I’m not ready to show her how much I’ve wanted this, but with how hard I am right now, it’s impossible for her not to feel just how deeply I crave her.
This is a bad idea.
But that doesn’t stop me from lifting her tank top over her head.
We shouldn’t be doing this.
But I slip my tongue into her mouth and claim her anyway.
She deserves better.
But I’m too fucking selfish to stop.
I curl my hand into her hair and tug, just enough to tip her head back, to expose the soft, vulnerable line of her throat.
I run my tongue down the column of her neck, slow and hungry, tasting every pulse and shiver. I follow the dip between her breasts, teeth catching on her skin just enough to make her arch into me, breath breaking apart against my ear.
A sound slips from her, a quiet and desperate plea, like she’s caught between want and restraint. She trembles, one hand fisted in my shirt, the other sliding instinctively between us, her palm pressing against me through my jeans.
Shedestroysme.
I want to give her everything.
I want to be her remedy and her destruction.
I hum against her flushed skin, pressing a kiss to her collarbone, then another—completely ravenous for another taste of her. When I graze her with my teeth, her fingers dig deeper into my shoulder.
“Tell me,” I murmur against her skin, my voice rougher than I mean it to be. “Tell me what you need.”
Her whole body goes still—not pulling away, not leaning in, just…frozen. A breath catches in her throat.
Fuck.
A cold thread of dread slides through the heat still roaring in my veins. Something’s wrong. I feel it before she even moves.
She pulls back, pushing away from me, her chest heaving. Her eyes widen, pupils swallowing the emerald of her irises.
Fuck.I went too far.
She slips out of my lap, tugging her rumpled tank back over her head. I watch her, pulse still racing, noticing the way her hair falls across her flushed cheeks, the way her chest rises and falls. I have a front-row seat for the moment the lustful fog clears and reality settles in the air around us.
“I didn’t mean—fuck. I’m sorry.”
“No,” she says quickly, shaking her head. “It’s okay. I wanted it too.”
Wanted.Not want.
Just another random moment of temporary insanity.
We’ve had so manyalmosts.
It’s always been me pushing her away. Drawing the lines. I thought I was protecting her from the inevitable heartbreak when she leaves, but maybe I’ve just been protecting myself.
Because this is only temporary.
When summer is over, she’ll get on a plane and go back to her life in California, and I’ll still be here—stupid enough to fall for someone who was never going to stay.
“What if…we made a pact?” Her voice is soft and hesitant.
