Better Than Okay by Jacinta Howard

through her and she
pushed out a breath, willing herself to calm down.
    “Maybe we should try though, Brian,” she said,
her voice shaky. She was starting to panic again. “Maybe we should try to
ignore whatever is going on. Maybe it’s temporary, or you know… with you moving
here and us not having seen each other for a while... maybe we should try to
ignore these feelings…”
    “You think what I feel for you is temporary?
You think I would risk…” he stopped, and pushed out a breath, meeting her eyes.
“Do you really think that after what happened the other day we could go back to
being just friends?”
    His voice was husky and the blatant hunger in
his eyes was disconcerting as his gaze swept slowly over her, from her eyes,
down the sweep of her neck to the curve of her breasts, to her thighs, which
her little cotton shorts did nothing to hide. Her breathing increased and
desire stirred in her stomach.
    “Maybe,” she managed, breathily.
    “Do you really want to?” he asked, gently
fingering a loose strand of her hair that had escaped the ponytail that was
hanging at her nape. His fingers brushed lightly against her cheek and her skin
tingled beneath his touch. She sucked in a breath.
    “I think it’d be easier,” she whispered, as he
trailed his fingers lightly down the side of her cheek to the curve of her
neck.
    “You sure?” he asked again, his baritone deep
and low as he studied her with hooded eyes.
      She
managed to nod again. He ran his fingers down her arm, barely touching her but
igniting her skin. He rested his hand on her bare knee. Her breath was coming
fast now.
    “You think ignoring this would be… easy?” he
murmured, as his hand inched slowly up her leg.
    She bit her lip, her attention focused on where
his thumb was teasing her skin, drawing slow circles on her inner thigh.
    “Yes… I…” She closed her eyes when his hand
moved up a bit further. A couple more inches and he would be tracing his thumb
over her panty line. She opened her eyes and he was watching her response to
him, his own breathing increased.
    “You what, Destiny?” he asked, his tone dark
and teasing.
    His hand trailed further up. She sucked in a
breath and met his eyes.
    “I can’t really think very well when you do
that,” she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
    A half-grin played on his face and he ran his
thumb over her soft skin again.
    “Why do think that is, Destiny? Because we’re
such good friends ?”
    He cocked an eyebrow at her and she couldn’t
say anything, so she just shook her head.
    “I’m not gonna push you,” he said deeply,
forcing her to meet his eyes. He slid his hand back to her knee and she almost
protested. “But I think you know what’s going on between us isn’t temporary. It
sure as hell isn’t friendly. And it’s not going away.”
    She bit her lip, and his gaze dropped to her
mouth. She felt aroused and conflicted and she knew he was reading that in her
eyes because he knew her better than almost anyone else. He released a
breath.  
    “Think about it,” he said after a long second.
    He ran a hand over his head before standing and
crossing the room to the front door. She reluctantly stood up and followed him.
She paused in the entranceway, hesitating.
    “I gotta go to work in the morning,” he
explained, reading her torn expression.
    Damn. She’d been so absorbed in her own
feelings she hadn’t even bothered to ask him about how he was adjusting to his
new job.
    “How’s that going?” she asked guiltily.
    He grinned. “It’s cool so far. Busy, but
nothing unmanageable.”
    She nodded, wondering if there was anything he
would consider unmanageable. They stood awkwardly in the doorway. She studied
her toes. They needed a new paint job.
    “Hey,” he said, causing her to lock eyes with
him again. “Don’t disappear on me again.”
    She nodded. She knew she couldn’t stay away
from him anymore.
    “Promise?” he asked, with his half-grin.