Page 65 of Broken Romeo

I close my eyes. His voice is breaking my focus. Because it’s not Holden’s.

“We better make tonight good.” He scoops me into his arms, laying me gently onto my back.

I arch into him, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to cling to the character I’d only just barely begun grasping. She’s almost there, but not quite. It’s wrong. His touch is wrong. His caress is clunky. His kisses are off.

Because he’s not Holden.

He peppers kisses up my neck and I turn my head to look at Holden who’s still standing stage left. Self-doubt edges into me. I’m not sure that I can ever perform this part with Holden here, scrutinizing my every move.

His jaw ticks at the very moment Nolan’s mouth clasps to my ear. He sucks and nibbles me there—in my most sensitive spot.

The exact spot I told him not to touch.

I cry out, an involuntary noise, and I buck against Nolan’s body pinning me to the bed.

He didn’t.

He didn’t tell Nolan to kiss the one part of my body he knows is off-limits.

And on top of that, Nolan did it. Even after asking me what areas to avoid.

But the way Holden’s expression ignites, my body can’t help but respond with pulses between my thighs and tingles in the tips of my breasts. The press of Nolan’s body to mine isn’t enough. I ache in my core, empty without Holden inside me.

With a gasp, Skyler is gone.

It’s just me. Horny, broken Kate.

I feel so fucking betrayed… by both of them.

“No!” I squirm against Nolan, pounding my fists into his chest. “Stop… Stop!”

That coiling, volatile feeling spiraling inside of my core is too damn much and I need out. I’m not cut out for this.

Nolan’s face is stricken, horrified, and he sits up quickly. “Kate—I-I’m sorry. I know you said not to, but Holden told me—”

I don’t wait for the excuses because I know it’s not his fault. Not entirely.

I know he didn’t choose that blocking for himself.

It’s Holden. Holden knows how to get to me. He’s always known, even subconsciously.

I rush past Maggie, holding out my robe, and run for my dressing room, slamming the door shut behind me. But there’s no satisfying bang of the door closing.

Instead, Holden’s there to catch the door, standing in front of me, panting. It’s just him and me… and that invisible tether pulsing between our aching bodies.

I don’t take my eyes off him as he strides into my room, shutting the door gently behind him.

I’m no longer acting. Every bit of my body is screaming for him as he moves closer, standing before me. I hate that he can make me lose myself in this way; that he has so much power over me.

There are a million things I want to say to him, but they all vanish the second his low growl vibrates between us. “Fucking hell, Katherine. I forgot how sexy you look when you’re turned on.”

Heat blazes under my skin. We both rush for each other at the same time, our ravenous lips meeting for the first time in five years. I suck on his bottom lip, and he inhales sharply with a groan.

When he glides his tongue against mine, the world goes dark around us. With only one kiss, my world is turned upside down. I’m dizzy with desire and ravenous for more. I clutch at his shoulders, gripping the strong muscles. Holden has always been strong, but what were once the muscles of a young, athletic boy are now roped with masculine strength. He’s the same… yet, so, so different.

Everything I thought I knew and wanted is annihilated by his kiss. When he curves his hands around my ass, his palms hit my bare flesh and I’m suddenly all too aware of how naked I am.

It’s not just that I want Holden. Want is too casual. Too simple.

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