He didn’t really want to try.
There was an attraction, certainly, but he’d been attracted to plenty of women in his time. A primal, sexual attraction.
This wasn’t that.
He grappled for the word but the only thing he could come up with was...connection. And he knew better than to believe that.
Didn’t he?
‘What’s going over there?’ she asked, pointing to an area of the room where there was still a fair amount of work to do.
‘A stage.’ Sol smiled. ‘You want to see the talent some of these kids have. They’re just bursting for a forum in which they can showcase what they can do. Behind the wall there are a couple of soundproofed music rooms, too. We’ll be putting instruments in them and the kids can set up their own bands if they want to. Or just sing, whatever they want.’
‘Goodness, this place really is so much bigger than where they are now.’
‘By a couple of hundred square metres,’ Sol agreed. ‘But it isn’t just that, it’s the way we’ve teched the place up.’
‘I get that.’ She smiled, with the kind of radiance that heated up a person’s very bones. Heated up his very bones, anyway. ‘It’s incredible. The kids are going to be bowled over.’
‘That’s the hope. Come on, I’ll show you the rest.’
He continued the t
our to the new kitchens, the offices, the music rooms, and finally the small quiet rooms.
‘Although the centre is built on the idea that kids can come in and talk about normal things, and just be a kid crafting, or playing, or singing, there are nonetheless times when kids will need to talk. Maybe a little group of them will get together.’
‘And support each other,’ Anouk offered.
‘Exactly. Or sometimes someone might just need a quiet room for a one-on-one chat with an adult. We do get kids who have been self-harming and need something more to help them cope. They might have been struggling without any support and things have just got on top of them and they haven’t known where to turn.’
He didn’t miss the way Anouk dropped her eyes from his, that familiar stain creeping over her skin whenever she was embarrassed.
‘Everything okay?’
‘So Care to Play can be there for them and make sure they know that they’re no longer alone?’ she trotted out stiffly. ‘That’s great.’
Spinning around, she lunged for the door to leave and practically bumped into him.
Instinct made him reach out and grab her upper arms to steady her, before he could stop himself. There was clearly something more going on here and he felt oddly driven to find out what it was.
But the instant he made physical contact with her, electricity charged through him, practically fusing his hands in place. He was wholly unable to pull away. The need to learn more about this woman who had infiltrated his whole being in a matter of a week was almost visceral.
‘What’s going on, Anouk?’ Urgency laced through his voice. ‘What is it?’
These rooms were designed to feel closed off. A place where kids could talk about the things they might not even want to admit to themselves. Safe.
Right now, with Anouk up against his chest and his nostrils suddenly full of that fresh, faintly floral scent that he associated with her alone, Sol felt about as far from safe as it was possible to get.
He glanced down to see the pulse in her slender neck jolt then quicken, which didn’t exactly help matters. The need to bend his head to hers and taste her lips again was almost overpowering.
Almost.
It was only the need to wait for her answer, to understand her better, that held him back. It made no sense and yet he ached to hear her talk to him as though he was someone other than a morally bankrupt tomcat willing to jump on anything in a skirt.
And yet, if she did, was he ready to answer her?
CHAPTER SEVEN