Page 95 of Broken Trails
“The same reason you are,” he murmurs.
I swallow. “I… can’t sleep.”
His breath brushes the back of my neck. It’s warm. Intimate. “Yeah. Me either.”
My thoughts haven’t stopped spinning. The boardroom this morning. Liam’s voice. That smug expression. And now Michael. In this bed. In my space. Breathing the same air, and I’m hyperaware of it all.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks.
I shift onto my back and turn toward him, half-expecting him to still be tucked under the covers, but he’s already facing me. And he’s shirtless.
I’m completely taken off guard by the sheer amount of skin at such close proximity. Broad shoulders, sculpted chest, muscles shifting under smooth, tanned skin. He rests one hand behind his head like he’s completely unaffected. I, on the other hand, am not.
“Do you have to be practically naked?”
A lazy grin pulls at his mouth. “I can be fully naked if that’s more your thing.”
I roll my eyes. “You wish.”
His quiet laugh curls through the dark, and I hate how it makes my stomach tighten. “So,” he says, his voice softer now, “what’s keeping you up?”
For once, I don’t deflect.
Maybe it’s the dark. Or the fact that we’re both already half-exposed. But I let the truth slip out. “Everything.”
“That’s vague.”
“I know.”
“Try again.”
I hesitate, then sigh heavily. “This morning. The meeting. Liam. The things he said. It’s just humiliating.”
His jaw flexes. “He’s lucky I wasn’t in that fucking room. You have no reason to be embarrassed. It’s him who should be fucking ashamed.”
I swallow, blinking up at the ceiling, feeling the sting that still lingers beneath my ribs. “Doesn’t really matter how many people tell me that. It still feels awful. Like I let him take something I can’t get back.”
His hand moves, brushing my hair where it’s fanned out over the pillow. Slow, gentle passes through the strands. His fingers linger a little too long, like he’s memorising the feel of it. “You didn’t let him take anything,” he murmurs. “He tried… but he didn’t break you. You’re still here. And anyone who gets to be near you now? That’s something they earn. Not something they’re owed.”
My throat tightens. Does that include him? Is that what he means? His words hit somewhere deep and sore, right where I’ve been holding it all in. I turn slightly toward him, just enough that our foreheads almost touch, his hand still tangled in my hair. I don’t say thank you. I just let myself feel it. For once, not needing to pretend I’m unaffected.
I hesitate, then say it anyway. “I’m thinking about you, too.”
“Yeah?”
I glance over, barely nodding. “Yeah.”
His gaze dips to my mouth, and my goodness does my skin burn under it. There’s too much awareness in my body. Everyinch of me feels awake. Alive. My knee suddenly brushes his, and the contact shoots straight through me. And then I’m back in that kiss again.
My lips tingle just remembering it. My thighs shift, muscles clenching. A subtle ache blooms low in my belly.
It’s embarrassing, really. We’ve shared one kiss, and he’s suddenly rewired my whole body. Liam’s touch had always been cautious. Gentle until it wasn’t. But Michael… his hands were firm, and somehow, I felt safe in that.
My pussy clenches at the memory. It’s subtle but sharp. Borderline painful.
God, what is this? Is this the female version of blue balls? Because if it is, I’m currently dying a slow, silent death.
“Jesus,” I whisper under my breath.
