Page 67 of The Way We Fell

Fuck.

“Princess?” She raises an eyebrow.Oh god, I feel sick.

“Caught her reading one of those Disney magazines,” Jay answers smoothly. “Swore it was for Little Miss Maisy, but I know the truth.” He winks as Ruth’s face relaxes into a smile, and then a laugh, and I can breathe again. Just barely, but at least I’m not in immediate danger of panicking and spilling everything—or worse, my stomach contents.

“That sounds like Katy, alright.” She pokes her tongue out at me. “She’s a proper Disney Adult.”

“I am not,” I protest with only a hint of annoyance. “And it really was for Maisy.”

“What is me, Aunty K?” Maisy shuffles over and wraps her arms around my left leg, looking up at me with big green eyes and her lips in a little pink pout. “What is me?”

“Do you remember the princess magazine I bought you?” She nods solemnly as I swing her up into my arms and settle her onto my hip. She’s growing so fast, and even though she’s still only three, I’m already struggling to lift her into my arms. She’ll be as tall as me before I know it.

“It got pretty princess dresses,” she explains to Ruth. “And stickers!”

“Stickers?” Ruth asks with feigned shock. “Wow, Aunty Katy never told me about the stickers!”

Maisy giggles, and I set her back down on her feet to tackle Ruth with a hug attack before I slip out to the kitchen, Jay hot on my heels. He wraps an arm around my waist as soon as we’re alone. His chest is pressed against my back as he nuzzles his face into the space between my neck and shoulder, sucking my earlobe between his lips. I arch into him with a quiet moan.

“We can’t,” I whisper. “Not here. Not with—”

“Fuck, Katy, I don’t want to hide you.” He spins me to face him. “You’re not some dirty fucking secret, Princess. You’re my fucking dream girl. I want to shout you from the fucking rooftops.”

I sigh into his kiss as he presses his lips to mine, teasing with his tongue before claiming my mouth. His tongue sweeps past my teeth, exploring with gusto as he nips at my lower lip. He backs me up against the counter.

“Jay.” I tear myself away. “Jay, we—not here. Please.” I’d love to tell my best friends about us. To sit with them and dissect every emotion, to celebrate with them about this utter elation that I feel when I’m with Jay. But I’m also conscious of Ruth’s repeated warnings, of the way she thinks her brother is too dark for me, and that I’m too wild for him. Of the way she has no idea how perfect we are together.

And the guilt of keeping us a secret is tearing me up inside.

Jay kisses me once more, closed lips against mine, and then brushes a thumb over my cheekbone, taking just a moment to rest his forehead against mine, before opening the fridge and retrieving the milk. We work in tandem, preparing two cups of coffee in silence, before returning to Ruth and Maisy in the living room, as though we weren’t just seconds away from ravaging each other on the other side of the wall.

Chapter thirty-four

Katy

Hourslater,longafterRoo and Jay have left and Amie and Cam have picked up Maisy, I’m just settling down to read through some class notes and prepare for an essay writing session when a persistent thumping at my front door tears me away from the pages in front of me. I tug a blanket around my shoulders, not overly keen to open it and expose myself, braless and wearing just a tiny vest and booty shorts pyjama set. Padding to the door in my bare feet, I clutch the blanket in a fist at my chest. I yank open the door to find Jay, palm raised to slap it against the wood one more time.

I don’t even have time to say hello before he sweeps me into his arms and walks me inside, kicking the door closed behind him. His lips are on mine before I can manage a single thought, one hand bracketing my throat and the other cradling the back of my head, thick fingers working their way into the messy bun holding my hair off my face.

“Fuck, Princess, I need you,” he growls. I fling the blanket off my shoulders and leap, wrapping my legs around his waist as he holds me to him. He walks us up the stairs as I cling to him, never tearing his lips from my skin. When we reach my bedroom, he bypasses the light switch and opts for the pink lamp on my bedside table, bathing the room in a warm glow. He drops me on the bed and I finally take a look at him.

His brown eyes are so dark they’re almost black, and his hair is dishevelled like he’s been running his fingers through it for hours. He has a tension to him, a restless energy that has him almost buzzing with impatience.

“As fucking gorgeous as your bum is in those shorts, they’ve got to go.”

“Quid pro quo, soldier.” I raise a brow with a quirk of my lips. “If I’m getting naked, so are you.”

He reaches behind his head and tears his shirt off, and butterflies storm my stomach. All of my nerve endings are alight and my shorts are growing damper by the second as I watch the thick muscles in his arms and shoulders ripple with every movement. I remove my pyjamas distractedly as I watch him fumble with his belt buckle and the fly of his jeans.

“Need a hand?” I ask sweetly.

“I have plenty of plans for your hands, don’t you worry,” he says lowly, kicking his jeans away. His dick bobs free as his boxers follow the jeans. He gestures for me to get comfortable and I shuffle back against the stack of pillows, settling with my feet flat against the sheets and my knees up.

“Sit right there.” Jay crawls up the bed towards me. Fuck, it’s like he crawled off the page and straight into my bedroom. “Beautiful, Princess. Fucking beautiful.”

My legs are spread and he settles between them, eyes fixed on my pussy and an awestruck smile playing at his lips.

“Touch yourself. Show me how you pleasure yourself when I’m not here.”

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