Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
I went to him.
His back was turned to me, and he nodded his head as he spoke. “Yeah. I know. Yeah. Okay.” He paused. “If Marcus could come, that’d be good. He’s going to be moved there tomorrow morning.” Then he turned. He saw me, and he went still. “Uh, yeah. A seventy-two-hour hold… Mom, I gotta go. I’ll call you back.”
My hand ached from wanting to touch him.
He hung up, and his eyebrows lifted in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Diego came to my dorm. He said you got a call about your brother, that you were here.”
He cocked his head to look behind me.
“He’s not with me. He just gave me a ride here.”
“Oh.” His Adam’s apple moved up and down as he swallowed, then a hardness came over him. “You should go.” He started past me.
I caught his arm. “Wait.”
“Summer, now’s not the time for your weird mind fucks. I’ve got serious shit to deal with here. My brother—” He lifted a hand to point behind me, but stopped. “My brother…”
“What?”
Please tell me. Please let me in, even though you have no reason to.
He looked down at my hand. So did I, and holding a breath, I moved it to his chest.
I asked, a tiny whisper even to my ears, “What happened to your brother? I’m here for you. I just want to be here for you.”
“Where’ve you been the last two weeks?”
“I—” Crap on a stick. I shook my head. “I’m here for you tonight.”
“Just tonight?”
That lump jumped back up in my throat. I had to swallow over it again. “And this weekend. For the trip.” And forever, if you want that.
He leaned back against the wall, folding his arms over his chest. His face was just as gorgeous as the last time I’d seen him, but it was exhausted, like Diego’s had been. No, that wasn’t true. Caden looked like he might be the definition of exhaustion. But over all of that, a hard mask came over his face. His jaw clenched, and I knew this was the no-bullshitting Caden.
“Just tonight and this weekend?” he asked.
I let out a small breath and glanced down to the floor. My hands twisted around the end of my shirt. “No, not just for then.” I looked back. “I can’t tell you why I’ve been avoiding you.”
“So you have been avoiding me.”
I paused. “Was that a trick question?”
He rolled his eyes, shifting so he rested against the wall. I moved so my side was against it too, and we stood even closer now. “Just tell me what’s going on with you.”
“I can’t. That’s the problem.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I did, that’d lead to a whole other conversation, and to be honest, I’m almost shitting my pants even thinking about that conversation. So yeah. I’m here, but I don’t want to talk about why I haven’t been here, and I just want to be here for you. That whole last sentence doesn’t make sense, but I don’t care. Can we truce it for the night?”
“No.”
My shoulders slumped. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t like it. Why the disappearing act? I won’t let you stay until you tell me. Is it because you have feelings for me?”
“WHAT?!” My eyes snapped open.
“Because if you think you have feelings for me, you’re wrong.”
“I am?”
He shook his head, a slight smirk there, and hooked a finger into a loop on my waistband. He pulled me closer, lowering his head. “There’s lust between us. I’m going to give that to you, and knowing how screwed up you are about your stepbrother, I can understand if you got it twisted. You don’t have feelings for me.”
“I don’t?”
He was wrong. But he was making it okay to be around him, and I was going with it. I needed to be here. I couldn’t have stayed away any longer anyway.
I was so weak.
“No.” He pulled me the rest of the way until there was no distance between us.
I felt him. I felt the thump of his heart. I felt the heat of his body, and I especially felt how he wanted me. I was salivating.
He lowered his head until his breath warmed my lips. “But here’s my warning for you: I need you tonight. Don’t run.” He pulled his head back, his eyes searching mine. “Please don’t run.”
He delivered a bomb to me and stepped back as it detonated. I felt wrecked, but I could only nod, because in that moment, I would’ve given him anything. I was his for the night. I was maybe his for more than the night, and if he wanted to call it a lie, I didn’t care.
I whispered, “I won’t.”
His hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb resting on my cheek, and I felt the tension leave his body. Everything relaxed, and his forehead came down to mine. “Thank you.”