Page 55 of Never Going to Care

I love him.

It doesn’t feel as terrifying now as it did the first time I realized it. It feels…natural now.

When I slide into his car, I look up and find his eyes locked onto me. The way he takes me in is intense. It’s the same kind of focus he has when he’s scanning for threats. To have that kind of emotion locked onto me makes me want to squirm in my seat.

“Hi,” I squeak.

The chuckle he lets out is sexy as fuck. He reaches over and grips the underside of my jaw and pulls me halfway across the distance between us, meeting me in the middle. His hands are so large, he could use them to inflict pain. In fact, I know he does. Never with me though. He uses his hands to give me pleasure. So much damn pleasure.

His lips hover over mine for a moment and we share a breath. I swear it’s the first breath I’ve taken since he dropped me off today. Somehow, I know he’s feeling the same way.

“Starlight,” he murmurs.

When his lips press against mine it’s like dancing under the moonlight. It’s as exhilarating as it is calming and cooling. He seemed so cold when I first met him, but now I know the truth behind his eyes.

He loves deeply and fiercely. He has a cool, gruff and grumpy mask, but that’s all it is.

He lets me in now. I don’t think he’d be able to put his mask on with me again, even if he wanted to. The best thing is that I know he doesn’t want to.

He wants me to see. He wants me to know. He wants me to feel.

As his tongue sweeps into my mouth, I melt against him and his grip on my jaw tightens. It makes me even wetter for him. He has so much power. While he might use it to tease me sometimes, it’s not meant to torment.

“Missed you,” he whispers against my lips, pulling back just far enough so we can look into each other’s eyes.

“I missed you too, Hale,” the words leave my lips on a sigh of contentment.

He pecks my lips again before releasing me, but his grip still haunts my skin. It always does. I like the way it makes me feel treasured and safe.

I bite my lip and look at him out of the corner of my eye. “Can you take me to my place?”

He stiffens in his seat and glances at me before pulling out into traffic. “Why do you want to go to your place?”

I purse my lips to stop myself from smiling. He sounds like a petulant child who is about to get his toy taken from him.

I can’t help but rile him up a little more and sass him, “Do I need a reason? It’s where I live.”

He huffs out a breath and I know he wants to say more, but instead he grips the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles start to turn white. There would be steam coming out of his nose if he was a cartoon character. When the vein in his temple comes out and starts pulsing, I cough to cover up a snicker.

“I guess not,” he grits out through his clenched teeth.

I make a humming sound. It’s the only thing I can trust myself to say without breaking down and revealing all my thoughts and why I really want to go to my place. He probably thinks I want to do something to get ready to go back since there are only two days left before the terms of our bet is fulfilled.

He couldn’t be more wrong about why I want to go. He’ll find out soon enough.

It doesn’t take long to get to my apartment building. It’s a tiny space and I pay way too much for it, but it’s better than a lot of people have it in the city. Nervousness fills me but I put that shit to bed because I know this is going to work out.

I don’t know if it was just his master plan with his bet, but I know without a doubt that things will work out. That doesn’t mean it’ll always be easy between us, but that’s okay. I don’t need it to always be easy.

That’s not life.

He follows me up the stairs in my building, a silent shadow. I look over my shoulder and give him a small smile. When he doesn’t return it and I’m met with a stoic mask, I don’t let it bother me.

He’s only trying to protect himself right now or gear up for some sort of pitch. It really could go either way.

My voice is sweet, but not overly so, “Are you okay? Did you have a rough day?”

“My day was fine,” his words are a little curt, but I can also tell how much he’s trying to soften them. “Why are we here?”

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