Page 61 of Captured Love

We reach the top of the stairs and Knox leads me down the hall to his room. Not that I don’t know where it is. Once we are inside, he closes the door behind us and double checks that he locked it.

Knox turns to face me, and I still can’t figure out what he’s thinking. Part of me wonders if I’m making the same mistake again. Then again, if I get orgasms out of it, is it really a mistake?

Reframing things makes it a slightly easier pill to swallow.

“Selene,” he murmurs, bringing my attention back to him. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want you,” I say with as much confidence as I pretend to have. “I want this, whatever this is between us.”

His lips quirk into a small smile and he nods, trailing his fingers along my jaw and tilting my face up to his. “Good. Because I want you too. So fucking much.”

And then his mouth is on mine again. I melt into him, losing myself and any sense of time because none of that matters. Just as we start tugging at each other’s clothes, a loud thump sounds from downstairs. Knox breaks away and I can see the irritation in his face.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he says before unlocking the door and slipping out.

I take a moment to collect myself, running a hand through my hair and trying to steady myself. Maybe a small break is just what we need because things were growing hot and heavy quick.

The door creaks open and Knox steps back in. “It was just Wilder. He’s fine. Where were we?” he asks, but he doesn’t make a move to kiss me again. Instead, he strokes my hair back from my face. His touch is slow and soft, causing goosebumps to form on my arms.

“You were kissing me, and I was wondering if I’m making the same mistake again,” I blurt out.

Knox’s hand stills in my hair. For a moment, I think I’ve scared him off, that he’ll tell me to leave, that this was all a bad idea. But then he sighs and sits on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his own hair in that way he does when he’s frustrated or deep in thought.

“I’m nervous and I can’t?—”

I stop talking when Knox reaches for my hand and holds it in his. “I’m at least part of the reason you feel this way and it’ll always be one of my biggest regrets. And that will never happen again. I swear.”

Something clicks within me and settles the panic I have about what tonight will turn into. Sure, there’s still some lingering hesitation about what he might think of my body even though he’s seen all of me before, but I’m sure that will fade with time.

Time. As if we’re going to be doing this over and over again. Now that is too much to think about.

“Okay, Knox. I believe you.”

A soft smile appears on his lips just before he says, “Come here.”

I hesitate for the briefest of moments and then take a step toward him. He pulls me gently onto his lap, and I straddle him, my hands resting on his shoulders. His eyes search mine, and for the first time tonight, I think I can read him. There’s a tenderness there, mixed with something else that I can’t pinpoint.

“We don’t have to rush,” he says. “We can take our time because we have all night.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Thought you might,” he says, the corner of his mouth tugging upward. He places his hands on my hips and lets them rest there for now.

“So,” I say, trying to break the tension. “Do you have a game plan or are we just going to wing it? Get it? Wing it? Cause you’re a left winger…”

He chuckles, a low rumble. “I see what you’ve done there. But back to the game plan, I was thinking I’d start with a PowerPoint presentation on seduction techniques.”

I laugh. “Oh yeah? How many slides?”

“At least twelve. With graphs and charts.”

“Sanchez, I didn’t know you were an overachiever.”

He shrugs. “I aim to please in every way, shape, and form.”

“Every way, shape, and form?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Absolutely,” he says, his voice dropping a notch. “But we could always just go with the flow, see where it takes us.”

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