Page 63 of Secret Love

Chapter 20

Dani

Isit still, gently trembling on the edge of the bed. Fox stands above me and stares with the same dangerous lust I always saw in him. His eyes draw a line down my body. His hands roll into tight fists. His jaw flexes.

But he doesn’t touch me.

“Fox?” I ask.

Fox takes a step back, his eyes locking on the floor instead. “No,” he says.

“No?”

He walks away from the bed and turns around to face the window instead. “You should get some rest,” he says. “Long day tomorrow.”

I hold my shirt closed. “What?”

He doesn’t look at me. He doesn’t even say anything. He just stares out that damn window.

“Fox, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing.”

“Then…” I stand up, still pinching my shirt. “What did I do?”

“Nothing.”

“Stop saying that and talk to me.”

He exhales. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Dani. I just don’t…”

My gut churns with rejection. “You don’t want me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says.

“You won’t. I trust you.”

He looks at me. Barely. “I don’t mean that way.”

“Then, what way?”

“Dani—” He pauses with his jaw wired tight. “It’s just not right. Okay?”

Every bit of lingering desire melts off my body, instantly replaced with seething annoyance. “It’s not right?” I say. “Being a member of a secret murder club is totally okay but fucking me is out of the question?”

He hangs his head. “That’s not—”

“What changed?” I ask. “What changed between then and now?”

“Everything.”

“Bullshit.”

I turn away from him, quickly closing my buttons as I search for more clothes to throw on.

“It’s true,” Fox says from his window.

“You said I’ve always been Dani to you, that you don’t see me the way they do, but — surprise, surprise — yes, you do.”

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