Page 54 of Sincerely, Mr. Braden

“It’s not exactly something I’m proud of. I’ve never told anyone. What was I going to say?” Tears streak her cheeks. “Don’t get too close. I’ll just scare you away? Or I don’t know how to love like a normal person?”

That fucking kills me. “I wish you’d told me.”

“Stop with the wishes,” she pleads, tears glinting.

“No!” The word comes out angry, but not at her. At every person who has ever wronged her. I know she’s trying to push me away, but that’s her fear talking, and this thing between us is too strong, too alive to be defied. I step closer. Unable to slam the door on my own confession, it barrels out through clenched teeth. “I wish you’d told me, so I could have said that I understood, because I don’t know how to love, either.”

She looks up at the ceiling, fresh tears spilling from her eyes. “Don’t placate me.” She meets my gaze, her pink nose and teary eyes tugging at something deep in my chest. “You turn your world upside down for your family. That’s love.”

“So do you,” I growl, needing her to see the truth. “We’re so damn alike, Ellie.”

She shakes her head vehemently. “I’m not normal, Seth. I hid my identity from you to protect my job. Who does that?”

“Someone who loves her job and relies on it. I’ve never taken anyone to meet Missick or to any of my houses. I’ve never even told anyone I’ve gone out with anything about my family. Who does that?”

She scoffs and laughs at once. “I give all my love to dogs that aren’t even mine because I’m afraid I’ll mess up if I try to love a human being, and then I proved it with you. Not only that, but I keep all of my friends at arm’s length. Every one of them.”

“So do I,” I grit out.

Her shoulders drop. “Don’t pretend you’re something you’re not. I’ve seen you with Missick and all those other people on the island.”

“Arm’s length,” I say roughly, then softer, “Every one of them except Missick.” I frame her face with my hands, her tears wetting them. “That’s the truth, Ellie. You’ve known me long enough to realize I don’t placate.”

Her breath shudders out, warm against my wrists.

“You think I don’t get it? You think I don’t understand what it means to push people away before they can leave? Try having to start a whole new life every few weeks or months in a new country. I’ve got walls, Ellie. Thick fucking walls that I’ve been building for a hell of a lot longer than you have, and you didn’t just blow through mine. You obliterated them. And the flip side of that? The running scared? I’m a master at walking away and never looking back. You’re the first person who has ever made me want to stay.”

She looks at me like I’m the storm she wants and the shelter she’s afraid to need and says, “I’ll be too much.”

Never is on the tip of my tongue, but that will sound placating, so I spell it out for her. “I’m the one who texted at all hours of the night, and that was when I thought you were my buddy T.” That earns a shaky smile. “I’m the one who monopolized your time on the island. I didn’t let you out of my sight except to get clothes from your room.” Holy shit. I didn’t even realize that until now. “And I wanted more, Ellie, not less.”

The air between us vibrates, charged and unsteady, like the moment before lightning strikes.

“Seth…?”

The feverish sound of my name on her lips nearly snaps my last thread of restraint. I push my hands into her hair, fisting them tight, and growl, “Do you want this?”

Her breathing stutters, then she exhales a clipped, disbelieving breath. “That’s the stupidest question I’ve ever heard.”

I crush my lips to hers in a brutal kiss. She kisses me harder, pushing at my jacket like she’s done being scared. I’ll make damn sure she’s never scared again. Ravenous for her, I pin her to the wall, because letting her go for even a second feels impossible. She’s right there with me, every kiss an apology and a demand, burying the wreckage, taking back what we lost, and needing so much more. Burning through the distance, the anger, until there’s nothing left but the want that never really left either of us. We’re frantic and greedy as we kick off our shoes and strip each other bare in a frenzy of searing kisses and laughter—always laughter with my sweet Ellie—until every barrier is gone.

We grope and devour, our naked bodies grinding together. Her back hits the wall with a thud. She gasps into my mouth, and I swallow it down, taking her in more demanding kisses. Christ, I missed her. I missed this, our connection, the way she feels right in my arms, the sounds she makes when we kiss, the hunger in her touch.

She pulls back far enough to look at me, her gorgeous eyes glassy, her lips swollen. “Seth” comes out fast, commanding attention and pleading to be heard. “I’ll never break your trust again.”

Her words land like matches to tinder. Every wall I built, every reason I told myself to walk away, goes up in the flames. I reclaim her mouth, kissing her like I’ve been starving for her, and she meets me with the same wild need as I lift her into my arms. Her legs wind around me, and she sinks down, taking every inch of my aching cock. She moans my name as I rasp, “Jesus, Ellie.”

“I missed you,” she says as her mouth comes hungrily down over mine.

Consumed with desire, need searing through my veins, I use the wall for leverage, pounding into her. Something crashes to the floor, but I’m too lost in the sound of her moans, the feel of her clinging to me, the heat of her pussy swallowing my cock. She matches my efforts move for move. Her fingernails dig into my shoulders, her inner muscles tightening with every powerful thrust. She tears her mouth away, crying out my name. Her hips buck, her pussy clenching so tight, it takes all of my focus not to come.

I stay with her, thrusting and grinding as she hits the peak. She feels fucking phenomenal, and she’s so damn sexy, owning her pleasure, moaning my name. As she comes down from the high, I quicken my efforts, sending her right back up to the crest, and she cries out, shattering again. She’s fucking beautiful, head back, breasts bouncing, as I drive into her again and again, gritting my teeth to stave off my own release.

“God,” she pants out, going soft in my arms, her head dipping beside mine. “How do you do that?”

“Trying to get my trade secrets, sexy girl?” I kiss her smiling lips.

“Only the useful ones,” she whispers breathlessly.