Page 65 of Until You

“Everybody needs it.” He squeezes. “Why would you want to deny yourself that?”

I shrug and try to explain it the only way I can. “The past has a way of screwing with you.”

“Don’t I know it.” The wink he gives me makes me feel less stupid for admitting it. “Which, truth be told, is probably the same reason I was trying to stick to my guns and avoid you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too.” Another kiss that ends with his hand on the side of my face and our foreheads resting against each other’s. “Since we’re putting it all out there, I do need to address the elephant in the room.”

I lean back so I can meet his eyes. “What’s that?”

“The girls.” His sigh is reticent. “I wouldn’t be a good father if I didn’t talk about . . .”

“About?”

“I know I might be jumping the gun in saying this because this has just happened and who knows what happens next, but they really like you, Tenny. Like they talk about you all the time, like you.”

“Okay.” I say the word but silently revel in hearing this. It’s always nice to be liked—but by tween girls? That’s a feat in and of itself.

Teaching people in their late teens and early twenties at the studio was one thing. I could relate easily to them. But being an only child and never really having a chance to babysit or interact with younger kids, I never knew how I’d be.

To say I wanted kids with Kaleo is an understatement. It was one of the only things we argued over. He wanted to wait. He tried to tell me that my dancing and teaching days would be over if I got pregnant and that we should hold off.

But that never lessened my desire to have them. Lucky for me, we didn’t.

Like they talk about you all the time, like you.

My smile grows even wider.

“They may seem well-adjusted, but they’ve been through a lot in the last eighteen months. Me in the hospital, their mom up and leaving them. I just don’t want them to get too attached to you, to think that we’re more than we are, and then get hurt again and think yet another person they love is leaving them.”

“The fact that this even crosses your mind makes me like you even more, Crew Madden.” I set my wine glass down and crawl over his lap so my thighs are on either side of his. “It makes you even sexier than you already are.”

“I thought the word you used earlier was hot.”

“That too.” I wrap my arms around his neck while his hands cup my ass. “We’ll keep this from the girls until you want to say something, if you ever do. As for now, we’re just . . . friendly neighbors.”

I’m not sure why it hits so hard that even if we wanted more—which is insane to even think about after only one night together—that’s all we’ll ever really be able to be. Friendly neighbors. He’s here for the summer, and I have my whole host of baggage I can’t burden someone else with.

So we both better get used to being—

I suck in a breath, completely distracted from my overthinking, as his lips close over the spot right beneath my ear.

“Hey, neighbor?” he murmurs.

“Hmm,” I practically moan.

“I’m about to borrow some of your sugar. I hope you don’t mind.”

His lips close over the peak of my breast. “Borrow away.”

I don’t fight my smile because while no one else can see it right now, it feels good to do it. To have a reason to do it.

And I definitely don’t stop myself from visually tracing the lines of his ridiculous abs to where the sheet rests at the very end of his happy trail. Even scarred and sewn back together, Crew is beautiful.

The man definitely knows how to change things up. Each time we came together last night was different. We did the greedy, needy sex. The slowed down and take a bit more time sex. The this is funny, we’ve bumped our heads, we’ve misaimed where things need to go, we can’t stop laughing sex.

Maybe I enjoyed all the phases of the night because the last time I had sex was with Kaleo. For a month, the act was a necessary evil to endure. Until he was arrested, it was a way to survive without him knowing of my betrayal. An improvisation of epic means to hide my repulsion when the man I’d stopped loving wanted to touch and pleasure me.