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I stepped closer so I was standing between her legs, and I raised my knuckles to her flushed cheeks. I hated how anguished all of this was making her, but I couldn’t ignore the slow, buzzing burn that was building in my center as she said all the words I wanted to hear. “I know, honey.”
She took in a big, shaky breath. “And I’m scared that if we get in a relationship, I won’t know how to trust you. Like, I don’t think I can trust your feelings for me because I’m such a broken mess.”
“Steinbeck.” I ran my thumb over the soft column of her neck and said, “It’s okay to feel broken, because I am, too. And as forthe rest of those amazing run-on sentences you just yelled at me—we’ll figure them out as we go.”
I looked into her eyes and admitted, “But I don’t know how to make you feel safe about us, because I don’t know how the hellI’mgoing to feel safe about us, either. I fucking hate it, too—I do.”
Her eyes softened at that, and she bit down on the corner of her lip.
“But, Soph, I know that I like you more than anyone else in the world. And that’s it, isn’t it—the thing that matters? Fuck love and relationships, I just want to be with you because you’re my goddamn favorite person. And I feel like it’s going to be impossible for you not to trust my feelings because you’re going to see them in my eyes every time I look at you.”
“Max—”
“Every. Single. Time,” I said, knowing it was true. “It’s already there. Just look.”
Sophie’s eyes moved all over my face, almost as if she was trying to find evidence of doubt, and then she pressed her lips together.
Shook her head.
“I can’t imagine any two people more right for each other than us. I can’t imagine any reason why we shouldn’t be together when we both feel so much for each other.Shit.” My voice cracked and I glanced around the kitchen, desperate to make a point. “See? No one is objecting, Soph.”
She blinked fast, like she was thinking hard.Please, Soph.I wished I could read her mind, especially when she sighed.
A long, deep sigh.
Almost... like she was accepting it...?
Please, Soph.
“So, um, can I read you the conclusion of my bullet points, even though you apparently hate PowerPoint presentations?” Her mouthturned up into a shy smile, and her eyes got that Twinkie-tossing wildness that I fucking adored as she brought her legs a little closer together, closing them around me. “I think you might appreciate it.”
“I guess,” I said, setting my hands on her knees and wanting to slide her dress up so badly. “But PowerPointsarethe worst.”
“I know,honey,” she said, giving me a teasing look as she reached for her phone.
“Brat.”
“Shhhh.” Sophie scrolled through aridiculousnumber of slides before saying, “In conclusion, love is still a lie and I want no part of that foolish fairy tale. Thisthingthat I feel for you, however, this friendship, undeniable chemistry, kinship, respect, admiration, happiness—or the acronym FUCKRAH, if you will—is outrageously potent and I would like to explore it further. If there is availability on your calendar, I’m very interested in having meaningful sex with you.”
She raised her eyes from her phone, looking incredibly vulnerable as she added, “But I’d like to have sex foryou, this time, instead of just for me. I’d like to have sexwithyou, Max.”
forty-seven
Sophie
He didn’t saya word, but his jaw flexed and his eyes were hot as he watched me.
“So...” I said, not knowing how to perceive his silence.
“So, no. No thank you,” he said, his voice husky, but his hands found my hips and slid me closer to his body, dragging me to the edge of the kitchen counter.
“No... thank you?” I repeated, my pulse skittering as I felt his fingers dip under the hem of my dress to rest on the bare skin of my upper thighs.
“I don’t want you toeverhave sex that isn’t for you, Soph,” he said, lowering his mouth to drop the softest kiss on my neck. “Yougetting yours, with me, is the fucking hottest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
My eyes fluttered closed. “Yeah?”
“Hell fucking yeah,” he growled, and dragged his teeth over my throat.
