Page 96 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Within seconds, I’m kissing her back, my arms around her, pulling her as close as possible. I don’t even care if River walks out of his room and catches us. He can deal because this feels desperate in a way I can’t stop. When she finally pulls away, she steps off the ottoman, grabs my hand, and leads me towards my room.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Something I should have done a long time ago,’ she says, not even looking back at me as she leads the way.

‘Hols, River ishere.’

It’s one thing to get caught making out; it’s another to get caught having sex with her.

She turns around when she reaches my door. ‘Then River is soon going to wish he wasn’t.’

‘Summer dumped him.’

I’m not shutting this down because I don’t want it to happen. I do. God, I do. But I don’t want it to happen because she thinks she owes me for something that happened nearly a decade ago. If she knew all the things I did for her back then, we’d be in that bedroom for days. I want this to happen because she feels what I feel.

‘What happened between Summer and Riv?’

River suddenly bursts out of his room, racing to the bathroom with a groan.

‘Listen.’ I step closer to her, reaching up and touching her neck, my thumb on her cheek. ‘We can talk about this, hell we can evendothis, as soon as River is passed out. OK? I’m not rejecting you. I want this.’

Hols reaches up and touches my hand resting on her neck. When the bathroom door opens, we drop our hands like nothing is going on.

‘Taking back my bed,’ River says as he exits.

‘What happened?’ Hollyn asks.

‘Youhappened if you must know.’

Come on, Riv. Don’t be a dick to her.

She grunts as if she’s offended, now walking towards him. ‘I’mthe reason you broke up?’

‘Yep,’ River continues. ‘You. Apparently, I’m too clingy. I’m invading her space. And I blame you.’

‘I’m sorry. I uh…’ She sighs, her head dropping as though she’s embarrassed.

This is hard to watch. I want to go over there, wrap my arms around her, and tell her it’s probably not her fault. River could have broken it to her differently.

‘Can I do anything to make it up to you?’ she asks.

‘You can commandeer Dax’s bed for a while.’

She snaps her head my way. ‘What?’

‘He’ll sleep on the couch,’ River adds.

‘No.’ She shakes her head. ‘I can’t do that.’

‘It washisidea, Hols.’

Oh, yeah, go announce that shit, would ya? Hollyn’s eyes meet mine. I lift my shoulders, a clenched-teeth grimace on my face. Considering not even two minutes ago, she was ready to throw me onto that same bed and have her way with me, I don’t think it was a terrible idea. Now she looks unsure.

‘Youridea?’

I cock my head. ‘Bad?’

She furrows her brow, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. ‘No, I’m not taking your bed, and you’re not sleeping on the couch in your own apartment. If anyone should sleep on the—’

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