Page 126 of A Temporary Forever

The words slap me into action before I can even consider the consequences. I eat the short distance between us and fist her hair, tilting her head toward me.

I half expect her to kick me, but when she doesn’t… when she only stares at me defiantly, but full of heat, I pin her with my hips, lodging my leg between hers.

“You haven’t screamed my name yet, black swan. Don’t you dare pretend I’m the only one avoiding commitment. We’re both guilty of keeping our walls so high we can’t even see what’s real anymore.”

Her breath hitches. Her body still taut, she sags a little, and the suggestion of her pussy against my thigh alerts my cock immediately.

I pull her ponytail harder and lower my lips to her face. The familiar scent of flowers envelops me, fogging my brain like the aphrodisiac it is.

She whimpers and slackens more, her hands shooting up to grip my shirt. Like she can’t hold herself up, but also like she wants to make sure I stay close.

I inhale a lungful, dragging my nose up her cheek. “I’m ready to demolish my walls. The question, black swan, is what are you going to do with yours?”

Chapter 33

Celeste

My hands clench his shirt like my life depends on it. Somewhere on the periphery of my fraught mind, I understand we have so much to talk about, so much to address, so much to apologize for.

But his declaration, his willingness to take the leap, overwhelms my senses, and I can’t use my words. I can’t find my voice. I can’t formulate my fears and hopes into sentences.

Instead, I pull him to me and crush my lips against his, answering him with my affection. He startles, but doesn’t hesitate for too long, accepting my kiss with passion and desire.

My sensitive pussy rubs against his thigh, lighting up little fires all over my body. Caleb groansinto my mouth, one hand still tugging on my hair, the other finding my breast.

He scared me today with his display of possessiveness. He hurt me with his words of jealousy. He shocked me with his passionate admission.

But all of that is inconsequential. It’s solvable. It’s better than the game we’ve been playing.

Raw. Honest. Fiery.

That’s what our kiss is, and that’s what the argument leading to it was.

And while all the unanswered questions are still crying for attention, it’s the closeness and the need to feel rather than understand that wins.

I yank at his shirt, but he grips my wrist. He pulls away from my face, but stays close.

Our gazes collide, and the world around us finds a break from its endless flow.

My breath hitches as I take in the breath he exhaled. In this beat of eternity right now, it’s just us.

Two souls scared and courageous.

Two hearts hurting and soaring.

Two people falling.

The gentle, almost shy adoration in his eyes matches all I feel. The crease on his forehead mirrors all my hesitations. The subtle grin ghosting his lips tugs at the corners of my mouth.

He lowers his forehead to mine and traces my cheek with his knuckles. “Let’s go home.”

Weaving his fingers through mine, he steps back. I whimper, bereft of his touch, but know that a quickie in my changing room would set our relationship—no longer arrangement—back.

“Let’s go home.” I nod.

Caleb doesn’t speak as he waits for me to gather my things. The theater is closed today, so we’re probably the only two people here—

“What happened to Leon?” I shudder, recalling his touch.

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