What Brings Me to You by Loralee Abercrombie Read Free Book Online Page A

construct, of which I wanted no part, but I couldn't. I was frozen, staring into his impossibly blue eyes which, until that moment, had not looked at me with such intensity. A look which, in conjunction with his firm hold on my wrist, turned me to putty. My body’s response to his touch, to his nearness, shocked me. The instantaneous desire to be near him, to feel his hands on other parts of me was powerful. I felt myself involuntarily leaning infinitesimally closer to him. My breath uneven, my eyes widened with anticipation and wonder, my mouth twitching in expectation. I’d never experienced anything like it, but I was sure I could get used to it.
                  What was, I'm sure, no more than a few seconds felt like an eternity. Like time stopped and everything was suspended, including all my sense of reasoning. Thankfully, he broke away first to pay, and I positioned my face directly in front of the air vent to stave off a massive, full body blush. I could've insisted I pay him back, could've left money in the car, but I didn't really have it to spare. I was feeling almost grateful to him for saving me from having to pay for my meal in spare change.
                  Teddy drove to a place where we could eat in the car with a view of the water. We were out of the way of tourists and screaming kids but could see the fishing boats off in horizon. The view was so breathtaking and serene that it could’ve also been construed as a "make-out" point. It occurred to me that Teddy had probably been there dozens if not hundreds of times with the blond, and the thought turned my stomach. This has to stop Charley. He doesn't want to marry you. You're friends at best.
                  Friends? It was the first time the word entered my mind in connection with Teddy and it made me feel good. Better than good, I felt alive. I felt present in that moment; a warm feeling, like being wrapped in a blanket, spread from my stomach outward to all of my limbs and made me smile.  Friends.   I tested it out over and over.  We're friends...Here's my friend, Teddy.... I'm going to the beach with my friend.   I was still repeating it over and over when his biting voice whispered:  If he's a friend, he can hurt you.   I reared back in my seat in horror. Friend meant he was somehow in my life and could find a way to use me, exploit me, screw with me. No way. I was content to be alone.     
     
    *****
     
                  "Where do you live?"
                  I sat on top of my sweaty hands in the passenger seat to keep them from shaking. I wanted to wipe them on my thigh but I didn't want it to be so obvious I was internally freaking. My shell could not crack, though the mushy interior was pushing on all walls like concrete against glass. I’d had these moments before but with Teddy every look, every touch, every heartbeat seemed to be magnified and every time I felt like this. Like I was going to lose the tenuous grip I had on reality. When you go through the kinds of things that I went through, there’s such a fine line between a great day and a cluster fuck , a line that I’d learned, in my own way, to skirt. Being with Teddy blurred that line so much, and I was on the precipice of a possible disaster.
                  "Charley? Did you hear me?"
                  "I...I don't...not yet, okay?"
                  "What?" the look in his eyes was concern and question. There was something else, too. Something wonderfully warm and familiar like a quilt or a hug. It calmed me enough to tell him the truth.
                  "I'm not ready for you to see my house, okay? Can you just drop me off right here?"
                  "Charley, this is the middle of downtown Tampa. It's dangerous. I'm not letting you walk all the way by yourself," I wanted to cry with how nice he was being but I couldn't let him see my