Page 53 of For Fox Sake

I stare, open-mouthed. She’s all soft skin and subtle curves and she’s wearing a black lacy bra that’s mostly see-through and fuck.

Her hair is wild around her face, her eyes drowsy, lips swollen.

Beautiful.

Reaching forward with one hand, I trace the tips of my fingers over her lips. Her tongue flicks out against the pad of my thumb, and I shudder.

Swallowing hard, I trail my touch down, over her collarbone, then cup her breast in my hands.

Heaven.

Her breathing is ragged. “Jake. We need to go inside.”

The words penetrate through the haze of lust clouding my mind.

I can’t go inside. I shouldn’t have gotten sucked into this moment. I should have told her the truth immediately.

Her hand runs down my chest, cupping the bulge between my legs and I suck air in through my teeth.

No.

I rest a hand over hers. “Ryan. Before we go inside, I need to tell you something.”

Her eyes fly up to mine. She blinks, wariness slowly overtaking lust in her expression. “Oh. Okay.”

She releases me, moving back a few inches. I want to eliminate even that scant distance, reach for her, hold her hand or something, but if she touches me again, I might not be able to get through this.

“The real reason I came to Dull was to find you.”

Her head jerks back. “What?”

I scrub a hand through my hair. “I wasn’t completely honest when you asked why I was here in Dull. I did want to leave Whitby for all the reasons I told you, that wasn’t a lie, but I left out the thing that brought me here in the first place.”

She shakes her head, bewildered. “What are you talking about?”

“My sister, my twin, the one we talked about... the one who died.” I swallow.

She nods slowly, watching me with wary eyes.

“Her name.” I stop and swallow. I’ve only said her name once since she passed, and it was an accident. This is the first time I’ve said it, out loud, willingly. “Aria. Her name was Aria.”

She doesn’t say anything. Her face is blank, emotionless, like a statue.

My heart is pounding.

Is she even breathing?

I keep talking. “I found your letters. The ones you sent to my dad about Mia after her transplant. He never told us about the heart donation. I didn’t know. I only had the letters and there wasn’t much in them to understand the relationship, and I didn’t know why you were writing to him, and I-I had to know. I came here to find out why and... now I know.”

She lifts a hand. “Wait. Hold on. I don’t understand. Your sister, your twin who died. Your twin was Aria? The Aria? The one who?—?”

“Yes. I just made the connection, today.”

The silence beats down on my head while she searches my eyes in the dim light and the puzzle pieces click together in her mind.

“You lied to me.”

I wince. I can’t deny it.

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