Page 48 of Should Have Been Me

“It’s—” That was all Barrett got out before Vaughn slammed the door in his face.

I barely had a chance to take in a sigh of relief that he was gone before my heart started hammering at being alone with Vaughn. My body didn’t seem to give a damn that things the night before had ended so disastrously, because my body was coming to life at just the sight of him. My skin suddenly felt tight, my breathing labored. My fingers itched to dive into his silky hair and yank his mouth to mine. A pulse started low in my belly, growing in pressure as my nipples puckered, the tips hard as diamond.

“You know he’s still in love with you, right?” he asked before I had a chance to question what he was doing standing in my office only hours after kicking me to the curb.

I let out a weary sigh as I pressed back in my chair, closing my eyes to massage my temples. “I don’t think Barrett knows how to love anyone, honestly.” I finally saw that first-hand. For the longest time I questioned what had gone wrong. I thought our relationship had been so wonderful, and I couldn’t wrap my head around why he would end it. Now I understood. He was still very much that nerdy kid from back in high school. It didn’t matter he’d already had a woman who loved him, who was devoted to him, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. The moment someone else showed interest, he hadn’t blinked at blowing our world apart. Barrett was still so insecure, he didn’t have a clue what he wanted. It was actually kind of sad.

“All right. But he wants you back. That much is obvious.”

I opened my eyes, pinning him with a hard stare. “Why are you telling me this? Why are you even here?” I asked exasperatedly.

I saw his throat work on a thick swallow, bobbing over the top of the starched collar of his button-down. A much nicer button-down than Barrett’s.

“I’m here... The tips of his ears and the sharp ridges of his cheekbones started to deepen with color. “I’m here because I fucked up. I can’t stand how we left things last night.”

My throat went dry. There was a voice in the very back of my head that wanted to cheer, but I quickly smacked it down, afraid to let myself hope. My voice came out only a few octaves above a whisper as I asked, “How would you have preferred we left them?”

He moved then, coming closer. Each step so slow yet enough to make my heart speed up. “I would have preferred to have you in my bed,” he admitted gruffly, his words deep and gravelly. “I would have liked to be able to hold you all night, to feel your skin against mine. I would have liked to be able to press my face into your hair and breathe you in, to have your sunshine scent on my sheets so every time I climbed inside I’d be able to smell you. I would have preferred anything over watching you drive away from me last night. It gutted me.”

I blinked, his words catching me completely off guard. Goosebumps were spreading across my entire body. At his confession that need coiling deep in my core twisted even tighter. “Then why did you push me away?”

“Because you scare the hell out of me,” he confessed so earnestly the backs of my eyes began to burn. “Because being with you is better than anything I’ve ever felt before. And I’m not only talking about the sex. You terrify me because nothing I feel for you is fake, baby.”

“What—” I had to stop, give myself time to get my thoughts together. “What do you want, Vaughn?” My tongue darted, swiping over my bottom lip as Vaughn closed the last of the space between us and shocked the hell out of me by lowering to his knees right in front of me.

His response was one simple word, but the impact of it was indescribable.

“You.”

25

JOLIE

My inner romantic, the one that tended to pop up at the most inconvenient times, was currently swooning to death. As hard as it was, I forced myself to remain seated, clutching the arms of my executive chair in a white-knuckle grip. “What changed?” I needed to know, despite being terrified that his answer might wreck me. “From last night when you couldn’t get rid of me fast enough to now, what changed?”

A low growl rattled through his chest. “Not a goddamn thing. From the moment I slid out of you, all I’ve been able to think about is getting back in.” I gave a little jolt at the electric current running from my ankle where he reached out and touched me, all the way up my leg to the apex of my thighs. My breath rushed from my lungs as he slowly dragged his hand up, leaving a path of fire in his wake. “I want inside your body, Jolie.” My heart started beating like I’d just run a marathon. “I want in here,” he said softly, reaching up with his other hand and brushing a tendril of hair behind my ear, pausing at my temple. “I want in here.” His fingertips ghosted down the center of my blouse before pressing deep between my breasts where my heart was rattling around against my ribs.

The hand on my leg traveled upward, past my knee, up my thigh. My breath stuttered past my lips as he slipped beneath my skirt. My legs parted of their own accord, my body’s silent way of begging him for more, and he did not disappoint. “And I want back in here more than I want my next breath,” he rasped, his large hand cupping my sex. “Christ, I can feel how hot you are, how wet. I can’t think straight when I know you want me as badly as I want you.”

A whimper worked its way up my throat. “Vaughn,” I begged, not even sure what I was begging for. My mind was at war with itself.

“I want everything, Jolie, but until you’re there with me, I’ll gladly take anything you’re willing to give.”

His fingertips danced across the sopping wet material of my panties in a feather-light touch that only made my body hotter. “What are you doing to me?” The words came out sounding as frantic as I felt. This man was a hurricane, and I was helpless against him, waiting to get sucked up into the chaos.

“Whatever you want,” he assured me, his voice gritty and raw with need. He leaned forward, his height bringing him to the perfect level so his lips could meet mine. When he spoke again, his words ghosted across them like a kiss. “Anything you want, Jolie. All you have to do is say the words.”

“Touch me,” I said insistently. “God, Vaughn. Ease this ache you’ve created before I go insane.”

His tongue came out, dancing across the seam of my lips before slipping past for one swipe against my own. “Good. Now you understand what you do to me.” Then his mouth plundered mine as he shoved aside the panel of my panties and plunged two fingers deep inside me. I instantly clamped down around those long, thick digits, a silent scream trapped behind my clenched teeth.

“That’s such a good girl,” he soothed, driving those skillful fingers in and out, in and out, with perfect precision. “Keeping quiet while your perfect cunt sucks my fingers like it wishes they were my cock.” I whimpered again, and he was right there to swallow the sound down. “It’s greedy for me already, isn’t it? Knows I’ll take care of it, give it what it needs.”

He curled his fingers upward in a come-hither motion, the pads dragging across my G-spot. My hands came off the arms of my chair and fisted in the smooth strands of his hair, holding tight as I turned the heat up on the kiss. My hips began to rock uncontrollably, chasing his touch as I got closer to the edge he was driving me toward.

“That’s it, Jolie. Hold on to me. Use me. I’m right here, just for you.”

“God, you infuriate me,” I lamented against his mouth, unable to stop kissing him, stop touching him. Even when I was still so angry with him for pushing me away. “I shouldn’t want you the way I do after how you treated me, but if you stop, I’ll die.”

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