Page 128 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

My stomach wavered with a big feeling. Holden loved some dumb painting I did years ago.

“I asked you if you had seen it and you said no.” I wasn’t mad, just confused.

He watched me carefully. “I wasn’t ready to part with it. I’m still not.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because then you’d know.”

His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I blinked, but before I could freak out, I saw the other two paintings.

“Holden!” I pointed at the crappy paintings I had done at the inn, looking out Katherine’s office’s window at the ocean. They hung beside the painting of him crying. “I threw these little ones out.”

“I know. They’re beautiful, Sadie. They’re not garbage.”

I shook my head and put my hands on my cheeks, trying to understand it all.

Holden loved me.

The words filtered into my blood stream, winding and coursing through me, warming me and expanding deep in my chest.

Holden was in love with me, and he loved every part of me, even these dumb little paintings I did on a whim for practice.

I should be freaking out. I should sprint to my car and drive straight to Toronto this second. Instead, I felt seen, like I was important to Holden. Like everything would be okay.

You’re okay, he had told me at the beach all those weeks ago.

I’d never hurt you, he had told me at the art rave.

Maybe I’d be okay if I let myself fall deeper into Holden’s life. Into his bed. Into his family and his home and his love. Just a little deeper. One more taste.

I stared at the painting on his bedroom wall and my heart panged. Again, the thought of staying flickered in my head.

What about all my debt, though? If I didn’t find Holden a wife, I’d be back at square one, paying off my mistake for a decade. I’d be fucking over my best friend for selfish reasons. I’d be turning down the career opportunity I’d been wishing for since I sat in Claire’s first lecture.

I couldn’t make this decision right now. For tonight, I’d let myself sink one foot further into Holden’s life.

“You kept my paintings,” I told him before I stepped toward him and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He nodded down at me, eyes flickering with affection.

I leaned forward to kiss him.

47

Holden

The second she kissed me,my control snapped. I kissed her like I wanted to, without holding back. Little moans slipped out of her throat as my tongue swept into her mouth, gliding over hers. I nipped her bottom lip and she let out a little gasp.

Her hands came to the hem of my shirt and we broke the kiss so she could pull it over my head. I helped her out of her shirt, undid her bra, and tossed it aside before I pushed her back onto the bed. Her tits bounced as she caught her balance and she shot me a lazy grin.

Fuck. My cock throbbed and I undid my belt while keeping my gaze on her. She leaned on her elbows, hair wild around her shoulders, heated gaze flicking between my eyes and my hands at my belt.

“I like you being in my room,” I told her.

I wanted it to beourroom.

I yanked my belt out of the loops and threw it on the floor before shoving my pants and boxers down. My cock sprang free and her gaze dropped to it, fire flickering in her eyes. She bit that soft bottom lip and my length pulsed against my stomach.

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