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My eyes widened, his words slapping me in the face.
Cyrus scowled, shaking his head. “Shit, that’s not what I meant.”
Lifting my hands, I curled them into fists and gave him the signature Ross Gellar sign forfuck youand stormed back into the apartment.
Cyrus
Iwas an asshole.
I shouldn’t have been jealous. Hell, I had no reason to be. Like Ainsley said, we had never put a label on what we were doing. We weren’t official. We weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. Whatever the fuck you wanted to call it. I called Cheesy because I had assumed it was him. It wasn’t like Cheesy was a common nickname. He had stuttered over his words and quickly said that they were just friends and how his dad wanted him to give back to the community.
I should have taken her word for it but the jealous possessive side of me came out faster than I would have liked. Truth was, I had never been jealous over a guy being friends with whoever I was interested in. Not that there had been many women I was interested in over the years anyway. Ainsley was a first for me.
The hurt written all over her face for my little outburst was not something I wanted to ever put there again, but the words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them. Now I wanted to shove my foot up my own ass and go dig myself an even bigger hole.
Putting my hands in my pockets, I headed back into the apartment in search of the woman I was quickly becoming obsessed with. She had me unraveled. I had asked Jaron before how he knew he was in love with Piper, and he said he just knew. That didn’t overly answer my question. My chest tightened, wishing my parents were here to help me. To guide me. I imagined my father telling me to do whatever it was I could to make it up to Ainsley. Although we had lost them when we were kids, I still remembered the love they had for each other. It was something I wanted for as long as I could remember.
“What’s wrong with mom?” Sammy asked, shoveling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
Dad sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. “I messed up,” he told us. “So now I’m trying to figure out how to get back in your mother’s good books.”
“You’re fighting?” I asked, my stomach twisting. Mom and Dad hardly ever fought.
“You mean, you fucked up and now you’re begging for Mom’s forgiveness?” Sammy asked, his question pulling a deep chuckle from Dad.
“Something like that.” Dad sat forward, narrowing his eyebrows at my brother. “You need to watch your mouth, Son.”
Mom took that moment to come into the dining room. “What’s so funny?”
“Your son is calling me out on my shit,” Dad told her.
Mom stood up straighter. “Good. That means we’re raising our boys well.”
The memory hit me hard. It came on so quickly that it took the breath right out of me. It left this ache where the hole had been ever since they were both taken from us. Fucking hell, I missed them.
I could almost hear my dad as if he were there, telling me to go to Ainsley and make it up to her for what I had said.
She was in the kitchen, opening and closing drawers looking for something, but when she couldn’t find whatever it was, she would slam the drawer closed.
“Looking for something?” I asked, slowly making my way toward her.
Her head whipped around, her gaze searing into me. If looks could kill, I would have been dead on the spot. She may have had no voice but fuck, could she speak with her eyes. Her feelings swam behind her dark gaze. They toyed with me, tempting me to go closer and fall within them.
As if my body had a mind of its own, it took a step toward her.
Ainsley turned toward me, placing her hands on her hips.
“Listen, I’m an asshole, alright?” I ran a hand through my hair, shame resting on my shoulders over the shit I had said. “I’m not used to this.”
She frowned, tilting her head. Confusion was etched in her beautiful features. If I was an artist, I could spend the rest of my life drawing or painting her. She was breathtaking.
The closer I got, the more I could see the freckles on her nose and cheeks. I could also see the hint of caramel in her blonde hair that was around her head in messy waves. The lighting in the kitchen was fluorescent and I could have thanked whoever set it up that way because I could see Ainsley. I could see more than she probably realized as well. Her nipples were hard beneath her tank top, making my mouth water for her.
“I’ve never liked a woman like this,” I confessed, inching closer to her. “Like you.”
She took a step away from me, backing up until she hit the edge of the counter.
I took that as my chance and closed the distance between us. She couldn’t use her words, well she sure as hell was going to listen to what I had to say. Boxing her in, I placed a hand on either side of her, gripping the edge of the counter.
