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“Stop.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Eden felt Nash’s entire body tense. He just froze there, his arms on either side of her head and his breath falling hard and rapid against her ear. She felt the twitch of his erection deep inside her. She wanted to answer it with a thrust of her hips. Instead, she remained perfectly still. She had never ached for him more than she did at that moment—not just her body but also her soul. But she couldn’t give in. Not now. Not when she needed to prove to him once and for all that he wasn’t a monster.
“Stop, Nash,” she repeated.
The muscles of his chest tightened, and he held himself rigid for a moment longer before he pulled out and fell back on the pillows. His breath released in a rush. “Get out.”
“No.”
She could almost hear his jaw clench. “I mean it, Eden, get the hell out before I do something I’ll regret.”
Eden wanted to touch him, but she didn’t. She just lay there next to him, listening to his harsh breathing. “You won’t, Nash. What happened on prom night will never happen again. You just proved it.”
He sat up, and the lamp on the nightstand came on. It was the first time she’d seen him fully naked, and she couldn’t help the hitch in her breathing when her gaze ran over his broad shoulders, the muscles in his back, and the perfect curves of his butt. He turned, and she forgot about the perfection of his body when she saw the hurt in his eyes.
“This proved nothing, Eden,” he said in a defeated voice. “Do you know how close I came to ignoring your request? To forgetting everything but being deep inside you? Even now, I’m terrified of losing it. So get out… please.”
She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you accept the truth and quit beating yourself up over a mistake you made years ago. And not just yours, but Melissa’s too.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t bring her into it. Don’t you dare bring her into it.”
“Why? Because you know that I’m right. You know that what happened that night was as much her fault as it was yours. It was her choice to get the hotel room. Her choice to have champagne. Her choice to seduce you.”
He came up off the bed. “She’s dead for Christsakes!”
Eden got to her knees. “And that was her choice too!” She sighed and sat back down. “I don’t know why she did it, Nash. But I don’t think it solely had to do with what happened that night.”
“You’re right. She was in love with me. I knew it, and I took advantage of that.”
“By going to prom with her? Or by taking what she freely offered?”
Nash stared at her for a moment before he slumped down on the edge of the bed and cradled his head in his hands. She moved next to him. She didn’t say anything. There was nothing left to say. She just wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. They remained like that for a long time until Nash finally spoke.
“So why don’t you think her suicide had to do with me?”
“Because you didn’t even know each other, Nash. You didn’t know her, and she didn’t know you. The entire night was based on a fantasy she had. A fantasy that wasn’t real. The limo. The hotel. The roses on the bed. I think she thought there would be fireworks and singing angels the first time she had sex with you. And when that didn’t happen, she was disappointed and upset. And I get it. My first time wasn’t exactly what I had expected either, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to kill myself. Something more had to be going on with Melissa.”
“But I still played a part.” His voice held so much pain and sadness that Eden couldn’t keep the tears from her eyes. One must’ve leaked out and dropped to his shoulder, because he glanced down at her. “Are you crying, Eden?”
She sniffed. “Of course not. I just have bad allergies.”
He released his breath, and then turned until he was facing her. “What am I going to do with you?” He cradled her chin and used his thumb to wipe the tear from her cheek.
Looking into his beautiful eyes, she easily found the answer. “How about finishing what we started?”
He blinked. “What?’
“Make love to me, Nash,” she whispered. She hadn’t planned on using the wordlove. It had just come out. But once it was there, it seemed right.
He hesitated. “I don’t know that I can.”
She turned her head and kissed his palm. “We’ll take it slow. Kiss me, Nash… please.”
He feathered his thumb across her lips before tipping her chin and lowering his mouth to hers. Staring straight into her eyes, he took a sip. His eyes remained open as he kissed her again. This time deeper. Sweeter. His hands slid into her hair, his fingers cradling her head as the kiss grew lush and wet. His lips fit to hers perfectly as his tongue brushed against her teeth, then the roof of her mouth, before coupling with hers in a heated dance that drew a moan from deep within her.
The moan caused his eyes to close and his fingers to fist in her hair. He changed the angle of the kiss and became more demanding, sucking her tongue into his mouth and then biting her bottom lip until it ached for more.
