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I shake my head at the pride in his voice. “But… what are you doing here?”
He smirks again as if we’re not in the middle of a fight or whatever that was back in his room. “Can we talk?”
Jess is the one to reply, “She’s all yours.”
Casper wastes no time. “Nice to meet you, by the way.”
He’s turned the charm on, and I can see Aunt Jess’s big grin even from the back of her head.
“You, too, Casper. I’ve heard a lot,” she says, walking away.
“And I will explain it all after I’ve fixed this.”
She laughs and calls over her shoulder, “Oh, we’re good unless you hurt her again.”
“Won’t happen.”
His attention shifts back to me, and he moves closer. I stand up, and he stops farther away from me than I thought he would. I guess he’s serious about us talking.
The air around us crackles as he stares into my eyes. I feel him all around me. It’s all consuming and addictive. His heat, his passion, his arrogance, and that fucking way he makes me want to grab him and never let go. I breathe it all in so much, my heart almost can’t take it.
“I snuck into your room last night and found you were gone.”
“Yeah, I needed to be here to clear my head after messing up at your place.”
He rewards my honesty with a step closer, then another, moving slowly, giving me a chance to tell him to stop. I feel the tears on my heart healing as he approaches.
Why does this feel like something close to heartbreak?
“You weren’t at the library or with Reggie. Nothing has ever felt that bad before. I didn’t know where you were or when you were coming back. You’ve run before, but you’ve never left.”
“I got scared.”
He frowns. “Of me?”
“Um. No. Yes, but I think more of what I feel for you.”
His back straightens and he tilts his head. “Oh?”
“Yeah, soak it up.”
“Ainsley, please,” he breathes.
“I was just talking to Aunt Jess about it. She thinks I’m scared of us because my mum was meant to love me, and she had no trouble walking away. You started off hating me, so why would you stay? And I want you to stay, more than I ever thought I would, and way more than I should.”
“That’s what you think?” His eyes turn a bit murderous, and I flinch at how needy and crazy I sound. I’m not fishing for compliments here.
“Maybe. Probably. It makes sense, but I didn’t realise that’s what it was until Jess said it out loud. It’s stupid, I know.”
“It’s not stupid. It makes perfect sense, actually. But I wish you would have spoken to me about it.”
“Well, I didn’t know, and we don’t do that.”
“Talk?”
“Yeah. We argue or have sex. That’s it. Then there are the secrets, and all of that together just makes me doubt us or what could be us, and I hate it.”
He rubs his head like he’s beyond done with me already. “Ainsley, fucking hell. All right, I’m going to be straight with you because you clearly can’t read between the lines.”
