Page 94 of The Trouble with Players

This is wrong.

This is so wrong.

But I couldn’t stop. Our tongues moved together like they had so many times before. I was home in his arms. I was his in his arms. And despite the truth, I wanted to forget it all for the night and get lost in his kiss.

But I couldn’t.

I pulled back, breathless and flushed. “We can’t do this.”

“We just did,” he countered.

“Well, it can’t happen again,” I said, trying to get my heart and head in sync.

He swept a loose strand of my hair away from my face, and his touch elicited tingles to my skin. “Let me stay with you tonight.”

“No.”

“You’re in this big house alone. I’d feel better if I stayed.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I promise I won’t do anything like we just did,” he said.

“You just did. I was an unwilling participant.”

He scoffed, not buying a word of it. “There’s nothing wrong with us sharing a bed if we’re fully clothed. We did it many times.”

“You have your own house,” I said, knowing this was a terrible idea. “And, your own bed.”

He paused for a long moment, and I expected him to agree to leave. “Yeah, but my heart’s here.”

A shiver racked through my body.

“And, I don’t fucking know what to do with that.”

My stomach flipped over. He couldn’t say things like that and make me feel things I shouldn’t feel.

He cupped my cheeks between his hands and stared into my eyes. “We’re in this together. We’re the only ones who understand what the other’s going through.”

My eyes riveted between his. He was right. We were alone in this. No one else could possibly understand. And, although I knew the difference between right and wrong, I just wasn’t strong enough to force him away.

I pulled away from his hands, inching back toward my pillow. Crew realized what I was doing and stood up. I slipped under my covers.

Taking this as me acquiescing, he shucked his sneakers and peeled his shirt over his head. That’s when I saw he was wearing my pink shell necklace.

I sucked in a sharp breath and tears stung my eyes.

He switched off my lights, and then we were in complete darkness. He walked to my bed and climbed under the blankets, spooning me like he had many times before. And, I didn’t even fight it.

We lay in silence.

I focused on the soft whoosh of our breaths and the steady thuds of our heartbeats. I tried not to focus on the way his hard body pressed to mine. Or, the way his arms wrapped around my body so that we fit perfectly together. I tried not to inhale his sandalwood scent which was wrapped around me like a lost blanket that I’d just found again.

“You took my necklace,” I said.

“I needed to have a piece of you with me.”

I didn’t know how to respond.

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