Page 39 of Control (Everyday Heroes 3.50)
“Nah.” And he’s right. There isn’t. I’ll give him that much. “But I needed the change of pace.”
“The guys miss you,” he says quietly, and the line falls silent as I figure out how to respond.
“I hear ya.”
I miss them too. I do. But I also don’t miss the constant pressure of having lives balancing on my decisions. Being here, I haven’t felt that once.
“So you’re coming back early, right?”
This time I give a half-hearted laugh. Took him long enough to ask it. “It’s only been three weeks, Cap.”
“Yeah, but Mars is in retrograde or some shit and all of the crazies are out.”
“I think you mean Mercury.”
“It could be marshmallows for all I care,” he says, and I can hear the smile in his voice. “You’re missed, Mayne. I know you’ve got three more weeks coming to you, but know what you contribute here. Experience, knowledge, leadership…”
“Thanks, Harry.”
Before he ends the call I hear the laughing in the background, and that’s when the pang of home hits me. The camaraderie.
I start the truck and put my arm on the windowsill, staring at the valley around me. The dark greens on the hills and terracotta-color buildings of downtown Sunnyville are nothing like the glass high-rises and steep hills of San Francisco. My home.
Then what the fuck am I doing here?
I shift into gear knowing damn well why this town has charm to me, and it has nothing to do with the town itself.
And everything to do with the brown-haired, blue-eyed, sassy woman living fifteen feet from me.
We may have only had sex one time, we may have sparred more than kissed...but sometimes, when you know someone might be worth the trouble, you know.
But well worth the trouble for what?
For me to want to stay? For me to want to have a fun-filled fling while I’m here? For me to pursue whatever this attraction is and see where it takes us?
My mind stutters over the answer. Not because I don’t know it’s true, but because I’m typically not one to think in these terms.
Terms that have intentional possibilities.
But I know.
The question is how do I make her see it too?
Chapter Sixteen
Desi
I shock awake—heart racing, pulse thumping, face beaded in sweat.
It takes me a second to orient myself to the fact that I’m in my room and not in Reznor’s bed.
Because that was my dream.
Not a dark shadow standing over my bed. Not the paralyzing fear of what am I going to do.
Just the ache between my thighs of an orgasm denied.
I shove out of bed and walk to the kitchen to get some water, anything to clear the unsated desire owning my body so I don’t march across the grass at two in the morning and break my own rules.
