Page 71 of Unforgivable

“What for?”

“Just don't want to get hit when you get struck down by lightning.”

Cal shoved me playfully, chuckling and going back to perusing the rest of the pictures. When his gaze swept across one in the bottom corner, he fell silent again and an odd look twisted his features.

“That was my senior prom,” I murmured, feeling weirdly self-conscious with how intently he was studying the photo.

“So that would make this Connor next to you?” Cal asked, a slight growl in his voice. “Who's the chick standing next to him?”

Heat crept up my neck and I resisted telling him the truth, knowing how it would sound to him. All these years later and it still didn't sound great to me either. “Um, that was his date, Sloane. He thought it was a good idea so we didn't draw too much attention to ourselves that night.”

Cal remained silent, but I saw the tension in his shoulders and the tiniest tick in his jaw. He probably was thinking about how pathetic I had been to agree to that, considering Connor and I had been fooling around all senior year at that point. “I mean, I know it sounds stupidnow, but at the time we really thought it was the better option, so people didn't catch onto us,” I rushed out, feeling the need to defend my clueless teenage self.

He whipped around, so close to me that I could feel the warmth radiating from his muscular form. His brows pinched together and he slowly shook his head. “He was wrong, Rhys. You were the better option.”

My stomach flipped and I swallowed roughly past the emotion that single comment sparked. He couldn't have known just how much those words pierced right through me. I had struggled so much that night with wanting to trust that Connor had my best interests at heart while also feeling like a dirty secret he kept in the closet he hid in. I didn't get to respond since Cal stepped around me into the guest room, leaving me to follow.

Cal appraised the room with a nod, throwing his bag on the bed and plopping down next to it. “This is nice. Reminds me of how cozy your place is.”

I hummed in agreement, standing around awkwardly. “It is. So tomorrow we can just take it easy, hang out around here for the day if you want, but I thought we could go to the Lighting of the Square festival in the evening. It's a big deal around here and I think you'll like it,” I suggested.

He leaned back on his hands, abs visible under his tight t-shirt and beckoning me to take him in. Those blasted gray sweatpants he always wore did nothing to hide his impressive length, and I idly wished I could make out that silver barbell I remembered all too well. The memory of it on my tongue made saliva pool in my mouth, and I could feel my cheeks flood with heat. Good grief, he was stunning. From the way Cal's gaze darkened slightly, I'd bet good money that he knew exactly where my thoughts had strayed.

He stood up, taking slow steps toward me as if I'd be spooked into running. In his defense, that was still a likely scenario. Every inch he drew closer, my body reacted to his increasing proximity. The heat in my face drained down my neck, my pulse jumping as my cock plumped up in anticipation. Cal stopped when we were toe to toe, and it took all my strength not to reach out to him, drawn in by his presence. My eyes pinged between those ocean blue and forest green orbs of his, my mind a war of contradictions.

I wanted space to think as much as I wanted him to erase every molecule of it between us. I found it hard to breathe when he wasn't close by, but he stole my air just being near me. I needed to keep the boundaries I erected for us, yet I yearned for him to tear down any barrier keeping us apart.

I didn't know if I had imagined it, but his eyes reflected the same battle I felt inside. Maybe it was pointless for us to keep fighting the pull that was always there, always taunting us. If we gave in, we would undoubtedly spin out of control and crash together, but what a beautiful mess we'd make.

I took in a shaky breath, steadying myself against the storm he stirred in me. “S-so, would you want to? Go to the lighting tomorrow, I mean.”

His tongue licked across his bottom lip, instantly drawing my attention to it. “Sounds like a plan,” he said in a husky timbre. That tone was a warning shot fired across my bow, jolting me out of the hazy desire that was setting in. This wasn't good.

I needed air.

I needed space.

God, I neededhim.

“Okay, awesome. Great. That's—yep. Sounds good,” I sputtered like a moron. “Uh, so I'm gonna go shower and get unpacked. Then we can hang out with Gran until dinner. See you in a bit.”

I spun on my heel and darted from the room, not waiting for his answer. I had to leave before I did something really idiotic, like climb him like a tree and suck those stupid sexy lips off his face. Experts would agree that would be a terribly poor decision on my part. My head was spinning from an unfortunate lack of oxygen brought on by that space-invading, sanity-stealing, six foot tall sex machine. My dick was pressing uncomfortably against my jeans and I thanked all the Heavens that he hadn't noticed.

I locked myself in my bathroom and let the hot water spill over me, washing away the remnants of lust that permeated my body from being so close to him. I tried to distract myself with ideas for the week, things we could do while we were here. But those ideas hopelessly morphed into things we could do that didn't involve clothes.

I groaned in frustration, knocking my head against the tile rhythmically in a futile effort to clear out all thoughts of us nakedtogether. I was beginning to wonder if it was even possible for me to resist Cal and that magnetic pull for the next five days.

Even worse, I didn't think I wanted to resist him anymore.

21

CALLUM

The smell of coffee roused me from sleep, the last wisps of my evanescent dream fading away. The only piece that clung to my consciousness was the image of Rhys laid out before me, wanton and beautiful. It had been damn difficult to fall asleep plagued by thoughts of him, my dick in a state of perpetual arousal around him.

It was getting harder to pretend I didn’t want Rhys like I did, to put on the front that I was nothing but his friend when I had been one breath away from throwing him on the bed yesterday and ravaging his mouth (and other things). I wasn’t a dumbass, I saw how I affected Rhys when I got close to him in my room. He had blushed so prettily and his eyes were so dilated with lust that it had taken a Herculean effort to keep my hands to myself.

After six hours in the car with him, I thought I'd get that antsy, overwhelmed feeling that usually happened when I'd been around others too long. Even Kenji and Griffin weren't immune to my need for space, so I expected Rhys would have done something to run out my tolerance.

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