Oh, she knew that all too well.
Without him, she was alive.
With him, she was living.
Maybe that was why she’d put her Skype videoconference with her potential employer off until tomorrow, and maybe that was why she hadn’t told Eric about her job offer yet, and her upcoming move. Maybe, just maybe, if she walked away from this, from him, she’d never find it again…and that’s what really scared the hell out of her.
She couldn’t stay for him, though.
Couldn’t give up her shot at a real job, in a small town like she’d always wanted, for something that may or may not last. Heck, she didn’t even know if he felt this same undeniable pull for her that she felt for him. He’d never once given her reason to believe he might want more than what they already had.
A friendship.
So why would she even think about walking away from a job for him?
Hadn’t she learned her lesson when she came here for a boy and got left in the city alone? Logic said yes. Logic said a loud hell no when it came to staying here for a guy again.
But her heart…
That was a whole other story.
She fisted his jacket, holding on tight. His mouth met hers, and all those thoughts, all those doubts, drifted away like leaves caught in the wind. She gripped his jacket, opening her mouth under his, and his tongue slipped inside. Shivering, she shifted closer to him, needing him to give her the relief that only he could give her, as hooked on him as she had been the first day she met his eyes in the courtroom and realized he was looking at her, too.
Damn him.
And damn her.
Every fiber in her body came alive under his kiss. Every single nerve sang with desire for him. With the need to be with him. But she was supposed to ignore this, all of this, and leave.
How could she do it?
How could she not?
He lifted her, stepping between her thighs, and thrust his hips against her, making her moan into his mouth. He swallowed the sound, slipping his hand between them, and touched her where she needed him most. She writhed against him, whimpering, and buried her hands in the hair at the nape of his neck, refusing to let go and refusing to read too much into the fact that she never wanted to. Like, ever. Her nails dug into his scalp, and he growled, thrusting against her again as his fingers rolled in fast, hard circles.
Her stomach tightened and her breath quickened as his strokes brought her higher and higher until—“Yes,” she breathed into his mouth. “Eric.”
One more jerk of his wrist and she was flying into heaven, lost in the clouds inside a dark alleyway in Atlanta, and scarily enough, there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
“Shit.” He pulled back, resting his forehead on hers. “Shel…”
“I know.” She wasn’t sure what she was saying she knew, but it felt right. “Take me home. I want to make you feel the same way you make me feel.”
His grip on her hips tightened, shifted, and he said so quietly she almost missed it: “You already do.”
“Eric…”
He stepped back, his head lowered. “I know.”
Man, it really did work.
It meant nothing, yet everything, all at once.
“I didn’t like the end, either.” She bit her lip. “I wanted them to be together, after all they’d gone through to get there. It’s sad that they were meant to be, but couldn’t make it work because of timing. It’s even sadder that it happens in real life.”
He stared at her.
She stared back, waiting, willing, him to say that he knew what she was saying.