Page 31 of Stay

“Like I’d give you anything less?”

It’s… perfect. I can’t believe he’s done this. And so fast too.

Cole gathers my hair in his hands and pulls it to the side to kiss my neck. I immediately feel dizzy.

“Cole,” I groan.

“I’ve missed the way my name sounds in your mouth.” He kisses my neck again, before slowly spinning me around to face him. Snaking his hand under my hair, he holds the base of my neck and locks gazes with me.

“I’ve missed everything about you,” I confess. “You’re my true north, Cole. I’m so sorry I—” My words cut off. He doesn’t want me apologizing all the time, so I’ll start practicing now. “I’m glad I found you.”

He kneads the back of my skull and bites down on his bottom lip, dragging it across his teeth. “I’m glad you found me, too.”

Don’t leave me again, is what his eyes say, but his mouth stays shut.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kiss him slowly, sweetly. Except it doesn’t stay that way. Especially when he groans into my mouth.

Our tiny ember of heat grows into a blazing inferno in a nanosecond.

His hands are all over me. We spin around his office, knocking things over, bumping into the glass walls. “Fuck,” he grits out, lifting me up and carrying me to his desk. “You’re killing me, girl.”

“You seem pretty alive to me.” I scrape his scalp as I bite down on his neck.

“Fuuuuck.” He pushes away, his chest lifting with each breath he takes. “We gotta go slow, remember?”

Oh. Right. “Okay.” I immediately shut down my lust as much as I can and hop off his desk. This kind of rejection is weird. Warranted, but weird. “I um…” How do I get out of this with any dignity? “I have a surprise for you, too.”

He doesn’t say a word.

“It’s in my car, though. Let me just…” Licking my lips, I slip away from him..

He puts his hands on my waist, stopping me. “Stay.”

Wow. Talk about confusing. This man is giving me mixed signals, left and right. That’s not like him.

It’s not like us.

We were never slow movers with each other. In fact, after our first time, we were on each other every chance we could get. A minute, an hour, a night, a weekend. Hell, he fucked me so good, I could barely get to class sometimes.

Maybe fighting that chemistry is what’s tripping him up. I know it is for me. But Cole’s right. We need to go slow. This isn’t for fun. This is for keeps and we’ve got damage to undo.

He keeps his hands locked on my waist, his gaze burning into mine. I wish I knew what was running through his head.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I whisper.

His intensity shifts a little.

Fisting his hoodie, I pull him closer to me so I can wrap my arms around him. When he hugs me back, I focus on the way his heart pounds in his chest. It’s so fast. So strong. Not erratic like mine.

His cell goes off and he ignores it.

We just hold each other, leaving a million words left unsaid between us.

Which is our MO, right?

Fuck it. I refuse to let us repeat history when it comes to expressing our feelings. I’m not avoiding the hard stuff ever again. “What are you thinking right now, Cole?”

“You don’t want to know.”

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