Hope sparked. That was good, right? “I’m sort of anxious to know where you’re moving. Is it another apartment like this? Or a building? It would be nice for Sophia to have a yard, but in a building, she’d have a pool, and, hell, they run everywhere anyway, right? They don’t need grass to do that.”
She was smiling. Better yet, she was giving him that look. The soft one. The one that told him she still cared. But he wasn’t sure how to span the distance between here and there. And he had to remind himself it would take time—if it happened at all. He hadn’t exactly given her a lot of reason to make that jump.
“That’s a little bit of a long story.” She rested her elbow on the back of the sofa and leaned her head into her hand. “Why don’t you tell me about your stay first. How long will you be here?”
“Yeah…that.” He exhaled. Nodded. “This last few weeks has been… Screw it, I’m just going to say it. I’m here as long as you and Sophia are here. I can’t stand being without you. I keep finding myself turning to tell you something, and you’re not there. I look for your face in the crowd. Every time I hear a little kid laugh, my heart skips.” Her smile vanished. Her lips parted in surprise. Not the response he’d been dreaming of, but he pushed forward. “I don’t want to be without either of you, and I understand why you have to be here, so I’m here.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean as long as I’m here?”
He shrugged. “As long as you keep writing law and can’t live anywhere else. Hey, I don’t know if you hired movers yet, but I can totally save you some money and get you into your new place. I haven’t started looking for a job yet. Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m qualified to do around here, but my apartment is cheap, so I can float on savings for a few months.”
Her head tilted. “Your apartment?”
“Yeah, you know, an apartment. A place with four walls and a bed?”
“You rented an apartment?”
He shrugged. “Need a place to sleep. Seemed like a logical thing to do.”
“Don’t you have some cop school to go to? Don’t you have to learn to hold a gun and flash your badge and all that other cop stuff you do on the show?”
“Uh, nope.” He scratched at his temple with a huff of dry laughter. “I, um, didn’t take the part.”
Her eyes flew wide. “What? Why not?”
He shrugged, ignoring the sickening feeling he got every time he thought of this awkward new phase of his life—no job, no surfing. At least he had purpose. “I don’t want to be that far away from you. And I don’t want to miss any more of Sophia’s life than I absolutely have to. I didn’t absolutely have to take the part…so…here I am.”
“Are you saying you moved here?” she asked, her voice rose with panic. “Without telling me?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He sat back with alarms ringing in his head. “I’m not stalking you or anything. I mean, I’d really like to spend time with you, but I’m not going to force anything. And it would have been a little hard to tell you when you wouldn’t talk to me.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she lowered her head.
What in the fuck just happened? Jesus, he was screwing this up big-time. His hopes vanished, and his heart felt heavy again. “Look, we can have Abby run interference if you really don’t want to see me.” He pressed his hands to his thighs and stood, feeling like the biggest loser on the planet. “I’ll give you some space. Just call me when you’re ready to—”
“No, no.” She reached for his hand. “Don’t go.”
When he looked at her again, tears streaked her cheeks,
and Zach’s heart broke. He pulled away. “I don’t want to hurt you or stress you out or scare you. You’ve dealt with enough already.” He started for the door. “Maybe, with time, we can find a way to be friends again. I’m not going anywhere—”
Her hand slapped against the door at his shoulder, keeping him from opening it. “Stop, Zach.”
She pressed her face against his bicep and closed her eyes. Then the front of her body leaned against the back of his—and stole his breath. The hunger that washed through him nearly buckled his knees. To keep from reaching for her, he pressed his eyes closed and tightened his hand around the doorknob.
“Zach…” Her voice was soft and a little breathless. “I’m not moving closer to work.”
“What?” Fear zinged over his ribs. He released the door and turned toward her. “Where are you going?”
She didn’t answer right away. Her pretty eyes scanned his face for long moments before she leaned into him. The feel of her warm, slim form pushed the air from his lungs, and Zach groaned.
“Don’t do that, baby,” he whispered. “I feel like I haven’t touched you in a fucking year.”
“I know.” Instead of moving away, she pushed up on her toes, slid her body along his, and kissed him.
Another sound ebbed from his throat—surprise, relief, hunger. He wrapped his arms around her so tight, he lifted her off the floor and kissed her back. Her mouth was soft and warm, but the current humming through him was created by the feel of her wanting him—with more than her body. He cradled her head and slanted his mouth over hers, hungry for the taste of her. She whimpered and opened, meeting his tongue with a passion equal to his own.
Leaning against the door, he set her on her feet and brushed her hair back with both hands. “I’ve fucking missed you. So bad.”