Page 36 of Devil in the Details
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Soraya and I used to date.”
My heart plummeted to my stomach.
“But it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other or talked. The relationship was short, and we mutually parted ways.” He paused as if he were waiting for shit to hit the fan. But I stayed silent. “I was at the restaurant meeting a business associate when she came over and talked to me, gave me a hug. I removed myself immediately, because it felt wrong, Olive. I wanted to tell her how I felt, that I was happy, that I’d found someone. You.”
“Why didn’t you tell her then?” I swallowed. “About me, about how you felt?” I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn’t know if I wanted to know the answer.
He took another step toward me, and now my back was to the wall, and I felt caged in, small, and vulnerable, but not frightened or like I wanted to escape.
“I was about to tell her, when I looked out the window and saw you standing there. I saw how upset you were, could see the pain on your face. So I left my business associate standing in that restaurant as I went to go take care of the most important thing in the world to me.” He paused for a moment and I held my breath, waiting for him to continue.
“And what’s that?” God, my voice was no more than this breathy, on-the-edge-of-my-seat sound.
He didn’t answer for a second, but instead lifted his hand and cupped my cheek, stared into my eyes, made me feel like this puddle of liquid before him.
“The most important thing to me is you.”
My breath caught, emotion clouding me, threatening to control every aspect of who I was. I felt so vulnerable right now, so controlled by what I wanted that I actually found myselfpressing my body to his. The deep noise that left him gave me courage to be bolder.
“You’re so fucking important to me,” he said as he stared into my eyes. “You’re all I want, Olive.” He leaned in an inch so our mouths were close enough I felt the heat from his lips. “I fucking love you.”
I slammed my mouth on his and kissed him like my life depended on it, felt him wrap his arms around me and knew that, because Pope was in my life, I’d never be the same.
Because I loved him too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Pope
Icould feel her hands curling against me, as if she were trying to pull me in closer, grasp for something solid to hold on to, use me for strength.
Control. Find it.
“I feel like I’m losing control,” she whispered, her little nails digging into my skin, causing a flash of pain to mix with my pleasure.
I cupped one side of her face as I tipped her head to the side, making her take my kiss, forcing her to suck on my tongue.
She was soft... all the things I envisioned innocence would taste like, all the things I’d imagined she’d be like when I first saw her.
I tried to be collected, calm on the outside. But on the inside… on the inside I was a raging storm, like the waves crashing against the rocky shore at the beach. Violent. Destructive. Consuming.
“Me too, baby,” I finally said against her mouth, not wanting to stop kissing her, but knowing if I didn’t grapple with my control, I’d really fucking lose it.
And I wasn’t the type of man who did that. I wasn’t the kind of person who let himself go.
But with Olive, I wanted to. With her, I wanted to say fuck it all and just give in.
I wanted her desperately, wanted to just take her until she cried out for me as she came, as my cock was deep in her body and I marked her from the inside out.
I broke the kiss to look into her face. Ecstasy covered her expression. She was showing me how she felt on the inside, and I fucking loved that.
“You know how you taste to me?”
She shook her head slowly. Her pupils were dilated, her mouth red and slightly swollen from when mine was on hers.
The air came out of her in little pants, and all I wanted to do was kiss her again and again and again. I wanted to make her drunk off me… addicted to everything I gave her.
