Page 102 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

Fuck, I loved it when she got all bossy. I grinned and pulled my shirt over my head. She took a step forward, holding my gaze, before she painted a long line down my torso.

She took the shirt from me and tossed it against a wall. “You don’t need that anymore.”

She shot me a devilish smile and blood rushed to my cock. She studied my torso before dragging another stroke across my skin, her gaze flicking from my eyes to my body. I felt the electric contact of her brusheverywhere, skittering across my skin and arcing through me.

More brushes lay on the table behind her. I reached for one and picked up some paint from the same tray before tilting my chin at her.

“Shirt.”

She licked her lips before pulling her tank top off. Underneath, she wore a black sports bra with straps criss-crossing over her back. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and I brushed the hair out of the way before I leaned down to press a kiss to her collarbone.

Her chest rose and fell fast under my mouth. I painted a line across where my lips had been.

Her throat worked as she watched me with a glazed grin. “How come we never go to your place?” she asked, studying me before she painted a line down my bicep.

My lungs tightened. I’d thought about having her over a thousand times. We’d get takeout, sit in the living room, cuddle under a blanket by the fire while a record played. I’d give her a tour of the place and watch her study the design and decor with interest.

It was too good, the idea of Sadie in my home. It was too sweet and she was leaving, and we couldn’t go there. If I had her over, I’d never let her leave.

Also, the paintings in my bedroom. I still hadn’t told her about those. I didn’t know how to bring it up without her seeing a part of me I wasn’t ready to share with her.

I couldn’t put it off forever.

“Soon,” I told her, turning her around and stroking a line of paint down her shoulder, careful to avoid the straps. She shivered under my touch.

I leaned down so my mouth was an inch from her ear. “Cold?”

She shivered again and shook her head, turning to me and studying my body with appreciation.

“God, Holden, you’re so gorgeous,” she breathed before she gathered more paint on her brush and drew a horizontal line across my abs. “So freaking gorgeous. You’re a masterpiece.”

Pleasure and warmth pulsed in my chest, and my length strained against my zipper. Around us, partygoers danced, painted, and made out, and we were left to our own intimate bubble.

I reached to add more paint to my brush before I dropped three dots down the delicate column of her neck. “Sadie, I didn’t even know what beautiful was until I met you.”

Her gaze lifted to mine and behind them, I saw something hopeful but terrified. Her throat worked and her gaze roamed my face. Beside one of the dots I had painted on her neck, her pulse fluttered. My arm wrapped around her back, pressing her warm skin against mine.

Want tore through me and I heaved for air, watching her bright eyes.

Her teeth scored her bottom lip and her forehead creased with worry. “Is this still friends with benefits?”

My chest strained and I dropped the paintbrush on a nearby table before threading my fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck.

“I don’t know,” I answered.

This deal. This stupid, fucking deal. I hated myself for agreeing to let her find someone for me.

It was always her, even if I couldn’t admit it.

Even if she was going home to a better life with a job and an apartment and all her friends, I wanted her.

Something passed between us as we watched each other. Desire flashed in her eyes but there was more. Something longing, sweet, and sad.

My lungs squeezed and I heaved for air.

“Holden, we shouldn’t.” Her gaze stayed locked on mine.

She wanted this. I wanted this. “Why not?”

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