Page 116 of Empty Net

Kiss.

Love.

Kiss.

You.

He does it again and again, and it does nothing to help settle my heart rate that seems to be at an all-time high. That same feeling I had out in the ballroom slams into me all at once. The room feels so small. Fox now feels too close, and I’m working far too hard for each breath I take.

Kiss.

I.

Kiss.

Love.

Kiss.

You.

I need to move. I need to go, need to be anywhere else than here right now. I shove at Fox, and he jerks away instantly, his oak gaze finding mine.

“Lilah?” he asks, likely seeing the wild look in my eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I have to… I need to… I can’t…”

He slips out of me, and I groan at the loss of him. He sets me back on my feet, tucking himself back into his pants as I drag my dress back down, trying to ignore the fact that I can feel his cum leaking down my leg, a reminder of what just happened between us.

I love you.

“Hey, what’s—” I hold my hand up when he takes a step toward me, and it kills me to see his brows crush together.

But not as much as it kills me to hear those three words still crashing through my mind.

I love you.

“Why did you say that?”

He swallows, dragging his hand over his clean-shaven jawline. “Shit,” he mutters, exhaling heavily before finding my stare again. “Because I?—”

“Don’t.”

His brows furrow. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t say it,” I beg. “Please don’t say it again.”

He clenches his jaw. “Why not?”

“Because you can’t.”

“I can too.”

I shake my head. “We said it was fake. We said this wasn’t real. We had a deal.”

He nods. “You’re right. We did have a deal, Lilah. We said this was just for fun, said we’d break it off after the party. But, fuck, I don’t want to, okay? Something changed along the way for me. I fell for you. I fell for your laugh and your smile and thefact that you love to eat and drink everything out of a mug. You think butter pecan is the superior flavor when we all know it’s for old people. You’re smart and strong and so fucking capable of doing anything, and all I can do is stare in awe. You take control and you’re not afraid of what you want. You make me feel good. When I told you I collect turtle figurines, you didn’t laugh at me. When I told you I struggle to read, you didn’t even bat an eye, instead you picked up a book and you read for me. You make me feel like I’m on top of the world no matter what.” He rolls his tongue along his bottom lip and exhales. “I don’t want to break it off. I don’t want to go back to being acquaintances. I don’t want to go back to barely knowing you. I want this. I want what we’ve built these last few months. I wantyou. For real this time.”

My head moves back and forth as Fox takes a step toward me. I take one back but run right into something big, and I peek behind me.

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