Page 52 of Unforgettable

“But we can’t let sex get in the way,” I continued, letting my fingers drift through the stubble along his jaw. “Of making clearheaded decisions.” And then, like my words meant nothing, I made the fatal error of allowing my body to fall directly onto him. No longer hovering over his erection threatening to tent his jeans, it was pressed against me right where my body craved it the most.

“You do realize that orgasms don’t have to come from sex, right? It would be fairly easy to slip my fingers inside of you and let you ride them just like you would my cock.” His words were whispered directly into my mouth, and I gasped at the pleasure I knew would come from his dirty ideas.

But I needed to be stronger than what my pussy wanted. ButGoddid he ever make it fucking difficult.

“You have no idea how good that sounds,” I whispered over his lips and kissed him softly. “But it can’t happen.”

Thankfully, Josh didn’t resist too much when I slipped off his lap and fell beside him again. Our legs were still touching and his arm was pressed against mine, but he still felt too far away.

We were at least fifteen minutes into the movie—Edward had already picked up Vivian on Hollywood Boulevard, and they were entering the swanky hotel.

“Well, color me happy, there’s a sofa in here for two,” I murmured along with Vivian as she entered the hotel elevator.

“I bet you can see all the way to the ocean from here,” I repeated.

“Well, now that you have me here, what are you going to do with me?”

“You know every word to this movie, don’t you?” Josh quipped. I chanced a look in his direction, only to find him watching me out of the corner of his eye with an amused grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

Lips I craved to taste again. The memory of them against my own was almost too much—I bit my lower lip, trying to suppress the thoughts, but the pain did little to ease the craving.

Doing what I could to steer away from the thought of Josh’s gorgeous mouth and all of the things I wanted him to do with it, I crawled to the end of the truck and grabbed two more drinks from the cooler. Not that the alcohol would help, but it was something else to do and focus on.

“Of course I do. Are you surprised?” I said, finally answering his question.

“Not one bit actually. It’s amazing you can fit anything else in your brain with all of the movie quotes you store up there.” He took the cider from me, our fingers only brushing the slightest bit, yet there was still a jolt of energy up my arm.

“It’s not just movie quotes. Honestly, there’re quite a few song lyricsandTV show quotes, too.”

For several minutes we watched the movie, and I quoted nearly every other line.

Although I knew Josh would only be amused by my skillful recollection of the movie, I still murmured quietly to myself to not disturb him.

There was something about Vivian’s spirit that called to my own. She was unflinchingly honest and authentically herself. Characteristics I hoped to find in myself even from a young age. Had my parents been around more often or paid more attention, maybe I wouldn’t have been watching the movie with my two-year-old brother, but that’s the way it was. It came with the territory of consistently leaving your child in front of a TV with zero adult supervision.

But it wasn’t until I was nearly twelve that I fully grasped that she was a prostitute and Edward was paying her for her “company.” Even then, that didn’t dissuade me from seeing parts of myself in her. This was especially true when my mother began calling me wild, uncontrollable, and dramatic. Or telling me that I was too loud or too much.

Vivian was loud, but Edward didn’t think that she was too much. He actually reveled in the fact that she was different. So, the whole prostitution part never mattered much to me.

“It was so good, I almost peed my pants!” Vivian erupted from the screen. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I’d missed one of my favorite lines and one that I had quoted to Josh earlier.

I laughed and turned to look behind me, where Josh was still quietly leaning against the back of the truck.

“See! I didn’t make it up,” I said, pointing to the screen.

But Josh wasn’t watching the movie. His eyes were locked on his phone screen, which he held in front of him.

“You’re not even watching,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

“Sorry, I was busy watching something even more interesting.”

“What on earth could be on your phone that is more intriguing than watchingPretty Woman? This is a classic and should be treated as such.”

Rather than tell me, he scrubbed a hand over his jaw, seeming to contemplate his next move and then offered me his phone. I was inclined not to take it and just turn back to the movie, but my curiosity got the best of me. As it always did.

Queued up on the screen was a video that he’d taken of me. And I only hesitated a second before I pressed play.

The movie was playing in the background, slightly blurry since that’s not what Josh was focused on. It was taken only a few seconds before, and to anyone who watched me, it would appear that I was absorbed in the movie. Although my thoughts were—in that moment—stuck on memories from years before.

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