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That buzzy energy hummed through my body. He fisted and stroked himself, faster and harder, the man beautiful in that powerful, arrogant way.
Hedged in darkness.
His demons playing in the shadows that surrounded him.
But me?
I got to see him undone.
Coming apart.
His teeth ground and his jaw clenched and every glorious muscle in his body bowed when he split.
An orgasm rocked him, and he was grating, “Come with me, reckless girl. Finish what you started.”
At the sight of him jerking and spilling on his stomach, I did. I followed him into his blissful ecstasy.
Pleasure ripped through me.
A firestorm.
An inferno that devoured everything in its path.
A cry nearly busted out, and I shifted to bury my face in the pillow to keep it contained.
Ripples of this rapture rushed through, wave after wave.
I laid there gasping with aftershocks rocking through my body while Caleb Greyson fought to steady his ragged breaths.
Finally, the haze of lust cleared.
Something shifted in the stone of his gorgeous face.
It almost looked like tenderness.
“You surprise me at every turn, Ms. Dae.”
I swallowed around the rocks in my throat. “In a good way?”
In that same moment, the tenderness was gone. “I have no room for distractions in my life right now.”
Inhaling, I tried to find some fortitude for my heart that already felt like it might get shattered. “It seemed like you were looking for one. What, you don’t have a girlfriend there in Seattle to keep you warm, and you needed to call me?” I did my best to act like this didn’t matter. Keep it light. The fakest smile on my face when it felt like my chest might cave.
If he did, I was absolutely going to stab him when he got home. And I was realizing I knew absolutely nothing about him. So little. And I was the fool who wanted to hold any pieces he would give me.
“I don’t have girlfriends. I fuck, and it ends at that.”
Another warning.
Right.
Of course.
“Well, I’m glad I could keep you entertained for a few minutes.” There was no keeping the spite out of my voice. But what had I expected? A confession of love?
I had to be a fool.
He blew out a strained sigh, and he sat up, only his profile visible as he scrubbed a palm over his face. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
It was then I noticed how haggard he looked.
Frayed.
As if he’d aged five years since he’d gone.
“Then what did you mean?” I whispered it.
“It means I won’t let you get twisted up in the mess I have made.”
The questions burned again.
I wanted to ask him about Evelyn’s mother. About what had happened to her. About his life. About who he was once he walked out this door because every single thing about him was written in mystery.
“Life is always messy.”
His laughter was hollow. “No, Ms. Dae, not like this. I already told you I’m not a good man.”
Emotion gathered at those rocks in my throat, and I was struggling to speak. “Yet you would do anything for the little girl in the next room.”
Somehow, I knew it was the truth. Their interactions might be strained, he might be fearful, but I saw what blazed from his being when he was in her space.
“She’s the only thing that matters,” he murmured. Darkness clouded his features. Grimness dulling his frame.
“She’s wonderful.”
“Thank you for taking care of her while I’m away.”
“It’s been my pleasure.”
More than a pleasure.
It’d been life changing. But I didn’t think I should admit that.
He exhaled again, and for a second he looked at me like he wished things were different. “You should get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Have a safe trip home.”
He ended the call, and I flopped back onto the pillows, groaning as I covered my face with my hands.
What the hell had I done?
TWENTY-ONE
PAISLEY
Evelyn’s sweet laughter rang through the afternoon air, her joy profound as she held onto the reins while I guided Mazzy by the lead rope.
“I really love her so much, Ms. Dae. Like a lot and a lot.”
Mazzy gave a snort like she agreed, bobbing her long neck.
“She definitely loves you a lot,” I told her.
Mazzy whinnied.
“Did you hear that? She’s saying you are pure awesomeness.”
Evelyn giggled. “I do got the awesomeness.”
A peace unlike anything I’d felt before had settled over me, at war with the disorder deep inside over what I’d instigated last night.
Evelyn and I had been out with Mazzy for over two hours, and we’d wandered over the grass-covered plains before we’d found ourselves following a path beneath the towering trees that ran the edge of the river.
The air was clear and clean, close to crisp if it weren’t for the warmth of the summer sun that blazed from the endless span of blue sky.
I thought today that sky might go on forever.
No end.
The possibilities eternal.
But I still couldn’t help but worry that after last night I might be coming up on a quick dead end. Heading in a direction that would lead nowhere good.
