Page 41 of Illicit

But a fantasy is just that … fictional.

When my cell dings from across the room with another text, everything stops.

We freeze.

One moment I’m living out my dreams, and the next, I’m dropped to my bare feet on the floor. I have no idea what I look like, but from the sight of Rocco, I can only imagine. His lips are swollen, he’s breathing hard, and when I look down at his cock through athletic shorts, the evidence is clear that I’m not hallucinating.

“Teagan.” My name is sharper than ever before on his tongue. I don’t like it. It’s not at all like it was a few moments ago when he sounded like he wanted to eat me up in one bite.

My gaze jumps from his erect cock to his piercing, angry eyes.

“Why did you stop?” I ask. If I sound desperate, it’s because I am. It’s the only thing in the universe I want the answer to.

“Why did you kiss me?” he growls.

“Because I wanted to.” This is no time for games or lies. I tell him the truth. “I’ve wanted to for a very long time.”

Like since before I got my driver’s license, but I leave that part out.

He has nothing to say to my admission of pining after him for eons, but he does turn on his tennis shoe and begin to pace. He drags a hand down his face and mutters under his breath, “What the fuck did I do? I’m as good as dead.”

“Wait, why?” I demand. “You didn’t do anything. That was all me.”

He turns to me and points to the spot on the wall that should be a shrine if I have anything to do with it and raises his voice. “That was not you. That was all me, dammit. You’re Tim’s daughter. Not only that, the baby. I am so fucked, I can feel it into next week.”

I cross my arms to cover my hard nipples that are no doubt cutting through his T-shirt, because unlike him, I am not at all fucked and never have been. I was quite looking forward to the experience, too, but only with him. “No. It’s fine.”

He drags his hands through his hair and fists it on top of his head. After turning in a slow circle, he stops and glares at me. “This is the least fine thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve done some pretty bad shit.”

I take a step back and hug myself tighter. “What are you saying?”

He stops and turns to me. “I’m saying that was a mistake. It was my fault, and it will never happen again.”

“But—”

“Never,” he bites and raises his voice. “I’ll never allow it to happen again.”

Tears burn my eyes and threaten to spill over. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep them from humiliating me one more time today. I move to my cell and ignore every text message coming in from my so-called friends and go straight to the Uber app.

“What are you doing?” he demands.

I shake my head and can’t look at him. “I’m going home.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he states, as if he has any say about where I go.

“Thank you for getting me out of jail. I’m sorry about tonight. You know, jail…” I wave my hand around and sniff, doing everything I can to keep it together. “This. But I know where I stand. I get it.”

Rocco tries to get between me and the door. “It’s the middle of the night. You can’t leave.”

I grab my heels that hurt my feet before we left the state of Mississippi and skirt around him. I don’t worry about my clothes. I never want to see that outfit again, anyway.

I open the door and am down the stairs of his apartment building on bare feet even though he’s hot on my heels. “You’re not leaving. We need to talk about this.”

Damn, how many times can a girl cry in one night. Maybe the shroud of darkness will hide my fresh tears. “No, no. You’ve said plenty.”

“Teagan,” he calls as he catches up. “Dammit, wait.”

I check my app to see where the driver is. A mile. I guess it pays to be in a big city. There are maybe three Uber drivers in my small college town. It takes forever to get a ride.

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