Page 66 of Keep Me Never
“Did he…did he say you looked dangerous tonight, warn you that the mere sight of you would wreck a lesser man?” I cup her cheek, my thumb brushing along the edge of her lips. “Did he say those things to you, Angel?”
A sharp shake of the head, a silentnofalling from her lips.
“Good,” I whisper. “That’s good.” I pause, my stomach in knots.
Her little hand comes up, pressing to my chest, and all I can think is how much I wish she’d keep it there. “Chase?”
“I didn’t want this,” I admit, my tone shredded, my temples pounding. “I tried so hard to ignore it, to avoid this, but I physically can’t. Not anymore.”
Her little fist gripping my shirt, and my feet shuffle impossibly closer.
“It’s me, Paige,” I dare to breathe out, hoping this isn’t another fuckup in my life as my fingers fold into her hair. “I’mthe lesser man and you fuckingwreck me.”
My mouth comes down on hers, and there’s no warning and nothing soft about it. I crush my lips to hers, fist tangling in her long locks. Tugging, turning until her neck is fully stretched, her mouth up and open in offering, and holy shit, does she offer.
Full and complete submission.
I didn’t know that’s what I needed from her until this very moment.
Mine.
She falls into me, molds to me, moaning as I lead us through this.
I want her to feel it—every word I didn’t say, every moment that I stayed quiet when I shouldn’t have.
Every second I pretended I could avoid this—her. Us.
She gasps into my mouth, and I don’t pull back. I press in, my other hand gripping her waist, needing her even closer, no matter that I’ve already got her smashed against the door. She doesn’t resist, just melts into me like her whole body’s been waiting for this too. Like I am the home it’s been looking for.
She makes this sound—soft and shattered—and I swear I losemy goddamn mind. I don’t ease up. I take more, and that seems to be exactly what she wants. To give.
Her hands lock tight around me, nails pressing into my scalp. It’s not pain; it’s the rush right before the snap. The kind that coils in your gut and steals the breath from your lungs, and mine are fucking starved but only for her. For this.
When we pull apart, her lips are swollen, her breath shaky, and her eyes?
Wrecked. Just like mine.
For a moment, everything fades away, the noise, the pressure, the questions—gone. All that matters are the two of us and the utter rightness that swells in my chest at the feel of her in my arms.
But the longer I stare into her beautiful, blue eyes, the more those barricades begin to tumble at my feet. She’s literal perfection and staring down the field with something bigger than me waiting in the end zone—a gold-plated future. And me?
I’ve got nothing in my hands but her and a thousand reasons she should walk away from me.
She deserves something solid, a sure thing, a plan.
Not this.
Not me and my mess.
Proving she can see me like no one else, her soft, little hand reaches up, pressing into my cheek, and I soak in the contact, desperate for it.
“What is it?” she asks, worry in her tone.
I place my hands over hers.
“I have nothing,” I admit. Shame sweeps in like a hand around my throat, squeezing tighter with every word until my voice comes out even quieter than before. “No money, no plan, and maybe not even a future worth dragging you into. It’s messed up, beyond selfish, really, and I told myself I wouldn’t be that way anymore, but I want you to take a chance on me anyway. To see if I’m worth the risk, even though I’m not so sure I am.” A bitter scoff leaves me, and I swallow hard. “Even though I’m almost positive I’m not.”
Her features soften but not in a way that weighs like pity. It’s tender. Warm.
