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“You’ll still be the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t try and sweet-talk me.”
“It’s not sweet talk if it’s the truth.”
“This is why you’ll have a bodyguard the rest of your life,” he grumped. Secretly, he was charmed. I could tell.
“We can’t afford that.” I chastised him. Honestly, I was done arguing with him about my secret tail, aka bodyguard. Frankly, I was secretly starting to wonder if I did need one.
Made me feel like a wiener.
“No. I can’t afford to live without you.”
I sighed, stroking over his cheekbone before dropping my hand beside us once more. “You don’t think it makes me weak? The fact that I make such an easy target. The fact that I can’t seem to protect myself.”
“Hey,” he said, voice dripping with soft sincerity.
I reveled the way his hand slid around the back of my neck, cupping me in the palm of his hand. I loved the way his body shifted, lowering so I could feel his chest pressed against mine. His stare compelled me to lock onto it even if I was lying there vulnerable and exposed.
It didn’t matter. I’d let him see. Everything. Always.
“You are not weak. You are so far from weak I’d be mad at you for suggesting such a thing if you weren’t lying here beneath me, looking at me like that.” Before I could ask how I looked to him, he dipped his head to drop a brief kiss against my lips. “You used to clean up my wounds when I came into your room… before you were even ten. You never ran from my foul attitude or shrink away when I got into fights at school. You were brave enough to come out at the age of sixteen.”
I opened my mouth, but he scowled, making my lips close.
“It doesn’t matter if people betrayed you for it. Coming out took guts and courage. You survived our parents’ death. You made it through brain surgery and then had enough bravery to keep swimming.”
“Yeah, alone,” I muttered.
“Who cares? You still did it. And then you got into Elite. You made friends.” He made a face. “Even if they are idiots.”
“You like them.”
He grunted. That meant he agreed.
“And look how many times I’ve hurt you. Yet here you are. In my bed. In my arms.” His fingers tightened around the base of my neck. “Please know everything I did was because I thought that’s what you needed. I only wanted to protect you and keep you in my life. I know I was an asshole. I know I hurt you. I really am sorry, baby. I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for it if you’ll let me.”
“You don’t have to make up for anything.”
“About that night at the diner…”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, stomach tightening. Some shady shit had gone down at Shirley’s.
“Too bad.”
“Max.”
“Truth was I wanted so badly to pull you into my arms and kiss you. I wanted to tuck you inside my body and selfishly keep you all to myself. Sometimes it was so hard to be around you and not be with you the way I wanted. You needed me that night, and I couldn’t see past my own desperation. So yeah, I grabbed that girl and pulled her into the bathroom. I thought if I could just unleash a little, then I could control myself a little better.”
“You said you didn’t sleep with her,” I said, recalling that night, the way it stabbed me when he disappeared with that girl.
“I didn’t. I couldn’t even get it up.” He laughed under his breath.
Eyes wide, I gaped at him. “What?”
“My arms still tingled from holding you. I hadn’t gotten to hold you in so long. She’d barely touched me, and I nearly bit her head off. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to.”
“Max,” I said, suddenly feeling like my heart no longer fit inside my ribs.
