Page 72 of Stay
He allows me to be the aggressor.
Which feels oddly empowering.
I’m the one in control.
I’m the one who decides how this will unfold.
Instead of making me feel scared or nervous, it feels good.
It feels right.
“Cassidy,” he growls, “you have no idea how much I want you.” The low scrape of his words arrow straight to my core before exploding on impact.
All of the sudden, I feel very powerful.
“Stay with me tonight.”
Instead of answering, my lips steal over his as our tongues tangle. “Even if we don’t do anything more than this, I just want to hold you in my arms.”
His words have my heart thawing. Melting from the deep freeze that has encapsulated it for almost a year.
Cole isn’t like anyone I’ve met before. He won’t hurt me. Not deliberately. If anything, I’ll end up hurting him. I’m the one who will try escaping from our intimacy when it becomes more than I can handle.
Maybe I don’t deserve Cole Mathews, but I want him. I want tohold onto him for as long as I can. I want him to heal the broken pieces inside me.
With my lips pressed against his, I whisper, “I want to stay. I want…” my voice trails off. Even though I’m terrified, I force them out. “I want you.”
He breaks our kiss before drawing away enough to search my eyes. “Are you sure? We don’t have to have sex. I can wait.Wecan wait until you’re ready.” He brushes his lips across mine before adding, “You know this is more than just sex, right?”
Yeah, I do.
I think I’ve always known.
But hearing him say it out loud melts the last of the ice within me. His words sweep away all the doubts fluttering around the sharp edges of my mind.
“At some point, you’ll have to tell me what happened.”
My muscles tense as thin tendrils of anxiety thread their way through me, making my chest feel tight and achy.
“Not tonight,” he says quickly as he searches my eyes, “but soon. You can’t keep pushing me away when you get scared.”
Can I do that?
Can I regurgitate everything that happened, and then wait for him to accept or reject me?
It’s a frightening prospect.
But what other choice is there?
I want—noneed—to give this a real chance.
I want Cole. And I want this to work between us. The only way that can happen is if I tell him the truth.
Full disclosure.
“Yes,” I whisper thickly as my belly twists itself into a series of complicated knots.
Almost as soon as the answer escapes from me, he captures my lips before wrapping his arms around my body and carrying me to the bed where he lays me down. Once he settles on top of me, his lips feather over mine.
