Page 117 of You Make Me Feel
She looks up at me, her eyes so soft I could get lost in them. “Zach,” she whispers as if she absolutely feels this too.
“I know.” I give her the briefest of smiles. My chestaches in a way it hasn’t since I ran my first marathon. Like I can barely remember how to breathe.
“Is this real?” she asks. And I know she’s not talking about the dance or the gala or anything here.
She’s talking about us.
“Yeah,” I say gruffly. “I think it is.”
“And is that okay?” she asks. She curls her finger around my neck, the tips tickling my skin.
I don’t know if it’s okay. All I know is that it’s here. It’s undeniable. I want her in my arms, in my bed. In my life.
But will she want you?
“Yeah, it’s more than okay,” I manage to say. I want to tell her everything. I want to spill my guts to her now.
“That’s good,” she says softly, that Mona-Lisa smile pulling at her lips. “Because I’m so in love with you.”
Those words, they hit me like the sweetest punch straight to my gut. And for a second I can barely think, let alone speak.
Because it feels like a miracle. This perfect woman who somehow has fallen for an idiot like me.
And it also feels painful. Because I’ve been holding back on her.
I open my mouth, trying to find the words. To tell her I love her too. To tell her that before she sinks into that love she needs to know the truth. But before a single sound can come out I feel a hand on my arm.
And I whip around, frowning because fuck, I’d like to get through this moment without somebody interrupting me.
Asher wrinkles his nose at the expression on my face. “Sorry, brother,” he says, like he knows this is a bad time. “But I need to talk to you for a minute.”
“Can’t it wait?” I ask him, because I can’t let her wordsgo unanswered. That would make me an even bigger asshole than I am.
He shakes his head slowly. And then I see how pale his face is. For a second, all I can think of is the day that our dad lost our home and this island in a poker game. How he looked when he told us.
How Asher and Hudson looked once they understood what it meant.
“What’s going on?” I ask, glancing at Sadie. She looks between me and Asher with a frown pulling at her lips.
“I need you in the office,” he says his voice brusque. “Sorry,” he says to Sadie. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
“It’s fine,” she says, smiling softly. Because my girl is always so damn accommodating. “I need a drink anyway.”
Asher shifts his feet. “Actually, how about you go sit with Francie?” he suggests, pointing at his wife who’s sitting at a table with Skyler and Eden. “She could do with the company.”
“Oh,” Sadie says. “Sure.”
“I’ll walk you over there,” Asher says. “Zach, can you head to the office? I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
I nod. His office is just down from my apartment, which is red flag number two. Because why would we need to meet in his office? Except for the fact that he has it regularly swept for surveillance equipment.
And it has all the technology Asher needs when he’s running a security operation.
I lean forward and kiss Sadie’s cheek, breathing her in. My heart pounds as she curls her hand into mine, like she knows how much I need the connection.
“Let’s go,” Asher murmurs, leading the woman I’m in love with away from me. I watch her go, then I turn on myheel and walk right past the dancing crowds, ignoring people who call out my name. My feet are hard against the ground as I make my way through the reception area and key in the security code for the secure staff corridor.
When I reach Asher’s office, I see that my other brothers are already waiting. Hudson and Wyatt are talking in low voices to West. They all look up as I walk in.
