Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 124923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
I can’t be here. I rush out of the dining room, grabbing only my keys off the entryway table on my way out of the house. She doesn’t chase after me to apologize. Instead, she runs over to a horrified looking Lawrence to plead her case, caring more about the men in her life than her own flesh and blood.
At least she’s consistent.
I take a second to collect myself on Holden’s front steps, dabbing my eyes with my sleeves and taking deep, calming breaths. I haven’t been here since the night I stood in this same spot, arguing with Liam after he showed up uninvited. The same night Holden found out Christian was the one to kill Danny. God, it seems like a lifetime ago now.
I didn’t make a conscious decision to drive to Heartbreak Hill, but deep down, I know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now. When I finally get it together, I step forward, ringing the doorbell. Holden told me that his dad spends most of his time in his condo in the city, and I’m hoping that’s still the case for my sake. When he still doesn’t come to the door, I turn around, scanning the property for his car, but I don’t see it anywhere.
“So stupid,” I say to myself, angrily batting at my tears as I start down the steps to head back to my car.
“Valen?”
I whirl around to find him standing in his doorway in nothing but his boxers with a concerned look in his eyes. His hair is mussed, like he was asleep, but his eyes seem wide awake.
“Hi,” is all I can think to say.
“What happened?” he demands.
My chin wobbles, my nose stinging with the threat of more tears. I shake my head as a single rogue tear rolls down my cheek, but Holden’s thumb brushes it away with a tenderness I didn’t know he possessed. “I know I said no feelings and I know we’re supposed to keep it casual, but can we just pretend for one night? Can we pretend we’re a real couple and that you love me?”
My face is hot with embarrassment at how pathetic that sounded out loud, the tips of my ears burning. I almost turn to leave again, but Holden simply nods before pulling me inside. “I can do that.”
Holden
Valen was the last person I expected to see at my front door on the security cameras. I had to squint and enlarge the screen to do a double take, but sure enough, there she was, standing on my snow-covered steps in nothing but a skintight dark brown shirt, a short black skirt, and those combat boots that give her an extra few inches of height, looking like she came straight out of a wet dream. It wasn’t until I noticed that she wasn’t wearing a jacket that alarm bells went off in my head. Valen’s always cold, and I know the thin tights on her legs do nothing to keep her warm. Wherever she came from, she left in a hurry.
I dropped my phone to my mattress and took off down the stairs wearing nothing but my fucking boxers, wondering what could’ve happened in the timespan of leaving campus and now. I half-expected it to have something to do with my uncle. I was already planning his funeral. What I didn’t expect was for Valen to be standing in front of me with tears in her eyes, asking me to love her.
The second the words leave her lips, her eyes grow wide, as if she didn’t mean to let them out.
“I can do that.” I tug her inside, closing the door behind her. She pushes up on her tiptoes to kiss along my jaw, her hands sliding up my abs. No longer feeling cold, I’m instantly thick and hard at her touch. Rough and needy, she reaches into my boxers, her palm wrapping around my dick as her teeth tug at the lobe of my ear, sending goosebumps down my arm.
My mouth falls open as her hand works my dick and she licks along my bottom lip before sliding her tongue into my mouth. I snap into motion, banding an arm around her waist to pull her closer. The taste of salt from her tears on her lips reminds me what she asked for and has me pulling away.
“Stop.” My fingers circle her wrist, making her release her grip on me.
“Why?” she asks, sounding slightly wounded.
“As much as I’d like to fuck you right here in the foyer, you asked me to love you tonight,” I remind her, dipping down to lift her by the backs of her thighs. “So let me love you.” The word love rolls off my tongue a little too easily. This is dangerous territory, especially when it feels like part of me has just been waiting for Valen to realize that she cares for me more than she’d like to admit. That this is more. That we are more.