Page 53 of Tips and Trysts

“Answer it.”

I’ve barely knotted my robe when I open the door. He’s there with the phone against his ear, looking so tall and smug and disgustingly handsome. His eyes scan me, perusing my barely clothed body. The color green has never looked more lethal.

He steps forward and I take a step back, letting him in.

“Fuck you.”

“I know,” he replies, gaze locked as he takes another step and swings the door shut behind him.

“Seriously, fuck you,” I repeat.

“Agreed.”

“I wasn’t supposed to like you.”

“I know.”

“I wasn’t supposed to fall for you.”

“Shh,” Everett murmurs, pressing his fingertip against my lips. He ends the call and throws his phone to the side without bothering to watch where it lands.

“I don’t understand how you do this to me. We were apart fortwo daysand all I could think about was you,” I finally manage to say.

“I know, princess.” He places his hands on my cheeks.

“It’s different with you. You’re not…” I trail off. “I told you what I needed, and you did it—andmore.”

“I’d give you everything.” His thumb traces my cheekbone. “Everything. I told you that.”

I stare up at him, half-tempted to knee him in the balls but too captivated to really consider it. “We’re going to ruin each other.”

Everett blinks, brow knotted. His mind is turning, likely coming to the same conclusion mine has: We’re so unbelievably bad for each other.

…And like me, Everett doesn’t care.

“Fuck it,” he says before his lips connect with mine.

Seventeen

EVERETT

My heart is racing,and even though I’ve imagined this moment thousands of times in the seven months I’ve known Cora, I’m thrilled at how wrong I was. Nothing could have prepared me for tasting her lips and breathing her air. Old men on death’s doorstep tell their great grandkids about this: the time they kissed a woman who buried herself into their very soul.

It’s not our first kiss, but I can savor this one. Her lips are soft against mine, and a touch of mint and a hint of tequila linger on my tongue. My hands slide down her back, feeling the softness of her skin under her robe. I drag them along the robe’s tie, moving to the simple knot in the front. When I tug, she doesn’t stop me.

She doesn’t stop me.

I can feel the moment when my self-control abandons me. I peel open her robe like a present—and find every heavenly inch of Cora’s naked body: silky skin and gold piercings and everything I’ve spent seven months yearning for.

“Oh, princess,” I murmur before my mouth crashes against hers again. Her hands are everywhere—and mine are too. I cup her breasts. I thumb the bars in her nipples. And when I lower my hand to her pussy and find it wet, puffy, and ready, she nods.

I start unbuttoning my shirt with hurried fingers. “Condom?”

“IUD,” Cora replies while she takes the initiative to wrench open my jeans. “Clear?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yep.”

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