Lucky in Love (Southern Bride 4)

“Oh, my,” I whispered as I watched him push his fingers through his brown hair. My fingers instantly itched to do the same thing.

With a shake of my head, I pulled myself together and pushed aside the warm feeling that had rushed through my body only seconds ago. I walked toward him, his back facing me. He leaned over, giving me a shot of his perfect ass in those Wrangler jeans.

Of course, in that moment I would trip over something and let out a yelp. Truitt spun around and saw me stumbling. He was by my side and grabbing me before I could even register I was actually about to fall.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his hands on my upper arms. His eyes were the color of the ocean when a storm was fixin’ to move in. His deep blue gaze stared at me intently and left me feeling weak in the knees.

“You have a nice voice.”

Oh. My. Gosh. Did I really say that?

“I mean, thank you for helping me not fall flat on my face. And you have a nice voice.”

The corner of Truitt’s mouth twitched with a slight smile.

“You’re welcome, and thank you. What are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes flickering past me to see if I was with anyone.

“Turns out I wasn’t in the mood for one of Wendy’s little get-togethers after all. Especially when I found out she’d attempted to set me up on a blind date.”

His brows rose, and I couldn’t help but notice the heat from his hands that were still holding onto my arms. He let go, almost as if he had noticed it, as well. With one quick motion, he leaned over and lowered the volume on his Bose speaker.

We stood there and stared at one another before he asked again, “What brings you here?”

I snapped out of the daze his touch had thrown me into. There was something about this man that turned me into a young school girl again. Filled with hope that maybe I had been wrong that day when I thought Truitt only asked me out to use me. That Tim had manipulated me. That the look in Truitt’s eyes, the look of defeat, was because maybe he felt something for me, as well.

“Oh, um, yeah…”

I chewed on my lip and almost shivered when his gaze went to my mouth. I’d never wanted a man to kiss me more than I wanted Truitt to kiss me in that moment. So maybe my brain was on board, as well.

“Have I made you angry?” I finally asked.

That made his gaze jerk back up to mine.

“What?” he asked, looking every bit as dazed and confused as I felt.

“You didn’t seem to want to be at Pete’s, and I thought it was because I was there. You didn’t want me to be there in the room when you came into the ER last month, and you’ve been avoiding talking to me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything to make you mad.”

The way Truitt was looking at me left me nervous as hell. What in the world was this man thinking? And why in the world had I just acted like a sixteen-year-old girl trying to figure out why her crush wasn’t paying attention to her? I had hit a new low with this one. I instantly wanted to pull all the words back in that I had just spoken.

Then he laughed a disbelieving laugh and shook his head while he rubbed the back of his neck.

“You haven’t done or said anything to make me mad at you.” His brows pulled in and he honestly looked befuddled. “You said you weren’t interested in a relationship, Saryn. I got the message loud and clear.”

That made my eyes go wide.

“I’m sorry?”

“The day we went shopping, you made it clear you weren’t interested in anything other than friendship.”

I ignored the lump forming in my throat and forced myself to ask the question that was now burning into my mind. “Do you want something more than friendship? I mean, with me? Do you want…um…me?”

Good Lord, that came out all wrong. Where was the confident woman who had realized she deserved more in a man? The one who’d packed up and walked away from her life? The one who vowed she would never run away from anything ever again? If I wanted something, I was going to fight for it this time.

“Do you want more than friendship with me, Truitt?” I asked, my voice clear and strong.

His eyes lit with a fire that made my insides tremble.

Truitt looked away for a moment, as if he was thinking about how he wanted to answer my question. When his eyes met mine, I realized I had been holding my breath.

“Honestly, yes. I want to be friends with you, Saryn. I enjoy being around you and Liliana, but I’m not going to lie to you. I desperately want more of you. And right now, I want to kiss you.”