Page 46 of The Sweetest Devotion

Oh.

I didn’t peg Keith as the romance-reading type.

Curiosity got the best of me as I grabbed the book and flipped it open to its first chapter, wondering what he was reading.

There was something about summer that made me delirious. Made me needy. I thought it was the heat, the unrelenting rays sending me into a starved frenzy.

It was June. The luminous sun burned over my bare legs as I lay out on my bedroom balcony, and I was aching. And that’s when it started.

The voice of the female character called to me, almost making me want to lay and read more. But I had to get a move on.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

Whoa.

My limbs were mush, nearly going out beneath me.

How could any woman get used to Keith’s size and aggression?

I stumbled around the bed and picked up his discarded T-shirt. It felt like I was walking for the first time as I made it outside completely unsteady on my feet. Keith was leaning against the railing, smoking a cigarette in nothing but his low-slung joggers.

I slid up beside him and stole the source of nicotine right from his hand and brought it to my lips. With his gaze on me, on my mouth, I took a pull and blew out a stream of smoke.

Terrible.

I passed the cigarette back and leaned against the railing.

Keith brought the cigarette to his lips and hesitated for a second before taking a drag.

It was the closest we’d ever get to kissing.

“Why ask me how I like it if you’re just going to take it from the back?” I wondered out loud.

Keith made a face as he regarded me. “I’m supposed to look down at your pretty ass face while I’m deep inside you and not kiss you?” He shook his head and looked off at his backyard beyond us. “I was tryin’ to respect your boundaries.”

Ah.

Keith observed me silently as he came back to me. “How’s your father?”

I shook my head. “Don’t make this personal, Keith.”

“Well excuse the fuck out of me for being compassionate.” He took a pull from his cigarette and I noticed the way his shoulders tensed up.

He was only being nice. A decent human being who’d remembered my father’s illness. It was thoughtful to ask. To care. But that wasn’t what this was about. Keith and I couldn’t cross that line. He couldn’t worry about me, and I couldn’t fall for him. It would end badly.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked next.

Keith came back to me. “About how naked you are under my shirt.”

The comment made me smile as my face heated up. I was naked. Just for him.

I chanced a step closer, nudging him in his ribs. “I had a good time. I’ve been kinda down this past week. Ineededthat release.”

Keith was concerned again as he turned, facing me fully. “Are you still engaged?”

I peered down at my naked ring finger. “He’s not letting me go.”

Keith arched a thick brow. “How does that work?”

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