Page 3 of Captured Love

SELENE

“Nice place you have here.” I almost slap myself on the forehead as a reflex.Nice place you have here? Really, Selene?

“Come on. It’s a couple steps above a shithole, but I can’t complain,” Knox throws out there.

I snort before I can control myself. I take a moment to look around the living room and notice that it’s surprisingly neat for a common area of a house with guys living in it.

Knox breaks my momentary trance. “The guys aren't here right now, so it's just us.”

Just us. The words hang in the air like a low-hanging cloud. This is what I’d been hoping for even though Knox is definitely red flag central. Between the warnings I’ve already received about him and the interactions we’ve had with one another so far, I’m mentally preparing for how much of a mistake this will end up being.

“That's...convenient,” I say, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

He starts up the stairs and I follow, my eyes inadvertently tracing the muscles in his back as they flex with each step.We reach the landing and he pauses, turning to look over his shoulder at me.

The tension that has been brewing between us reaches a new high. I swear I stop breathing as I wait to see what he’s going to do next.

“You sure you want to do this?” His voice is low and I can sense the seriousness in his words.

No. Yes.

I'm not sure.

A thousand answers swirl around in my head, each one contradicting the last. The rational part of me is screaming to run, to get out before I dive into something I can't easily climb back out of. The other part—the larger part, the part that has a mind of its own when it comes to Knox—is already imagining what his sheets will feel like against my skin.

Finally I’m able to voice my opinion. “Yes, I do want this.”

“Why? Why did you come here? I’m sure you’ve been warned about me.”

His smugness catches me off guard. The fact that I wasn’t expecting him to say those words has to be all over my face because I feel my eyes widen. But somehow, I manage to say, “I'm here because...”

Because I can't stop thinking about you.

Because bad decisions make good stories.

Because I'm lonely and you're here and maybe we can fill some void for each other.

“...I need this. Whatever this is,” I finish lamely.

Silence fills the space between us. Knox's eyes search mine, and for a moment I think he might tell me to leave, that it's better if we don't start something we can't finish. But then he nods, and the tension breaks just enough for me to take a breath.

I follow him as we walk down the hall. He pushes his door open and stands aside, allowing me to enter first. His room isexactly what I imagined: sparse but functional, with a bed that looks like it was made by someone who rushed to get it done, an old desk cluttered with binders and textbooks, and several hockey posters taped to the wall.

I walk to the center of the room and turn to face him. He closes the door softly behind him and leans against it, crossing his arms over his chest. The posture looks casual, but there's a guardedness in his eyes that makes me think he's bracing for something.

Great… because I feel the same way.

I take a step toward him, then hesitate. The knot in my stomach tightens as I try to read his expression. This is it. It feels like the point of no return. Once we cross this line, there's no going back to the safe distance we've maintained since we met.

“We don’t have to rush,” he says, uncrossing his arms and taking a step toward me.

I nod quickly. “I know.”

Knox reaches out and brushes a strand of hair from my face, his touch softer than I expected. My skin tingles where his fingers make contact, and I feel a warmth start to spread through me. He’s so close now that I can see the different shades of brown in his eyes.

“Why do you make me feel so nervous?” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

He raises an eyebrow. “Nervous? You always seem pretty confident to me.”

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