Page 46 of Tag

His stare pinned me in place, scanning every inch of my face like he was searching for fractures, a crack in my composure, any flicker of guilt he could use to justify his suspicion. I met him head-on because I had nothing to hide. He exhaled then, and a fraction of tension left his shoulders.

“I’m sorry. I had to be sure,” he murmured, the words gritted out like they hurt to say.

I snatched the bag back and turned away from him, throwing open the door, damn near launching myself out, and then slamming it shut with enough force to shake the frame of his truck. I barely made it to the walkway before his arms locked around me from behind in a brutal, breath-stealing embrace.

“Let me go,” I snapped, twisting in his grip, anger and disbelief boiling over.

“No.” The word came raw and guttural. His forehead pressed against my shoulder. “You don’t get to walk away from me upset.”

“Ryder…” I groaned, my fight stuttering, even though my mind still reeled.

His arms relaxed the tiniest bit. “You can fight all you want,” his lips were a feather-light caress near my ear, “but I’m not letting you go.”

The somber truth was that I didn’t want him to. What had just happened should have made me scream at him to never touch me again, but the truth of how I felt was the opposite.

“Okay,” I relented on an exhale, surrendering to the inevitable. “I get it.”

“Good.” His voice slid over me like a velvet-bladed caress, soft and intimate, edged with promise and threat. “Now you have to stop being mad,” he murmured, his lips grazing myskin, “or I’ll be forced to climb through your window later and apologize on my knees.”

I twisted my head, glaring at him. “That’s insane.”

He chuckled. “It’s us.”

I sagged back against him, letting him carry the weight of the moment. His lips traced the edge of my jaw next, and I shivered, even as alarms screamed at the back of my mind.God, Sanjana. You absolute mess.Why was it so hard to just be the good girlfriend? The loyal best friend? The girl who didn’t burn her whole world down just to steal small, forbidden tastes of what she was never meant to have?

I was tipping closer to the flame with every passing day, knowing damn well it would scorch me alive. I turned around and looked up at him, our bodies still pressed together.

“For the record, I’m careful.”

His expression twisted. “Yeah, I’d really rather not hear about that. In fact, let’s make that a rule. I never want to hear about it. For both our sakes.”

“I’m just letting it be known. Plus, I’m on a journey of celibacy,” I said with mock solemnity. “You’re my best friend. It’s not oversharing.”

That was all I was willing to voice on the subject. I wasn’t about to unpack Ashton’s fumbling foreplay habit or the fact that I had to fake each orgasm, as terrible as that was. The alternative had been demolishing his ego in real time, and I wasn’t cruel enough for that. I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that Ryder was the benchmark, and Ashton had never come close to making me feel the way he did without even trying.

He stared at me for a second, eyes hooded. “I hope that journey comes with a lifetime devotion, because I fully support it. Especially if it includes not letting that idiot touch you again.”

I smiled despite myself, and then he smirked a dangerous curve of his mouth I’d never been immune to. “I’m not exactlydoing anything that would cause that concern either, using your own words, for the record.”

The implication was clear.

It brought forth a barrage of questions I refused to ask for the same reason I hadn’t told him that my relationship with Ashton had an expiration date. Talking about them like this felt like the greater betrayal, worse than standing there, pressed into him.

“So those tests are for the little ferret, then?” Amusement slid back into his tone like it never left.

“What did Ijusttell you about calling her that?”

He laughed lightly, “Alright, alright, my bad.” He raised his hands like I’d pulled a weapon on him.

“Don’t say anything, please.”

His expression sobered. “I always keep your secrets. Even the ones you never told me.”

“I don’t have any secrets from you,” I pointed out.

“If you say so. I won’t tell anyone about Fey. Not to any randoms, anyway. I’m still judging, though.”

“Accidents happen, Rye.”

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