Page 83 of Pretty Lies

Cory stilled; his warm body turned to stone beside her before he leaned sideways a bit to press a kiss to the top of her head. His words skipped over her mussed, bed-wavy hair. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

“My heart hurts.”

“Time makes it a little easier to breathe, but it’s too raw right now to see it. I’m sorry.”

He stood straight, and she looked up to meet his gaze when she replied, “Yeah, me too.”

Cory sipped on his coffee while Della retreated back inside her mind. It wasn’t for long though because her mouth quickly found a reason to fill the silence.

“Checked my phone after I woke up. Missed calls from everybody. Ma was hospitalized and sedated. Dad’s trying to handle everything—business and Ma and there’s cops. A lot of our extended family lives outside of Illinois, but some are coming in today. Jennika sent me a bunch of voice messages; the first couple are a mess. I don’t know. We’re going to have a lot of attention on our family and business after this, aren’t we? And … I just …”

Della trailed off and sucked in a shuddering breath that rattled. Cory set his cup to the counter and his arm snaked around her to hug tight to her side. It helped, but it was too late. The anxiety pummeled through her insides, making each and every breath shorter and shallower.

“We’ll handle everything,” he said, strong and sure and sounding like nothing that she felt at that moment. “One thing at a time—we will.”

She nodded.

He leaned in to nudge his nose along the hair that she’d tucked behind her ears. “Even when you feel like you’re going to break, you still look like you’re going to conquer the world. Just remember to breathe.”

She did.

It helped.

One breath after another.

Finally, she said, “I need to go to my parents’ place—my dad needs help, and there’s stuff to handle.”

“Okay. When?”

“Probably noon—his last message said he wouldn’t be home until then. Ma, and all.”

“Noon it is.”

Della’s stare flicked from Cory’s mouth to his eyes that hadn’t moved from hers. “It still hurts.”

“Sorry, babe.”

She knew … he couldn’t say anything else. What could he say?

“Can we go back to pretending like everything is okay? Like we were before so I don’t spiral into a panic attack? Because it’s going to hap—”

Cory’s hand slipped behind Della’s neck, pulling her toward him while his arm around her waist tightened. He kissed her silent as his fingers tangled into her hair and his hard, warm lines molded against her soft curves when he stepped in between her spread legs. His tongue struck out against the seam of her parting lips, taking a taste of the mint toothpaste she’d used from his bathroom earlier. Morning sunlight colored the modern kitchen in yellow tones while shivers raced over Della’s skin.

Guilt raged through her while lust rammed right over it, thickening her blood and sharpening her breaths when he rolled his hips into her. His erection had her pushing forward for more while her fingers bit into his broad shoulders. She shouldn’t be doing this with him right now when her family’s entire world had come crashing down, but it felt good.

Right then, that’s all she wanted.

Just to feel good.

“What did you say we were?” His tongue licked up the column of her throat before he rained hard, suckling kisses down her chest that she was sure left marks behind. “What was it, Della? That this is—”

“Easy,” she breathed. “This is easy.”

“So let’s do this. And then we’ll go back to the rest of the world. Yeah?”

He always let her decide.

Even if it was selfish of her.