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The light returned to my eyes as I leaned forward. “I wasn’t aware of any competition.”

“No need for contenders. Everyone knows you would dominate.”

I grinned. “They just know I’d beat the crap out of them for top spot.”

Off her giggles, the conversation wheeled back to a more palatable place, and we resumed our playful banter and french fry fight.

Still, the guilt lingered.

Guilt in the form of betrayal; something I’d just given my daughter a lecture on.

Guilt in the form of weakness.

Guilt in the form of her best friend.

My Wonderwall.

But the wall between us was anything but wonderful. And I feared we were all one loose brick away from that wall crashing down and putting us six feet under.

CHAPTER 26

There were the kinds of messes that took a dishrag to clean up, and some that required a mop and a bucket. Some messes spilled over and compromised other areas, which turned a minor inconvenience into prickling aggravation. And then there were grade-A, next-level catastrophes that left you sifting through the wreckage, contemplating every misstep, every wrong turn, that led you there.

We weren’t any of those things.

We were just plain fucked.

This wasn’t a stain on the carpet that could be scrubbed away, and it wasn’t even a gut job that required hours upon hours of manual labor to fix what was broken; it was a relentless flood, drowning everything in its path. And as I stared at her sun-kissed limbs tangled in my silver bed sheets, her hair a golden river splashed across my pillowtop, I wondered how we could possibly ever reach the surface and breathe clean air again.

Sunshine trickled in through the bedroom window of my apartment, showering pale-yellow stripes across her cheek. She was so damn gorgeous. Sweet innocence curled around her, mingling with sinful memories from the night before.

We’d been sleeping together for two weeks.

I wasn’t proud of it, and I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting anything more to come from it. This was all we were going to get.

I placed a hot cup of coffee on the nightstand and crawled onto the mattress, wrapping an arm around her and tugging her to my bare chest. I’d been doing my damned hardest not to let emotion stifle reason, and to allow this to be exactly what it was: a forbidden affair that would live in the shadows and never see the light of day. I’d never take her out to dinner, hold her hand in public, or put a ring on her finger.

I had laid my intentions out, loud and clear, and Halley claimed to be content with the terms. But I knew that even the best-laid plans were often butchered and left splattered across a murder-scene floor.

Halley stirred awake, making a breathy, squeaky sound that jumpstarted my heart. She twisted toward me, her long lashes fanning out and tickling her brow. A drowsy smile stretched when I skimmed my hand over her abdomen and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“Morning,” she said groggily, her voice sleep-ridden gravel. “You’re up early.”

“It’s after seven. You should probably get going.”

Stretching her arms over her head, her belly flattened and tightened beneath my palm, and I grazed my hand up between her breasts until I captured her throat and tilted her mouth to mine.

She deflated the moment our lips brushed, circling both arms around my neck and pulling me on top of her. “I don’t want to go.” Careful fingers mussed my uncombed hair. “I like it here.”

“I like you here.” Our lips touched again, just a feather-soft graze.

“I told Tara I was sleeping over at Scotty’s. She won’t expect me back till lunchtime.”

My eyes closed, my throat rolling. “It’s dangerous. We shouldn’t be doing this here,” I told her. “Tara has a key to my apartment.”

She nodded, even though her expression soured. “I guess we can resort to seedy motels and shady corners of parking lots.”

Fuck. I didn’t want that, either. I wanted her here, in my bed, in my home, imprinting her golden light on every lackluster inch of my world. “You look best in my bed.” My dick hardened from half-hard to rock-solid as I kissed my way down her throat. “But it’s not safe.”

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