Page 45 of Enemies to Lovers

“Jesus…”

“Nope, just me.” She grins, then reaches for my neck. I let her pull me on top of her, and my hand finds her leg. I hook my finger in the crook of her knee, hitching it on my hip.

“These panties are coming off,” I tell her before kissing her fully, pressing my lips against hers with purpose and urgency. She wriggles from my grasp, getting her lucky underwear off and tossing them across the room. She’s gloriously naked, and her skin melds with mine. I wonder if I see her so perfectly because it doesn’t make sense—her short stature and my lanky one fitting so well together, but we do.

Her nails dig into my shoulders, and mine dig into the flesh of her thighs. We kiss paths up and down and everywhere, and she ignites something in me I’ve never felt, something so indescribable. My brain shuts down so my body can react in its most primal ways. She matches my intensity, whether it be strong or soft. We don’t fight for power, but share it. I find myself wanting to do this with her in not just this action, but all of them.

She opens for me, and I hate that I have to say it, but… “I… I don’t have a condom.” I certainly didn’t plan on this.

Her chest lifts and falls with her heavy breathing, bumping alongside mine. “I’m on birth control. Have you… I mean, are you clean?”

“As far as I know.” A rush of heat fills my neck, but I can admit this to her. “It’s been… a while.”

Her lips turn up. “For me, too.”

I kiss that smile, then run my nose along the bridge of hers. “I can pull out. I mean… if that’s okay.”

Her eyes search mine, and something crosses them that looks a whole lot like uncertainty. She can say no. She can put a stop to this whenever she wants. I won’t hate her, resent her, guilt her—I don’t think I’m capable of doing that to her ever again, in any aspect. I’m ashamed that I ever did.

She lifts her hand and runs it through my hair, her eyes watching the action. I try not to get completely distracted by the sensation of her touch, pulling, caressing…

“This is still just one, Miles,” she says, dropping her hand and sliding it down my beard. “Only one.”

My stomach hollows, and I hover over her, wanting to argue, wishing I could. “Are you sure, then, Val?” I don’t know if I can do just one without my heart ripping apart when she leaves. The kiss was already too much to say no to. Being this close with her, this intimate—it means something to me.

She lifts her hips, her skin teasing and tickling. Her gaze locks onto mine, and I know whatever she says, I’m going to follow.

“I’m sure.”

I rouse from a deep sleep, my face burrowed into my pillow. I open an eye, squinting to focus on the clock on my nightstand. 2:18 am.

Val’s vanilla scent mixed with passion wafts in the air and on the sheets, and I groggily grin, rolling over to pull her skin against mine yet again. But as I stretch my hand across the bed, it comes up empty and cold. I lift my head, my brows pulling together at the lack of the girl I fell asleep next to.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes. She didn’t walk home, did she? We drifted off well after dark, and I don’t want her walking this late, even if Brewster was there to protect her.

I snatch my phone up and send her a text.

Miles: You didn’t walk home, did you?

A buzz vibrates from across the room, and I push from the bed, spotting a light coming from the pocket of her jeans. Relief loosens my chest, and I put my boxers on and search for her. Maybe she went upstairs for a snack or something.

The door’s open—and I know we fell asleep with it closed. I check the movie room first, where I find Hershey snoozing on the beanbag chair. She lifts her head when she sees me, and I tell her to go back to sleep, but she doesn’t listen.

I pad upstairs, Hershey trailing behind me, but everything is dark, and I don’t find Val at all. I do find a figure on the couch, but it’s Paxton. He sleeps over sometimes, and he must’ve been here late, hanging with Sammie or Emerson or both. I hope they didn’t hear us. Val was a bit uninhibited… making me uninhibited.

The memory of her in the throes of ecstasy will be forever ingrained in my brain. I can only hope our “one” will turn into many, but I know what I agreed to.

I grab a bottle of water and make my way back to my room. Maybe she fell on the floor?

Oh wait… Brewster. I didn’t see him at all. She could’ve taken him out for a potty run, worried he’d poop in the house.

I make my way to my closet for a shirt, and my foot hits something solid.

My eyes adjust and focus in on a pink tank top and green and black underwear. A ball of brown and white fur sprawled next to her, Val’s hand settled on top of Brewster’s back.

He’s hidden in the corner of my closet, and Val is curled like a cat next to him, using her arm as a pillow. A smile twitches my lips, and I quickly head to the movie room. I grab one of the fluffier blankets—the one everyone fights for—then snatch a pillow from my bed. As quietly and carefully as I can, I lift Val’s head and settle her against the pillow. I cover her with the blanket, tucking it tight against her soft frame.

She’s amazing. It’s no wonder she outplayed me in everything we competed in. I push her long, dark hair from her face, the braid frayed and only half still tied together. Brewster lifts his head, eyeing me before yawning and settling back down. I hope he knows just how much Val loves him. And I hope she knows how sorry I am.

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