Page 53 of Forget Me Not

“No. And believe me . . . I tried.”

“Why?” she asks carefully, big eyes shrouded in shadows.

Fuck. Because you’re the thing I see in my dreams? Because something about you terrifies the shit out of me?

Because you’re mine, even if you can’t be?

“Because on September first, I will be on a plane to Alaska. And I won’t be back.”

“Why do you like me so much, Reid?” she breathes, barely above a whisper.

I start to give her some generic answer, because honestly, I can’t let her peek inside my head. She’d run the moment she found out just how fucked up I really am. I don’t get the chance, though, because she cuts me off, jumping forward and pressing her lips against mine.

She pauses, pulling back just an inch to look at me. In the darkness, I can’t tell what she’s thinking. All I know is I’m not playing these games anymore. I want her.

Even if only until September.

“Reid . . .” Nova says quietly and something unspoken passes between us.

“Nova . . .” I repeat, taking in the smell of the ocean and her fucking perfume that makes it feel like I’m constantly being prepped to shoot a porno.

Nova and the ocean. Two things that can’t stand each other and two things I can’t get over.

What fucking irony.

Like she’s afraid I might wake up, she sits forward, pressing her lips to mine again and this time . . . I kiss her back.

A groan leaves my throat and before I know it, I’m giving into every dark and twisted thought that’s been playing in my head since I made her come at the cottage a week ago. My hand slides up her back, twisting in her hair so I can tug her head back to feast on her mouth. She tastes like blueberries and sweetness and everything dirty that makes my cock press painfully against the zipper of my jeans.

Now that I finally have her, it’s rough, harsh, and demanding, but she gives me exactly what I ask for, like she’s been just as starved for me as I have her.

Nova’s hands slip up the front of my stomach, over my abs, and up to my chest where she wraps her arms around my neck, a quiet whimper leaving her throat that has me ready to risk fucking everything to hear her make that sound again.

When I break the kiss, slipping down and trailing a line toward the side of her neck, a moan escapes her and my self-control turns into a time bomb. Especially when my hand meets her thigh pressed around my hip, feeling the smooth, bare skin there and I know it wouldn’t take much, if anything, for me to give in after fighting it all week.

Fuck, I want to feel her.

I shake myself, breaking the kiss, but Nova pulls me back in with a quiet “No.” I fight back a smile, giving her what she wants and kissing her roughly while I try not to focus on the battle of wills between my dick and my head.

I want her. Hard and rough and needy for me.

But . . . she’s not ready. Not right now. She’ll regret it the moment it’s over. She’s said so herself. I want her begging for me when I sink inside her the first time.

She deserves better than this.

“Reid,” she pants when I break the kiss, pressing my lips to her cheek, jaw, anywhere I can reach because I don’t want to step back yet. “Please.”

When I thought about all the possible outcomes of staying on this island until my boat was ready to go, I forgot to factor in how that one little word, please, would likely become my undoing. Hearing Nova beg for me unlocks something deep inside me that has me craving more.

“Fuck, little bird,” I rasp, reaching back to grip her hip where she’s attempting to roll into me. My cock’s begging me for more. Just to slip inside her and feel her around me, but I know if we do, it’ll ruin everything. There’s no way I fuck Nova and she doesn’t freak out like last time. “We can’t. Not tonight.”

“Why not?” she asks, her lips falling and I suck in a deep breath, brushing the hair back from her face haphazardly.

“Because you’re not ready.”

“I am,” she argues, attempting to kiss me again, but I take her face in my hands, holding her still to look at me.

“No, you aren’t.” I press a kiss to her forehead, leaning back and pulling her up to sit in front of me. Our breathing is heavy and it’s taking everything I have not to just give in. I press my lips to her ear, nibbling at her skin.

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