Page 47 of Praised
For all I knew, he could have.
When he reached me, Flynn came to a quick stop, taking my face into his hands and angling me toward the bright chandelier lighting over our heads.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. It was only then I really heard the panic in his voice, overlaid with the worry that shone through his eyes. “Are you hurt?”
I huffed out a breath that felt like it wanted to be a laugh, but didn’t have the energy. I shook my head, curling my fingers around his wrists.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine.
I was embarrassed and heat flooded my cheeks, but his hold made it impossible to get away from him. It was impossible to shake the feeling that my inability to understand—let alone articulate—my feelings had brought him away from wherever he’d been and right to my work, with all of his friends in tow no less.
Flynn let out a breath, but didn’t let go of me, intuitive eyes still scanning over my face, reading every single one of my secrets.
After what felt like an eternity, he let go of my cheeks and took a step back, letting his hands fall down at his sides.“You were going to break up with me, weren’t you?”
I opened my mouth to protest, but quickly snapped it closed when I remembered that was exactly what I’d been intending to do.
“Why?” he asked.
The stupid fish and bird comparison shoved itself to the front of my mind again. I pursed my lips to stop myself from saying it. “It just…”
“Rose.”
I immediately recognized the sound of my manager’s soft voice behind me.
With a grimace, I turned away from Flynn and gave her an apologetic look. “Hey, Ashley.”
“You just got seated a party of five by the window,” she said.
I managed a nod and angled my eyes back toward Flynn. “I’ll go get them right now.”
“Thanks, Rose.”
I sighed and looked up at Flynn. “We can talk later,” I told him. “I have to work.”
“We can move to another table,” he said.
“I still have towork, Flynn.” When I stressed the fact this was my job, placing my hand against my chest in emphasis. “This is my job.”
He licked his lips, biting the corner of his lower lip between his teeth before sidestepping out of the way so I could get past him.
I took a step and he reached out, grabbing my arm and drawing me back to a stop. He was so close and he smelled so good, and I felt the tension rolling off of him in waves. He’d beensincerelyworried about me when he gathered up all of his friends and hauled them away from wherever they’d been to the shitty little restaurant I worked at. I figured if I touched his chest, his heart would be racing, so I did.
And it was.
The frenetic pace of his heart caused mine to skip and sputter, and I yanked my hand back like the touch of him had burned me.
“Right.” He let go of my arm, looking like it hurt him to touch me too.
“I’ll be right over.”
“Don’t let them rile you up,” he said, expression ever apologetic.
I inhaled a breath, steeling myself against whatever Flynn thought I needed to prepare myself for.
“This is my job,” I reminded him, as if I hadn’t just said it. “This won’t be the first table of rich assholes I’ve had to deal with and it won’t be the last.”
