Page 95 of Unloved

She’s beautiful like this, her hair soft and smooth, but part of me aches for the tangles of her curls to thread my fingers through like I’ve dreamed about for weeks.

Ro’s breath stutters as she pulls away this time before slamming a little too hard into me, teeth clinking as I stumble before catching her. I could carry her, but she’s so perfectly tall her legs tangle with mine as we stumble back against my bedroom door. My hand fumbles to open it before we both stumble in with laughs forcing our lips apart.

Her gaze drops a little self-consciously, hands smoothing the fabric of her silk top. I’m distracted by her teeth chewing relentlessly on her swollen bottom lip.

We both stand quietly, a beat too long, until matching flushes work their way up our necks, climbing through the skin of our cheeks. I want to touch her again, but—for the first time since I was fourteen—I don’t know how.

“Can I kiss you again?” she asks, and a smile bursts across my face. I want to close my eyes and bask in the feeling that her question gives me, but I nod instead, opening my arms for her to come to me.

She does, suddenly unshy as her lips press to mine again, hands grasping at my shoulders as I fall back into the door to steady us both.

My thigh presses higher, hitching her to her toes as she gasps into my mouth, tearing away like that pressure is distracting enough that she can’t focus on the kiss anymore. Her hips move a littleexperimentally at first, before her head falls back and my arms wind around her waist to keep her steady as she rocks.

I tug at her, just slightly. She easily tumbles forward, little puffs of air from her parted lips making the skin of my neck tingle.

“There you go, princess,” I mumble before my tongue traces the sharp hinge of her jaw, up to her ear. I press a kiss to her cheek and smile, whispering, “C’mon, Rosalie. Tell me if it feels good.”

She whimpers and pants, scrambling higher on my thigh as she rides it faster now, her fingers digging harder into my shoulders like she’s—

Fuck. She’s already there.

“Matt,” she begs before convulsing rapidly against me, bucking with abandon.

“That’s it, baby. Take what you need.”

Her moans are so loud I swallow them with my mouth as she rides out the orgasm, slowly coming to a stop.

Her head drops into the crook of my shoulder. I feel a little high, hands smoothing up and down her spine—so Ifeelthe way she tenses.

Ro’s whole body turns to stone, and suddenly she’s pulling herself off my thigh, with her chin tucked down. Eyes to the floor like she’s… like she’s ashamed.

Silence roars in my ears, stomach plummeting as I try to slap on a gentle smile and angle her chin upward.

“Hey, are you okay?”

My voice sounds a bit like I’ve been gargling sand.

“Ro?”

She nods and tilts her head up, eyes watching me like prey caught in a predator’s stare. Which only makes my anxiety spin out a little, because minutes before she was soft against me, overwhelmingly willing in my arms. Now she’s all stiffness and hesitation.

“Sorry.” She gathers her hair into a ponytail, twisting it up beforeletting it spill down her back as she shrugs. “I don’t know what came over me. I—I’m not…” Her eyes shutter before she blinks up at me.

“I think I’m just drunk,” she whispers, like it isn’t a knife against my throat.

“I’m not drunk,” I sputter. “Are you drunk?”

I’m certain she isn’t, having not stepped away from her side all night. And yet something like relief flutters through my stomach when she shakes her head.

“This is so embarrassing.” Her hands lift to cover her reddened face again. “Can we please just pretend that didn’t happen?”

If itwasclear embarrassment for this happening withme, for being withmelike this, I would let it go at her request. But something about this seems wrong.

Use your head, Matt. You know this girl.

Even as I try not to jump to conclusions, I know her enough to nearly feel the presence of Tyler Donaldson in the room with us—and it makes me a little sick with rage.

“Rosalie,” I say, tone calm but louder than my whispered words before. “Nothing about what just happened is embarrassing to me. It was incredible—youare incredible. Why are you embarrassed?”

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