Page 48 of The Sweetest Devotion

“I get it,” I said, accepting his need to lay out ground rules. “Let’s hear it.”

“Whatever you’re not comfortable with sexually we can talk about, and vice versa,” Keith reasoned.

“Agreed. Anything else?”

His sharp gaze cut to me. “If I’m fuckin’ you, it’s mine,” he said with finality.

I forced myself to laugh, not wanting to give in to the tension, because it was clear he was deadly serious. “That’s nice, but I belong to me. For now anyway.”

Keith wasn’t playing. He came close, picking me up and setting me on the railing. With his eyes on me, he repeated himself adamantly. “If I’m fuckin’ you, it’s. Mine.”

Heat rushed between my thighs and I felt an ache so deep, it hurt.“A committed no-strings relationship?”

Keith wasn’t amused by my sense of humor. “I’m an only child. I don’t share well.”

“Same,” I admitted breathlessly. His determination to have me all to himself was a heady temptation I wasn’t sure I could resist.

“This arrangement would work perfectly for a lot of men, but not me,” Keith let me know. “I’m loyal to the soil. And I expect that in return. The moment you start feelin’ ol’ dude and givin’ in, it’s done—I’mdone.”

“I can only offer you sex. I can’t love you, Keith,” I insisted. “I won’t.”

He nodded. “Understood. But my point still stands.”

Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better agreement. He wasn’t going to be out doing him while I was in Hampton Hills. He was free to date other people, but he wouldn’t. To ask for my loyalty in return wasn’t much. I kinda liked that he was willing to be faithful to me despite our not building anything real.

“Okay,” I agreed. “No one touches me, but you.”

“Only me,” he repeated.

“Yes,” I breathed out. The moment was soaked in a tension I couldn’t wade from. All of my focus was locked on Keith. The feel of his hands on my body. His dark eyes staring back at me. The commanding tone of voice he was hypnotizing me under.

Keith came close, his eyes locked on my lips before gazing into mine and back. When I thought he’d kiss me, he didn’t. Softly, he pressed his lips to my jaw and I felt my hands grip the railing.

Shit.

His hands gripped me harder, keeping me steady, keeping me sane.

“This is a terrible idea,” he whispered in my ear. “We too grown for this.”

I tipped my head back, loving his closeness, but knowing I should’ve moved away. “I know.”

“So now what?” Keith asked as he reared back and stared at me, quirking a brow.

It was Sunday evening. My fiancé was out of town and I had no other responsibilities as far as I knew.

“I want you to take me back to bed,” I told him.

Keith stared at me for half a beat before shaking his head and pulling me down to him. “Fuck it.”

10

I thought it was a fluke.Just a wild one-off I’d think about from time to time. There was no way I’d see her again.

But then she called.

And here we were.

She lay there, naked, tangled in my sheets, wearing my baseball cap. Kennedy had put it on to be a pest, but I liked the sight of her in it, lying there. Her foot was poking out of the end of the sheets, exposing her white painted toenails.

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