Page 100 of Playing a Player (Sweet Cravings 1)

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When I woke up, I half expected Rory to be in bed with me. But he wasn't there. Where is he? I looked down at my cell phone. There were still no new messages or missed phone calls. I couldn't wait around anymore. I needed to go find him. I climbed out of bed and walked out of Rory's bedroom.

I froze when I saw him. He was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter, looking down at something on his lap.

"Rory?" My voice sounded weird in my throat.

He immediately looked up. "You slept in my bed." He smiled at me. There were dark circles around his eyes. He looked exhausted.

I didn't want to have to filter anything anymore. It was time to just be me. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

I wasn't sure what to do. Should I go to him? For some reason I remained frozen by his bedroom door.

"I read the rest of the articles."

"Rory, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have written them. I..."

"I didn't realize how much I was hurting you."

"It doesn't matter. I don't care about any of that."

"I was an asshole," he said. "And honestly, I don't even know if we'd be together right now if you hadn't done all those things to get my attention. I think I might have needed that somehow." He scratched the back of his neck. He looked lost.

"It doesn't mean I should have done it."

"I'm glad you did, though. Like you said last night, you make me happy. Actually, I'm happiest when I'm with you." He picked up the sheet of paper that he had been looking at on his lap. "Is this true?"

I looked at the smudged paper. It was the first draft of my article for The Post. The one where I had poured my soul out. "Where'd you get that?"

"Connor gave it to me."

I thought about that night in the ice cream shop. Connor had picked up my trash. He must have kept that note once he had seen that the envelope was addressed to Rory. That's why he was so sure he could fix everything last night.

"Is it true?" Rory asked.

"It was true when I wrote it. But it's not true now. I'm not falling for you anymore. I know you don't believe me, but I do love you. I've completely fallen."

"Keira." He stood up and walked over to me, closing the gap between us. "I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have walked out on you."

"Where did you go?" It was weird to be standing so close to him without him touching me.

"I just needed to sober up before talking to you again. I swear that's it."

I didn't care where he was. If he hadn't slept with someone else, then it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was here now. "I believe you." He still didn't try to touch me. That's how I'd know if we were okay. If he wanted me again. "Maybe we should just start over?"

He didn't say anything.

"Hi, I'm Keira," I awkwardly put my hand out for him to shake.

He looked down at my hand and then back up at me. "I don't want to start over." He stepped toward me, pressing my back against the wall.

I swallowed hard. "I don't want to start over either..."

He leaned down, silencing me with a kiss. His kiss was soft at first, but seemed to grow with intensity every second, until he was kissing me more passionately than he ever had. He grabbed my thighs, lifting my legs around him. I could feel his erection pressing against my thigh.

If this was the security he needed, I'd give him whatever he wanted. I wanted him to understand how much I cared about him. And it didn't matter that he had purposely hurt my feelings ever since he moved in. All that mattered was that he wanted to be with me now. And that he had come back.

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