Page 50 of Against All Odds

“We shouldn’t,” she says, but at the same time she kisses me again.

“Then you have to tell me to stop,” I tell her.

I will kiss her, touch her, taste her, and fuck her if she lets me. Since the second she walked back into my life, she’sbeenall I want.

She hesitates as I kiss her neck, and I realize what a fucking prick I am right now. I want her, but not like this.

Not when she had a day like this.

Not when I can see the way this story ends and I’ll be the villain.

I pull back and she rests her forehead on mine. “I want you,” she says.

“You have no idea how much I want this, but ...” I have to work extremely hard to say the next words. “Not tonight. Not like this.”

She leans back. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Trust me, I don’t either.” My cock is rock hard, and the heat of her against me is too fucking much. “But tomorrow, I’m not sure you won’t regret it.”

“I won’t.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think you will. I won’t be another guy who doesn’t think about you. Who takes what he wants and doesn’t care about the aftermath.”

Violet lets out a half laugh and half sigh and climbs off me. “I can’t even do this right.”

“Violet, it’s not that. Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, you worry about my feelings, but I want this, Everett. I want you. I want ...”

If anyone ever heard the fact that I’m turning away a woman who is literally asking for me to fuck her, they’d have me committed.

I take her hand, pulling it over my aching cock. “Do you feel that? Do you feel how much I want you? I’m torturing myself right now because I can’t be something you’ll regret in the morning. You tell me tomorrow that you want this, and I promise, I’ll spend however much time it takes to erase every memory you have of any other man. I’ll make sure that the only thing you remember is how good I made you feel. You won’t be able to walk when I’m done with you. So I’m going to go home, and you’re going to go to bed—without me, and knowing I’m hating every word I’m saying now. Then I’ll try to fall asleep not remembering the way you moaned when you kissed me. And if, tomorrow, you tell me that you still want this, then buckle up, sweetheart, because I won’t have the strength to walk away.” I stand before I lose the nerve.

Her amber eyes look up. “I never should’ve let you go.”

I grin. “If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be the man standing here today.”

If we hadn’t lost each other when we did, she might not have come back to Ember Falls, and I wouldn’t be who I am. All of this is a chain of events, and she’ll never know how grateful I am that it’s me in front of her.

Violet stands, her hand pressing against my face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I really fucking hope so.”

eleven

Violet

“Please tell me you’re going to call him tomorrow. If you don’t, I might find a way to clone your number and do it myself.”

I laugh, lying on my bed, unable to think of anything else except that kiss. “My head is a mess.”

Analeigh laughs. “Then let’s unfuck it.”

I roll my eyes, glad she can’t see my face because we’re not on video. “I’m not even sure I can.”

“It’s worth a try.”

I lean back against the headboard and sigh. “Give it your best shot.”

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