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It’s like the magic words that I need. I come hard, screaming his name. “Sean!”

“Dawn,” he groans, coming right behind me. Half collapsing on top of me, he rolls us to our sides so his weight doesn’t land on me. He pulls me to his chest so we can catch our breaths. When we finally do, he kisses my forehead and rolls from the bed. He walks to the wastebasket beside my desk, peels the condom off, knots the top, and tosses it inside. I quickly reach for my shirt and slide it on before he turns around.

I try to hide my disappointment since I know this is the part where he’s supposed to leave. But to my surprise, he slides back into bed, pulls me to lay back on his chest, and pulls the covers over us both.

“Is this okay?” he asks.

“Yeah. It is.” His hand slides down my back, and I hope he doesn’t feel the scars.

We lay there for the longest time, him rubbing circles on my back before I drift off to sleep without nightmares for the first time in years.

Chapter3

Sean

I’ve had plenty of one-night stands, and never once did I stay the night.

But for some reason, I fell asleep at Dawn’s orChelsea’s. She had some mail sitting on the table by the door when I was putting my boots on, and the name peeking out said Chelsea Dawn. I guess she could go by Dawn, but something is telling me she told me her middle name on purpose. I didn’t make it this far in this life without being able to read people or paying attention to my surroundings.

I had to drag myself from her arms this morning before she woke up. The woman is the epitome of perfection. Her face is round, almost angelic. Her eyes are big, bright, and the prettiest green I’ve ever seen. And her body?Jesus.I could get lost in those curves.

All the girls I’ve hooked up with always say they don’t do one-night stands, and it’s always bullshit. But Dawn or Chelsea, whatever she wants to call herself, I believed her when she said it. She screams vulnerable and fragile. She also seems severely insecure about her body. I want to drive back over there and tell her everything that I really saw when I saw her naked.

Shaking that thought away, I walk into the house I’m sharing with my friends Axel, Cole, and Kai.

It’s barely six in the morning, and I can already hear movement in the house. Figuring it’s Kai, since the big fucker never sleeps, I go in search of the sound. To my surprise, I find Axel in the gym, lifting weights like his life depends on it. His shirtless, tattooed torso is already slick with sweat, so he must have been in here for a while. Ever since we came here, he’s been on edge. Coming back to his hometown to end this six-year fiasco with his dad is wreaking havoc on him.

I walk over to the bench press and look down at him. “Need a spotter?”

His lip turns up in a snarl. “No,” he barks and racks the bar, sits up, and snatches a towel from the floor. He wipes his face before he turns to me, his dark eyes flashing. “I told you before we got here that we needed to be careful, and you go home with the first girl you find.”

“You should have seen this girl, though,” I joke, and can hear his teeth grinding. “It wasn’t a big deal, dude.”

“I let you guys out of my sight one time, and you can’t fucking control yourself.”

I roll my eyes. “Maybe if you would have gone out with us, you could have gotten laid, and you wouldn’t be so fucking uptight.”

He jumps off the bench and rounds on me. “This isn’t a fucking game, Sean,” he snarls. “We’re down to the home stretch. I can’t have anything derailing this.”

“It’s not like she’s an assassin. As you can see, I’m still alive. She’s just a gorgeous girl at the bar. No harm done.”

He swipes a hand through his black hair. “Not this time. We can’t fuck this up. It has to end.”

“I know, man,” I sigh. “Fine. I’ll be a good little boy and keep my dick in my pants until this is over.”

He eyes me suspiciously. “I don’t believe you, but I’m not fighting with you anymore. You fuck this up, and I’ll kill you.”

With that, he stomps from the gym, and I can’t help but chuckle. He shouldn’t believe me. I’m one hundred percent full of shit because if I run into my blonde-haired beauty again, it’s game over.

Wait.What the hell? I don’t do repeats. Repeats lead to relationships, and I can’t do that with my line of work. She’s way too innocent to be dragged into this mess.

Following Axel to the kitchen, I start making coffee. I’m going to need it. The little bit of sleep I did get was the best sleep I’ve ever had, but it was minimal. And I know Axel has a whole day planned for us; no sympathy for lack of sleep.

Cole shuffles into the kitchen, sandy blonde hair sticking up in all directions, walking to the coffee pot like a zombie. Kai walks in next, wide awake. I knew he’d already been up.

Cole scoots onto the barstool beside me at the kitchen island, hot coffee in hand.

“Why do you look like shit?” I ask.