak as he got onto the freeway and hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. The last thing he wanted was be stuck in a car, with only himself for company. Everything he’d said to Hannah had been the truth . . .
But he’d also been lying.
He more than liked her. He wanted her. She’d woken him up and made him realize that he was still alive. That he could still feel, but he wasn’t sure how much. And Hannah deserved someone who could give her all of himself.
Sometimes he felt as though his soul had been buried with Jenny.
