Page 52 of Sweet Possession
His tone was soft and full of worry, and I couldn’t stop the tears fromescaping.
“I’m sorry,”I cried, burying my face in my hands.
Fox stood, and a second later he pulled me to my feet beforewrapping his strong arms around me, holding me against his chest.
The dam broke. Tears soaked into his shirt as I sobbed and sobbed,all the while he stroked a soothing hand down my hair, letting me get out all the hurt I’d been harboring since last night.
A minute or an hour could have passed, I wasn’t sure. Fox didn’t rushme to pull myself together. When the last of my tears dried up, and my bodysagged with exhaustion, I pulled out of Fox’s arms, finding him watching me with caution as if I would shatter again.
“I’m sorry. I’ve ruined your shirt and kept you from work.”
He gave me a small smile.“I’m not worried about either. But I amworried about you, baby girl. Give me a minute, and we’ll talk.”
He shrugged out of his jacket before pulling his phone out, pressing several buttons, and holding it to his ear.“Carry on with the interviews without me for today, a personal matter has come up, and I need to take care of it.”
I shook my head, panic replacing my pain. I didn’t want him to cancelhis work because of me. He grabbed my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.“Thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Once he’d hung up, he scooped me into his arms and lifted me ontothe dining table, pulling my legs apart so he could stand between them. With his hands on either side of my hips and his face an inch away from mine, I was caged in.
“Talk to me, Cora. What’s going on?”
Embarrassment crawled through me, and I sucked in a shaky breath,certainthatwhen I told Fox what was wrong, he was going to laugh in my face and call me a stupid little girl.
But instead of speaking my fears about him not wanting to have sexwith me, I blurted something else.“Why do you carry a picture of Lily around with you?”
His brows shot up as he reared back.“What?”he said, his tonelaced with confusion and a hint of anger.
Was he madthatI’d gone through his wallet?
“In your wallet. I didn’t mean to snoop, but I found the picture ofLily…she’s half naked.”
He scowled as he stepped away to grab his wallet, rummagingthrough before he pulled the photo out from where I’d put it back in the same spot I’d found it.
“Fuck sake,”he hissed, instantly ripping the photo in half, andthenhalf again, and throwing the pieces in a bin.“Cora, I didn’t know it was in there, I don’t usethatcard the photo was hiding behind. She must have put it in there when we were sleeping together, but I promise you, I didn’t know it was in there.”
He came to stand back in between my legs but I couldn’t look him inthe eye as embarrassment seeped further into my bones.
“That’s not the only thing you were upset about, was it?”He tilted mychin, holding me in place so I had to look at him.“What else is going on?”
I blinked, my eyes brimming with unshed tears.“You don’t want tohave sex with me,”I whispered, wishing for the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
Embarrassment had turned to mortification, and I wanted nothing more than to disappear off the face of the earth.
He didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity, his silenceallowing the mocking voice in my head to laugh at me.“What makes youthinkthat?”he said eventually, still holding my chin.
“I…”I stuttered, unsure of what to say. My palms turned clammy asmy heart began to race.“You didn’t touch me last night after our date. I wanted to have sex, but you didn’t want to touch me.”
I pulled my face out of his grasp, unable to look at his expressionlessface any longer.
And then I waited.
Waited for him to tell methatI was right.Thathe’d changed his mindabout us, andthathe didn’t want me anymore. I waited for my heart to be broken into a million little irreparable pieces.
Only it didn’t happen.
He inched closer to me, turning my chin again to make me look athim.“Baby girl.Thatcouldn’t be further from the truth. What did I tell you on the plane?”He paused, waiting for my answer but my mouth had forgotten how to work.“I told youthatyou needed to say the words. If you wanted me to feast on your delicious pussy, or if you wanted my cock inside you, you only had to ask. I didn’t want to rush you, Cora. I was waiting until you told me you were ready. This is all new to you, and like hell was I going to rush you into doing something you weren’t ready for and would later regret.”
He released my chin to brush a thumb across my cheek, soothing myworries away.“Cora, this is all new to me too. Sure, I’ve been with women, but this is the first time I’ve been with someone who I’ve wanted more thanjustsex with, and I’m terrified I’m going to mess it up. So I need to knowthatyou’ll tell me when you’re ready to try things. I need you to tell me if I’m taking things too fast because, baby girl, I don’t want to do anything to risk losing you.”
