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“I was exactly who her pops never wanted her to date. She was a Beverly Hills kid who wanted to party all the time. Add in that we were careless as only seventeen year olds can be and holy fuck, there was a pink stick with a big old positive sign sitting between us before school started in our senior year.”
“I can’t imagine how hard that was.”
“Harder on Steph. She had huge plans for college. And none of those plans included me or a baby.”
“But she had it?’
He nodded. He hadn’t even been there in the delivery room. Hell, he didn’t get notified until the baby was ten days old. No input whatsoever.
She moved into him, her arms wrapping around his back as she pressed her cheek to his chest.
West anchored himself to her with a hand in her windblown hair. He moved them further into the rocky cove away from the wind. He rested his chin on top of her head. Ocean and pineapples—his new favorite scent.
It was easier to talk without her huge gray eyes staring deep into his soul. He didn’t have to think about just how black parts of it could be after walking away from his flesh and blood. Even if it had been for Chloe’s sa
ke in all ways.
“Chloe Clark.”
She pulled away. “That’s not your last name.”
“No, it is not.”
“Was that your choice?” Her eyes were tinged with red and her lips were swollen from her teeth. He preferred them swollen from his teeth, his lips. He hated to see her in distress about him in any way.
“It was better for her family if I wasn’t in the baby’s life.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Leave it to Lo to logical, even here. “No. I don’t suppose it does. I was a messed up kid trying to run away from a messed up situation. She pushed me away and I let her.” He swallowed. “So there’s my big, bad secret.”
“That kid is missing out. I know it.” She stood on her toes and slanted her mouth across mine. The kiss was far more aggressive than she usually was.
And again, he allowed a woman to sweep him away from his problems. This one led him only to the light. The simple gesture made his chest hurt. He fisted his hands into her hair and swallowed her moans, her generosity, and a piece of the hope she offered.
Because if Lauren Bryant thought he was a decent guy, he couldn’t be all bad.
The kiss quickly spun out until her cool hands were under his shirt and up along his shoulder blades. The mist and fog collided off the coast in the soupy haze that San Francisco could give off so easily.
Her taste was embedded in his brain. He was supposed to be the one teaching her about all the ways a man could make a woman feel good, and in the end she was teaching him so much more.
Their first time should be in the daylight with the sun pouring on her skin. Not in the bus with people all around them and privacy a nonentity in his insane world. He wanted to do something right for a woman in his life.
He pulled away enough to mumble, “change of plans,” against her lips.
She lifted heavy eyelids. “I’m game for anything. As long as I’m with you.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “God, you kill me.”
Her smile was as bright as the sun trying to break through the fog. “Can we wait until we have sex first.”
“Progress. You didn’t call it intercourse.”
“Well, how about this? I want you inside me. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. Don’t make me wait anymore.”
“Even if I had a different plan, that would have swayed me. Sweet fuck, Lo.”
She nodded. “Yes, let’s do that.”
