Page 52 of Double Apex

He rubs his eyes, missing my artless attempt at seduction. “Yes. We should apologize.”

“For fuck’s sake.” I shake my head. “Okay, fine. I’m not good at this though. And I suspect you’re no better. We’re not relationship people.”

He rolls onto his side again to make eye contact. “This is an assumption of yours.”

“Oh, really?” I say with a smirk. “You’re suddenly the ‘marry’ in the ‘fuck, marry, kill’ game?”

“I would love to marry one day. Are you surprised?”

Actually I am, and for a moment I fall silent, trying to read his expression. Deciding there’s absolutely no way I’m going there, I scoot closer and lower my voice. “Let’s get the apologies out of the way and do what we do best.”

I reach over him and grab the bottled water, unscrewing it and drinking some so my breath doesn’t smell like scotch. When I set the bottle down, I curl over his hip to peek at his back. The deeper scratch is still bleeding slightly.

I return to my spot on the bed, cross-legged, and look him in the eyes. His mood is hard to decrypt—there’s suspicion, hurt, a sober watchfulness. But also lust. Those gray-blue eyes are dilated black as new tyre rubber in the rain.

“I’m sorry I clawed you,” I begin. “And also that I said the thing about your uncle.”

My focus angles down at one of my hands, and I press my thumbnail into my knee, jabbing little crescents into my skin and watching them fill in.

Cosmin puts his hand over mine to stop me, and I meet his eyes. I take a deep breath.

“And I’m sorry I suck at being friends and didn’t talk with you last night.” I shake my head. “This’ll sound like bullshit, but I’mnot well socialized, Cos. I have very little skill with compromise orhumanmechanics. I’m awesome with machines and data but shit with people.”

His hand is still on top of mine, and he moves his thumb rhythmically, caressing my knuckles. After a lull stretches out for a minute so seemingly eternal you’d think it’d fallen intoa black hole, he lifts my hand and kisses the fleshy base of my thumb.

“Thank you for that. Not only the apology, but sharing some of yourself. It is a rare thing.” His hand glides up my bare arm. “I cannot apologize enough for accidentally striking you. Please forgive me.”

“Iarta-ma, te rog,” I whisper.

He encircles the point of my elbow with a fingertip, then his caress glides up to my shoulder and down into the V of my strappy tank top.

“Also I apologize for using the term which spurred your anger,” he adds. “‘Bloodless’ was an unfair word.”

My eyes drift closed, enjoying his touch shimmering across my skin.

“Draga mea.”

My eyes open, and he cradles my face with a speculative expression.

He presses those gorgeous, pillowy lips together, moistening them. “I would like to propose an alteration to our arrangement.”

“Um…”

“You say we’re not ‘relationship people.’ But we have just navigated apologies after an argument. We are improving our relationship skills.”

I open my mouth to protest, and he lays two fingers over my lips.

“What if we practice with each other? Behave as if this were more than sex?” He scoots closer, eyes shining. “In the privacyof our time together, we can pretend to be in love. Fall asleep together after sex, instead of running away. Fight and make up. Compromise.” He brushes my lips with a soft kiss. “Make love sometimes, rather than fuck.”

My pulse dances at the term “make love,” which I’ve always thought was the hokiest shit ever, but hearing it in his lilting accent makes it soundvery different.

I’m not hating it. And that terrifies me.

I scowl. “Pretending to be in a relationship is the same amount of energy as being in one. I don’t wanna work that hard.”

“It’s practice.” He kisses me again. “Tomorrow, we practice on track. Tonight, in bed.”

His hand is cupping my breast, teasing the nipple with his thumb through the cotton. With the next kiss, his tongue coaxes my mouth open and sweeps inside, stroking. I feel the strap of my tank top slide down, and I move my arm to give him room to bare my breast. A little zap of expectant pleasure surges between my legs.

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