Crave (The Gibson Boys, #3)

by Adriana Locke

His eyes search mine in a way only capable someone you’ve known for a long time can.

2 options: Capable should come out of this sentence OR "capable of someone you've known for a long time."

Peck knocks on the bar top as he leaves, as if he’s doing me a solid and bringing me back to the present.

This is where Peck leaves the bar, isn’t it?

“You from around here?” Peck asks Logan as Hadley and I continue our standoff.

I’m pretty sure Peck left the bar a few pages back. Didn’t see any reference to him coming back in.

“You can’t help who you love. But you can help how much you let them hurt you.”

I bet I could stay up all night and imagine her sweet face. I bet I will too.

Curiously, Beam headaches are generally less agonizing than this one. This is one I haven’t felt in a long time. This is a Hadley headache.

I want to jerk her back, swallow the excuse on the tip of her tongue, and kiss her like she needs to be kissed. Like I need to be kissed.

I’m not actually mad at him. Or at Hadley. I’m mad at me. Something in my genetic makeup makes it impossible for me to ignore Hadley Jacobs. It’s like God created me with a chink in my armor, then He created her to fit that weakness, and I can’t get around it to save my fucking life.

I’m bound to this woman by scars etched on both our hearts; scars we share with only each other.

“I asked him to marry me once. He rejected me, so that won’t be happening again.”

“This is your fault,” he says, motioning between us too. “What? No. You touched me,” I say, tossing my sweatpants on my bag. “You broke the barrier.” “And you came home, love.”

“I’m here to figure out how to make peace with you. I fell in love with you when I was a little girl, and I can’t seem to find a place in my heart to love anyone else.”

“I’m not fishing for gratuitous compliments because fuck that. But look at me. Look at what I’ve done to you, what we’ve been through. How could you love me?”

“Lock up behind me,” he orders. “I told you I was leaving.” He leans against the doorframe, his bicep flexing as he grabs the top of the door. “And I said you were staying.” “Mach—” “Let me win this one, Hadley.” He drops his arm. “Just give me this. Please.”

“Because if I don’t marry her, someone else will.” He stops and flashes me a smug smirk. “Better think about that, Machie boy.”

The way I feel calmer with her around is something I crave. I don’t feel this way around another person or in another spot. Just with her.

If I don’t marry her, someone else will. The only problem is, when it comes to me and Hadley, I can’t marry her. I can’t do that to her or even ask that of her, no matter how much she thinks she wants it.

I want her on every fucking level. I want her so much I can’t do it to her. Lance’s voice filters through my mind again. If I don’t marry her, someone else will. What the fuck do I do now?

“As much as you hate to admit it, you’re there for Peck. You always have my brother’s back.”

Maybe this should stay “AND you always have my brothers back” so it doesn’t look like she’s saying Peck is her brother.

Everything is cut and dry with her.

Everything is cut and dried is much more common.

“You’ve done it now,” he says, ending the sentence with one final kiss. “If only you’d do it now.” He pierces me with a look that’s feral. “Oh, love. I’m gonna do it.”

I don’t know what I wanted more—have her in walk in the bar

"have her walk in the bar" NOT "have her IN walk in the bar"

A surge of jealousy strikes again even though I now know Camilla’s brothers weren’t here for Hadley.

SIENNA!!! Camilla was at a fight with Dom - it doesn't make ANY sense to refer to Camilla's brothers when Sienna is the one with Walker and Camilla is only visiting and wasn't even there at the bar that night.

“If a guy ever looks at me the way you do her, I hope someone is smart enough to tell him to find me.” This I can work with. Gripping the door frame, I choose my words carefully. “But what if he was a clusterfuck of a guy? Wouldn’t he be better off staying the hell away from you?” “No.” Her laugh is simple, as if this should be obvious.

If God asked me to design a woman for myself, I’d just point at Hadley and say, “Yeah, you already did.”

“I can’t imagine anything being harder than giving your baby up for adoption.” “But we did that,” he says. “You know why? Because we loved each other, but we loved her more.”

The words claw at my throat, scraping away my defenses until they’re on the tip of my tongue. “You are wanted,” I whisper, looking into her soul as deeply as I can. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, love.”

“Forgive him for hurting you, okay? And accept him for who he is. Not because he’s worth it or deserves it, but because you do.”

“We can overstep this boss slash employee relationship if you want. That’s cool. We can be friends, but we aren’t gonna be those friends, all right? I’m not the one to talk about cock sizes. I. Am. Not. The. One.”

I shouldn’t have assumed or hoped or whatever it was. I’ve tried to hold your hand so many times, and you keep letting go. I get it now.

I’ve fought for a lot of things in my life, for Hadley’s honor even, but I’ve never fought for her. I jog down the hallway. My keys are on the table by the door, and I scoop them up. My hands shake, the keys jingling in my palm, as I search for my phone. She’s fought for me her entire life, and I’ve let her go every damn time. Except this one.

“Because you’ll never look at another woman like you do her. You look at her like your granddad looked at me. Like Walker looks at Sienna. Like Peck looks at a cheeseball.”

“When I look at you, I don’t just see the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I see the next sixty years of my life.”

“I love you more, Hadley. Not more than you love me, but more than all our fights and disagreements. I love you more than the bad days and the bullshit we’ll have to go through in life. Because if I have to go through it, I don’t want to do it without you.”