Sidelined

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” Hollywood stood in front of them. “Hi, Skye.”

She waved lightly. “Hi, Hollywood.”

“We’re headed out. The guy’s got my vote.” Bolt slapped Hollywood on the back. “I don’t need to have any other conversations with him. I’m fine with him.”

“But we’re getting ready to take shots.” Hollywood whined.

“Take one for me, man.” Bolt smiled and headed for the exit.

Outside, the line for Splash hadn’t shrunk. The new club had drawn a bigger crowd by the minute. Bolt threaded his fingers through Skye’s.

“And just like that you think you can sweep me off my feet?” Skye turned and studied his face.

He smiled. “Just like that.”

Fourteen

He had appeared out of nowhere. For two weeks she had tried not to think about him. Tried to forget him. Tried not to dream about waking up in his arms. All of that was shot to hell the minute she agreed to leave the club with him. Time had a way of making the sharpness of their angry words seem fuzzy and faded. Time also made her miss him.

She looked at the chocolate cake the waiter placed in front of her, and resisted the urge to shovel forkfuls into her mouth. It took the same kind of restraint she had employed to keep from kissing Ben in the bar the second she saw him. The bits of guilt she had for ditching her date with Dave seemed to vanish the minute she looked into those blue eyes.

“Did you work on the Splash campaign?” Ben asked with a mouthful of apple pie.

She shook her head. “No, that was Kari’s. She does almost all the restaurant, bar, and club campaigns. That’s her thing.”

“I guess I’m lucky your friend had a club opening tonight.” He flashed a killer grin, and for a minute Skye couldn’t remember a single thing he said that had made her mad.

She didn’t know how to respond. One minute she was talking to a nice guy named Wes who said he was in town for a job interview, waiting for Dave to show up, and the next she was eating chocolate cake with Ben. Ben, whom she hadn’t seen or spoken to in almost two weeks.

“What was the interview?” She savored the chocolate flavor as it melted in her mouth.

“We have two pilot slots open right now in the squadron. We’ve been interviewing candidates for the past month trying to find the right guys to fit. Tonight was number seven.”

“Seven?”

He nodded. “After awhile they all start to blend together. But it’s important we find guys who get along with everyone. You can’t have an oddball who nobody likes. We don’t want to fly with a guy like that, and when you have to count on somebody, you don’t want to count on an ass.” He placed his fork on the table. “Speaking of asses—”

“No, you don’t have to say anything.”

“But I promised you a full apology and you deserve it. I was a complete and total ass the last time I saw you. I should never have pushed things that far.”

Skye blushed. “I probably made things confusing.”

“No, you didn’t. You told me from the beginning what your rule was, and I tried to bulldoze over it. It was stupid, and I know it was wrong. F

orgive me?”

As far as apologies went, Skye didn’t think she could have crafted a better one herself. But she still wasn’t sure what it meant.

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“Can I walk you home?” Ben had finished his apple pie.

Skye wanted to believe that everything he said was true. That he was sorry, that he did respect her rules, that he was happy to see her again. “Ok.”

She stood from the table and his hand met the small of her back. She inhaled, knowing this guy was breaking down all her resistance, and she was letting him one sexy smile at a time.

They walked along the sidewalk not saying much. It was a comfortable silence. The kind that grows between two people who know each other’s space, who can feel each other’s energy.