Page 97 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

River groans, interrupting her as he leans against the wall next to him. ‘He’s got a king-size bed. You’re both adults. Just man the fuck up, put some pillows between you, share the damn bed, and let me suffer through my own choices in peace.’ He pushes his nearly shoulder-length hair from his face.

‘I gotta lay down.’ He leans the top half of his body towards his room, the rest of him following awkwardly. ‘No funny business either!’ he yells as he slams his door shut.

Hols and I immediately look at one another. Then she walks my way, allowing me to grab her, kissing her desperately. When she slides her hands to my neck, I pick her up, her legs around my waist. I’ve imagined this exact scenario about a million times.

‘I’m such a jerk, Dax. I’m sorry I never saw you for who you really are. If I’d have known, I’d have never left you the way I did.’ She talks while I kiss down her neck, carrying her into my room, kicking the door closed behind us.

‘You knownow, Hols.’ I shove her against the door, kissing her lips again when a moan from her makes my mind go blank.

‘I liked youthen, Dax. We spent so much time together I don’t know how I didn’t see this part of you. Now I see—’

I pull away. ‘Whatdoyou see now?’ I ask, staring into her eyes. I need to know. I set her on the ground, on her feet, in front of me.

Her hands are on the sides of my neck, sending sparks through me with her light touch. ‘I see the most amazing man I’ve ever met. You’re smart and funny, charming, honest, mind-numbingly handsome—’

I kiss her again, a gasp coming from her as I do. She starts tugging at the back of my shirt, silently asking me to pull it off for her.

‘Holy hell,’ she says, shyly touching my chest with only her fingertips after I toss my T-shirt onto the floor. ‘You’re not teenage Dax anymore.’

‘He’s long gone.’

Her hand glides up my chest to my neck, pulling me to her again. She’s got the softest lips I’ve ever kissed, and somehow, she knows exactly how to do this like we’ve done it a thousand times before.

Nervously, despite standing here shirtless, I slide my hands underneath her shirt and up her back. She heaves a sigh, breaking the kiss as if she can’t handle my fingertips on her bare skin and her lips on mine. She leans her forehead against mine.

‘You’re sure you want to do this, Hols?’ I ask with a heavy breath. Please, don’t say no.

She pushes me away from her, silently unbuttoning her blouse, answering my question without words as it drops to the floor, exposing that same black bra that nearly sent me over the edge at the pool the other day.

‘Jesus,’ I say to myself, grabbing her by the waist. ‘Fuck the slow thing.’

‘You took the words right out of my mouth,’ she says, her voice breathy in a way that’s melting my brain. She kisses my chest. ‘I want this. Withyou, Dax.’ Her bright blue intoxicating eyes are now fixated on me. ‘Do youwant this with me?’

God, she’s more beautiful than she ever has been. I stroke her cheek with my thumb. ‘More than you know.’

* * *

Later That Night…

‘So… you’re not just tall then,’ she says with a breathless laugh.

‘I’m way more than tall,’ I say in a cocky flirtatious voice.

‘That was –wow.’

I nod, as all the words I know seem to have escaped me. Did thatactuallyjust happen? I look over at her, lying next to me in my bed and she flashes me a smile.Say something, Dax. I roll onto my side, touching her face and softly pressing my lips to hers.

‘Never,’ I say. ‘Ineverthought that would happen.’

‘And now that it has?’

I run my fingers down her neck, over her collar bone and shoulder. ‘Now that it has, I never want to let you go. I’m sure that probably scares the hell out of you, but I can’t keep hiding how I feel about you, Hols.’

‘Nothing about you scares me,’ she says, wiggling around, making herself comfortable now pressed against me, her head on my bicep and her eyes on me. ‘But how much I find myself liking you scares me.’

I can’t pretend I haven’t slept with a lot of women, but what we just did was easily the most incredible, emotionally charged experience I’ve ever had. I said things I’ve never said to anyone else. She stared into my eyes in a moment so intimate I’ll never forget it. She’s lucky I can speak at all right now.

‘Oh,’ she says suddenly. ‘Speaking of liking you, I almost forgot something.’ She sits up, searching the room with her eyes before jumping out of my bed and grabbing her phone.

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