Page 58 of Hard to Hold
Tucking my cell phone into my back pocket, I decided I would address the work situation now. That way I wouldn’t spend the rest of the day trying to figure it out.
Wolfe’s eyes trailed me as I moved toward him. It was almost as though I made him nervous. Big, badass Wolfe Caine. If that wasn’t an empowering feeling, I didn’t know what was.
“Is … uh … everything okay?” God, I hated the way my voice wobbled and my brain couldn’t connect the words together.
His dark eyebrows lowered. “What do you mean?”
“I … uh…” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear before slipping my hands into my pockets. Suck it up and spit it out. “I’m … uh … not sure how I’m supposed to react around you. You know … here. At work. I mean, you are my boss.” I looked up at him. “But you also kissed me.”
He smiled, his green eyes glittering. Clearly he remembered the kiss as well as I did.
“So, I just don’t want you to think I’m being weird. I don’t know how to act, and I’m here to do a job, so…”
Wolfe took a step closer. Then another.
I didn’t look away, craning my neck to look up at him the closer he got.
His palm grazed my cheek, his eyes scanning my face briefly. “I don’t know how to act, either, but I do know that I wanna kiss you again.”
“You do?” I wasn’t sure why I sounded so surprised.
Wolfe chuckled, the deep rumble of his voice making my insides vibrate.
“I definitely do.”
“Okay.” I continued to stare at him, waiting.
When his mouth met mine, I sighed. My hands instantly came out of my pockets, sliding to his hips as the kiss heated a degree or two, his tongue swiping into my mouth. He tasted like toothpaste, smelled like sin. Considering I wasn’t much of a morning person, I realized if I woke up to this every day, I'd start looking forward to dawn.
Unfortunately, the kiss didn’t last nearly long enough, but probably twice as long as it should have considering where we were.
Wolfe pressed his forehead to mine, his hand still cupping my neck, his thumb grazing my jaw. “I slept for shit because I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about you.” He sighed. “I missed you.”
Hearing those words coming from such a rough, tough … well, for lack of a better word … badass nearly melted me. I was pretty sure my heart did a triple Lutz in my chest from those three words. It had been so long since I'd been around someone who showed any sort of affection for me. Not since my aunt and uncle had anyone made me feel as though I mattered, as though I was worth caring about. As though I was wanted.
“I missed you, too,” I admitted.
The rough sound of someone clearing their throat resonated from behind me.
I jerked back from Wolfe, spinning to find Lynx standing just inside the doorway, a giant black-and-tan German shepherd sitting at his feet, tail thumping on the floor. Unlike Saturday night, Lynx didn’t look grumpy. Which was interesting considering Wolfe basically said Lynx wasn’t a morning person.
“Mornin’,” Wolfe greeted. “Don’t say a damn word.”
Lynx’s grin widened as though he were holding the words back with his smile alone.
“Come here, Copenhagen,” Wolfe called out.
I assumed he was talking to the dog, and sure enough, the beautiful animal peered up at Lynx, obviously for permission. Lynx used a finger to signal, and the dog trotted over to Wolfe, tail going ninety miles an hour.
“Amy, meet Cope. Cope, this is Amy.”
“He’s beautiful,” I mumbled, not meaning to say the words out loud.
“He’s too sweet for the likes of Lynx.”
I leaned down and stroked the dog’s big head. Copenhagen’s tongue darted out, but he didn’t lick me. He just looked like he wanted to.
“I’d say I’m the luckiest bastard on the face of the planet,” Lynx said from across the room. “But I’m thinkin’ Wolfe’s got me beat in that department.”
