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I love you.
Sure, she loved her twin brother Lane.Absolutely adored him.He’d been her rock for most of her life.When her parents had died, she and Lane had just been teenagers.Thirteen years old.There had been no other close family.Just the two of them.They’d gotten shuttled from foster home to foster home.
They’d been desperate to reach adulthood.To escape that life.To start over.
They had.
Maybe she had trust issues.Maybe she distanced herself from people because she expected no relationship to last.Or at least, that was what a therapist had told her once.Back when she’d been a teen, she remembered overhearing one social worker say that Lark had attachment issues.
And the things the social worker had said about Lane…
No, no, stop it.All of that is over.
She took another sip of wine.Her fingers trembled as she put the glass back down.“I know you asked me here tonight because you had something important to tell me.”
His head tilted to the right.The candlelight sent shadows chasing over the hard planes of his face.He really was incredibly attractive.Almost movie-star perfect.The kind of gorgeous you don’t see in real life.The kind that caught you off guard and made you do a double—or triple—take.
Tall, well over six feet, with broad shoulders that stretched the black blazer he wore.His dark hair brushed over the back of the blazer, and a lock of hair tumbled charmingly over his forehead.A strong jaw, high cheekbones, and eyes that smoldered.Oliver sort of burned with a barely leashed sexuality.
Or at least, he did to her.
Because whenever she was around him, she felt edgy.On the verge of losing her control.And she valued control above all things.She created schedules.She made daily to-do lists.Her life always followed a plan.
But meeting Oliver had changed all of her plans.
His hand turned beneath hers so that he was now holding her fingers.The light calluses on his fingers slid against her skin.
Heat surged through her.It always did when they touched.“Oliver…”
His gaze met hers.His left hand pressed to the top of the table.His right hand went right on holding hers.
“I love you,” Lark confessed.Breathless.Soft.
Done.
She smiled as the tension poured from her.That admission really hadn’t been nearly as hard as she’d thought.The words had just come out.If you were going to take a leap, why not dive right in?
He didn’t smile back at her.
Didn’t say the words back, either.And it took a moment for the heavy silence to register.
“I-I just wanted to tell you,” she stammered quickly.A stammer that she’d worked hard to overcome.It only slipped out now when she was very nervous or very stressed.“These last few months with you have been wonderful, and I wanted you to know how I felt.”Her phone beeped as a text came through.She’d hung her purse over the back of the chair, and the beeping and vibration of the phone made the purse seem to softly pulse.
She ignored the pulsing and the text.This moment with Oliver was more important than anything else.
“I didn’t expect you,” he said.His voice was rough.Angry?No, surely not.“Never counted on you at all.”
That seemed like a strange thing to say.Not incredibly romantic but…
“We need to talk, Lark.”Gruff.
She nodded.“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?You said you had something important to tell me.”She smiled at him.“I had something important to tell you, too.”And she had told him.I love you.After last night, she’d known that holding back with him wasn’t an option.
I have never wanted anyone more than I want him.She’d never been so free during sex.Never just let go and let the passion take her.
With Oliver, she didn’t hold back.She didn’twantto hold back.She wanted him.So say the words.“I want to go home with you, Oliver.I want to stay with you all night long.”
A flash of pure lust filled his eyes.There was no mistaking his need.
