Page 103 of Of Flesh & Bone

I push in further, and her head drops forward a little more.She moans.That's my perfect girl.

I pull away from her and she inhales a sharp breath.Her eyes are on me as I walk into the bathroom.Quickly grabbing what I need, I go back into the bedroom.She's facing me and has her blank mask on.

"What happened?"I ask her with worry in my voice.

"Nothing.Why?"The blankness is in her tone too.

My eyes narrow to slits."Don't do that."

She cocks her head to the side without saying a word.

"That.The mask.That unaffected camouflage you show everyone else.Don't do that with me."

Her mask slips for a moment before settling back in place."What were you doing?"She sounds impervious, but I know that something I did made her feel...something.Judged or unwanted, I think.All of the animosity I usually carry around inside me melts away.I walk slowly toward her, speaking softly, "You're perfect.I love everything about you.Your strength of character, generosity of spirit, loyalty, and inner beauty are just some of the things that I love about you.There has never been a single moment since the first time I saw you that I didn't want to be close to you."

I'm standing directly in front of her now and the mask is gone.She nods in response to everything I just said."I'm sorry."She breathes out."You just...I thought-"

"Don't."I say quickly as I stroke her cheek with my thumb.I kiss her soft and languid, backing her up to the desk.Grabbing her ass, I lift her up and she wraps her legs around my waist.This is my favorite thing.When she clings to me, and I control where we go next.I keep hold of her and lie us down in the bed.She's on top of me, straddling me with our chests flush together.She starts to lift up and I know what she's thinking.She's thinking that she needs to take care of me the way that I just took care of her.I shake my head."I want to hold you.Just let me hold you."

I only thought we were close before.At my words, she becomes hot wax and melts around my body like a second skin.She clings to me as we fall asleep exactly how I want to fall asleep every night for the rest of our lives.

CHAPTER 33

Eve

The next day, I'm remindedabout the article when we're out to lunch with Cotton and Adam flips him off across the table.

"So that reminds me, did you see the Campus Sleuth article featuring you and your love life?"

Adam stills beside me.His eyes narrow to slits and I can see that he has a stranglehold on his anger."Show me."He grits out.

I take out my phone and pull up the article before I hand it over to Adam.He instantly softens when he sees the picture of us.I don't know what he expected to see but I do know that he's happy and relieved to see that it's us.He doesn't seem bothered at all that his bird salute was caught on camera.He takes a moment longer to read the article and then looks up at me.His mouth is pursed, but he's smiling with his beautiful dark eyes."Problem?"

"Well to start, you flipped off Alton for absolutely no reason."

"You know very well why I did that.You also know he's lucky to be alive."

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