Love Me Or Lose Me by Rita Sawyer

he was about to kiss her.
    “We should go while your father’s tied up in his office with Harvey .” He dropped his hand. Backing away slightly, he wrapped his hand around the doorknob.
    “You’re right.” Her soft tone made him wonder if he’d hurt her feelings.
    They managed to make it out of the closet and to the elevator in silence. He did his best to ignore the way she clutched her coat around her breasts. Knowing they were practically bare was driving him insane. She pressed the button for the parking garage.
    The doors barely slid closed before he spoke. “Sarah?”
    “Yeah.” Her eyes stayed on the floor, which for some reason pissed him off.
    He moved up behind her, gently laying his hands on her shoulders. Eddie did his best to ignore the way she stiffened under his touch. He turned her to face him. Her eyes rose only to his chest. He put his index finger under her chin tipping it up until they stared at each other. The uncertainty in those deep brown eyes of hers really got to him. Even more than her quick, witty sense of humor. He noticed her sassy smarts came through loud clear on the phone, while she was more reserved in person. Eddie wondered what it was going to take to bring that side of her out where everyone else could see it too.
    He gave her a quick smile before saying, “I just wanted to talk about before. I didn’t mean to be so…abrupt. I just didn’t think you’d like your father catching us like that.”
    “He would’ve gone off the deep end.” She returned his smile.
    He hoped her returning his smile was a good sign. “You know it might not be such a bad thing to shake him up every once in a while.” Eddie waited a few seconds before adding, “It did wonders for my parents when I told them I was going to become a house builder instead of going to college.”
    Her sudden burst of laughter made him feel like might actually be getting somewhere. “After dealing with him for the past six and a half years, you haven’t seen him in many social situations have you?”
    He shook his head.
    She laughed harder putting her hands on his chest. Her coat eased open giving him a teasing view of her ample cleavage. She caught him looking and reached for the lapels. Eddie grabbed her hands bringing them back to his chest. Time to keep her from thinking. He started to lower his head, but stopped short when he caught her nervous glance at the camera hanging in the corner. Eddie backed off with the knowledge he did the right thing.
    They stood there staring at each other, neither of them saying a word. The chime of the bell made Sarah jump, her cheeks turning a nice shade of pink. She spun around the second the doors slid open. Eddie followed her into the garage. It was well lit, and he knew it was monitored by closed circuit cameras like the elevators. Still the garage had enough dark corners to make him worry about her being there alone. She pressed a button on her key ring, which caused a set of taillights to blink a few feet up ahead.
    “Do you always park so far away?” It occurred to him she might think it was none of his business. He didn’t care he wanted to know.
    Sarah gave a light shake of her head.
    She needed to learn from the start that he wasn’t going to play guessing games. He raised a brow at her, inviting her to answer the question.
     “I was running late this morning. Normally I park much closer. This isn’t too bad though.”
    “Why?” The question was past his lips before he could stop himself.
    Between the tilt of her head and the way the corner of her mouth kicked up, it was obvious she thought it was a stupid question, yet she answered him anyway. “Because it’s safer.”
    Duh. That explained her expression. “I meant why were you running late?”
    Through her laughter, she managed to say, “Of course you did.”
    “Well?” Her stalling made him even more eager to have an answer.
    “I overslept.” Something about the way she said it made him think there