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“Oh my god, Mac.” She let out a breath, her face turning different shades of pink. It didn’t take much for Juliette to become uncomfortable and I couldn’t help myself for loving watching her squirm. “Hurry up and ask me so you can get the hell up.”
She was absolutely ridiculous, but she was completely mine. There was no one who challenged me like she did. I loved that about her, along with everything else. The way she smelled, the way she sounded, the way she looked at me. Even when she was annoyed with me and had an attitude, I think I loved her more. Juliette was always unapologetically herself and that was something I could never fault her for. I wanted her to be that way, especially with me.
“I love you, Juliette. You are quite possibly everything to me, which I didn’t think would ever be possible. I didn’t think I would ever find a home in someone else, but that is exactly what you are to me. You are where I feel safe and loved and comfortable. You are my home.” I paused, watching her fight the tears as they filled her eyes. “Will you marry me?”
She let out a half sob, half choking sound and quickly wiped the tears from her face as they fell onto her cheeks. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” She bent over, grabbing for me to stand up. “You idiot, get up.”
“You’re so goddamn charming,” I laughed as I rose to my feet. I took Juliette’s hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Holding her hand, I brushed my thumb over the ring, loving the way it felt on her.
Juliette lifted her hands and wrapped them around the back of my neck as she pulled my face down to hers. “You love me anyway.”
I breathed her in, my lips brushing against hers.
“Until the end of time.”
Juliette smiled against my mouth. “Until the end of time,” she echoed, before crushing her lips against mine.
Want more of Mac and Juliette?
Click HERE to read the extended epilogue
Keep reading for the first chapter in Tell Me How You Hate Me, a new enemies to lovers standalone summer 2024.
Prologue
Aria
“This changes nothing between us,” I remind him as I lift my blue cashmere sweater up over my head and toss it onto the marble floor. His large hands find my hips and he pulls me flush against his body. “If we do this, it doesn’t mean I like you. This doesn’t make us friends.”
“Likewise,” he murmurs, nipping at my bottom lip with his teeth. His leg presses between mine, inching me back until I hit the wall of my foyer. “I never said I liked you, nor did I say I wanted to be your friend.”
His lips find the side of my neck as he trails them along my skin. He doesn’t kiss me, but I can faintly smell the spearmint on his breath, undoubtedly from the mint he was chewing on after practice. He waited until everyone else had left before approaching me. Heaven forbid Leo Wells gets caught talking to me and being nice.
Leo breaks away from teasing and tasting my skin. I inhale a lungful of oxygen as he stares down at me. His gaze is hooded, his golden eyes darkening as he rakes his gaze over my face. It’s like he can’t decide what he wants to do with me. When he kissed me at the rink, he caught me off guard, but it was also something that had been building between us for months.
I don’t have to like him to want him.
My chest rises and falls in rapid succession. I’m trapped under his gaze, but I don’t find myself wanting to hide from him. I want him to see all of me—to want all of me. My hands shake ever so slightly as I reach behind my back and unclasp the strap of my bra. Leo’s eyes widen, his pupils constrict, and I watch the muscle in his jaw tighten as I drop my bra onto the ground.
“Goddammit, Aria,” he groans, closing his eyes as he runs a frustrated hand through his hair. His hair falls just above his eyebrows in light brown tousled waves. “I could stare at you forever.”
A smile dances across my lips as I take a step toward him. “You don’t like me, Leo.”
“I don’t have to like you to admit that you’re fucking gorgeous.” He pauses while moving closer to me, again backing me up until I’m against the wall. He lifts his hands, planting them beside my head as he cages me in. “It’s pure torture, having to constantly see you—to watch you—and knowing this is all we’ll ever be.”
Lifting my own arms, I slide my palms against the nape of his neck. “You watch me?”
“All the damn time,” he murmurs, his voice filled with lust. “How could I not? You’re everywhere, Aria. Sometimes I wish you would just go away and leave me in peace.”
Leo runs his hands down the sides of my torso, his fingers trailing lightly over my flesh. I reach for the bottom hem of his t-shirt and begin to lift it upward. Leo reaches behind his back and pulls the cotton shirt up over his head before he throws it onto the ground. My eyes momentarily drink him in, traveling over the planes of his body as I memorize the curves of the chiseled muscles of his chest and abdomen.
His grip lands on my waist and he lowers his mouth to my ear. His tongue traces the outer shell of my ear, his breath warm against my earlobe. Dropping one hand away from the back of his neck, I reach for him, gripping his cock through his pants. He inhales sharply, his breath hitching as his grip tightens on my hips.
“Aria,” he growls my name, his voice low and husky, even though there’s a warning in his tone. “I can leave now with your pride still intact, and we can pretend this never happened.”
“Or,” I say slowly as I reach for the waistband of his pants. My hands find his belt and I unbuckle it before pushing the button through the hole. I begin to pull his zipper down. “You can stay and we can still pretend this never happened.”
Leo flattens his palms against my hips and slides his fingers beneath the waistband of my leggings. His touch is soft, his hands warming my skin as he begins to push them down my thighs. He trails his lips down my neck, peppering kisses across my collarbone before he starts to work his way down my body. His hands are sliding my black leggings and my lilac-colored panties down to my ankles. He stops as he reaches my chest and lifts his hands to cup my breasts.
