Page 116 of Sassy Love
Instantly, blood sinks, sending my cock to aching hard in seconds. Harried breaths whip from my chest.
“Hey, Princess. What’s all this?” I rasp.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how I broke and entered your apartment?”
“Nah, you can take anything you want.”
“I plan to,” she says softly.
Now she leans forward, her finger beckoning me closer. As I close the distance between where I stand and the foot of the bed, she crawls toward me.
Fucking crawls.
Her long legs are bare. Her brown eyes hold me where I stand as she reaches the end of the bed and rises onto her knees. My hands ache to hold her, but I let them hang by my sides as she explores my face with the pads of her fingers. A fine worship, inch by inch.
“I love the way you feel. The angles that make up your jaw, your cheekbones. All of it,” she whispers. Her hands move over my chest, and she straightens, amusement flooding her face. “Nice shirt.”
Ah, fuck.
“Is this so you remember where you come from?” She giggles.
I glance down at the Montana shirt Ma sent me. Her not-so-subtle way of reminding me to come home whenever I can. “Something like that.”
But I don’t belong in Montana—hereis where I’m needed. Here is where I want to build a life.
I swallow past the stone growing in my airway.
She scared me the other day in the copier room. The way she freaked out over being close... the way it smashed my heart up watching her falling apart.
It’s not that I can’t handle her emotions or her attitude. That’s not it at all. Seeing her hurting was one of the hardest moments I’ve lived through. It may as well have been my lungs suffocating.
Leaving her sitting on the floor was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a long while. But if I’ve learned anything from managing the anxiety that plagues my family, space and time help. As does a safe place to fall. And I want to be that for Carlie more than anything.
Only, she has to let me in first.
Reallylet me in.
“Carlie,” I rasp.
Her fingers fall from my face.
“Lawson?” My name is torn between a plea and a whisper.
“Talk to me. Tell me what you want.” I can barely get the words out, terrified she’ll tell me something I don’t want to hear.
“What do you mean?” Her thumb sweeps over my lips, my jaw, as the pads of her fingers track through my hair.
“This thing between us, serious or not serious?”
Studying my face for a beat, she sucks in a breath. “Serious.”
Thank fuck.
I groan as she slides her palm over my chest, letting it hover over my heart.
“I can’t promise I know how to do this right. But you would be the first man to ever make me want to try.” Her head tilts to one side as her face breaks.
Sweet Jesus, baby.
