Page 24 of Pretty Broken Things

I shake my head. “You don’t have to explain. I’m on the team. If I’d really been paying attention I’d have realized the rumors were false. So does that mean—”

She bites her lip, and nods.

“I’m going to need you to say the words, Countess. I’ve made the mistake of assuming things about you too many times.”

Tess growls. “You know I hate when you call me that. Can we also strike my full name off the list please?”

“Sure, if I can call you Vixen.” I’m teasing her, mostly. We’ll never be that couple that stares lovingly into each other’s eyes and calls each other cute pet names. I’m probably always going to be a little too possessive and she’s never going to stop trying to challenge me.

She rolls her eyes, but doesn’t answer me. That’s fine, I don’t really care if she gives me the green light to call her Vixen, or Countess or whatever pops into my head at the time, as long as she agrees to let me call her mine.

“We both know you’re going to do what you want, but if I get a say, I’d rather not have you call me Contessa at least. That’s the name given to me by two assholes who saw me as an accessory and discarded me when I no longer served their purposes.”

She takes a deep breath in through her nose. I know she’s gathering her courage, which makes me sad that she feels the need to be guarded around me, but I understand it at the same time. “You know that I found out Jace was cheating on me, so I broke up with him at the beginning of the summer.”

I clench my jaw. I instantly regret forcing this conversation, but a part of me needs to know. Her eyes flick back and forth across my face. When she sees that I’m not going to interrupt her, she keeps talking.

“Well, let’s just say I wasn’t really all that surprised. We’d been together for most of junior year, and it wasn’t like we hadn’t done anything, but we never took that final step. I just never trusted him enough.”

She looks down again, and her dark hair falls around her face like a curtain. I push her hair out of her face and tip her face back up to look at me. “I know it’s weird, being an eighteen-year-old virgin. Definitely not cool.”

“Fuck what other people think. I respect that you’ve stayed true to what feels right to you. And this just reinforces what I already thought. We need to take things slow. I don’t want you to regret being with me,” I tell her.

“You aren’t weirded out? Jace used to say it was too much responsibility. Didn’t stop him from pressuring me to give it up, but I think part of him cheating on me was because I hadn’t and also to remind me that I was replaceable.”

“Well fuck that guy too. He never deserved you. And I’m not weirded out. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m uncharacteristically jealous and possessive when it comes to you,” I say.

She smiles a tiny smile. “I may have picked up on that. It’s kinda weird.”

I shrug, because it’s not going to stop any time soon. The possessive asshole side of me seems to be taking over. “Last time, Vixen, where did these awful clothes come from?”

“They’re my dad’s, okay? I stole them last year. I was alone all the time, and I broke down and begged him to spend time with me. He promised me several times we’d have dinner, but rescheduled so many times I gave up on the idea. Stupidly, I still missed him, and I pulled these out of the few things he still had here.”

I want to kiss the frown off her face, so I do just that. Sliding my hand up to cup the back of her head, I pull her down slowly. My lips brush across hers, and it’s sweet torture. All my ability to think flies out of my head, and I lay her down on the couch. I pull back to look at her with her dark hair fanned out across the cushion, her sweatshirt pulled up to reveal a tiny sliver of her stomach.

I hover over her. “It’s not stupid to want to be close to your dad. He’s the one missing out though, not you.” I rub my nose against hers.

My hands slip under her sweatshirt and start to guide it over her head. “I’m going to have to give you one of mine, because I don’t want to see you in another man’s clothes. Not even your father’s.”

“You’re different than I thought you were,” she murmurs.

I chuckle. “Trust me, I’m surprised myself.”

ChapterEleven

Tessa

With my fistin his hair I pull his mouth back to mine. His body is stiff above me, and I can feel him fighting to stay in control of himself. For some reason I can’t help but challenge him. My head and heart are at war, because rationally I know I should respect his decision. There’s sound reasoning behind him wanting to take things slow, but my heart isn’t on board with that idea.

I can’t shake the fear that there’s a clock hanging above our heads, ticking down. That an alarm will go off, waking me from this dream, and I’ll find myself alone again. So, if this is a dream, I’m going to let myself escape into it. For however long this lasts, I’m going to let myself have him.

Ford’s hand slips under my sweatshirt and pulls it over my head. I can feel his resolve wavering when he kisses me again. His lips move against mine with a fierce hunger, one I’m eager to match. His tongue strokes against mine, and we breathe into each other’s mouths.

He growls against my lips, and presses his forehead against mine. “Make me stop,” he begs.

“I can’t,” I breathe against him, and pull his mouth back to mine.

My hands explore him, venturing underneath his shirt across the firm muscles of his back. It’s still not enough. I yank at the hem of his shirt, until he sits up, grabs the back of his shirt and yanks it over his head. “Is that what you wanted?”

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