Page 137 of My Ruthless Neighbor

I gasp. “Why?”

“I made you cry.”

My chest heaves from my uneven breathing. “Archer…”

“You did all that for me and I acted like an asshole.” His grip on my arm flexes.

I cup his face. “Hey, you apologized. It’s okay.”

He shakes his head. “It’s not. And you’re too sweet to forgive me so easily.”

I open my mouth to speak but he shakes his head again, silencing me. His fingers slide into my hair. “But I am going to take it. I am going to snatch the forgiveness you are so generously granting me because I can’t stay away from you anymore.”

I stop breathing at his admission.

“Summer,” his low, thick voice forces me to breathe again. “I won’t tell you why I behaved like that. I can’t, even if I tried. It’s just the way I am.”

I understand. Even if he doesn’t explain it to me. The pain shadowing his face? I have seen it before. In the mirror.

We are two people who are different by lots of elements but connect with just one. Pain.

I won’t ask him questions because I myself wouldn’t want him to poke me with his.

To survive, I had to haul my grief that was spread all around me into the confines of a dark room. A room I created with giant doors inside of me and locked it so I could forget about it.

Even then, it manages to get out of its confinement sometimes. Those days are the hardest to cope.

And I guess, Archer has done the same with his grief. And today was one of those awful days where it reared its ugly head. That’s why it made him so cold.

Watching him struggle tears at my insides.

Tugging his head down, I kiss his forehead. “I get it.” At my whispered words, he shudders and takes me in his arms. He hugs me tightly, as if he understood that I really know what he is going through.

I hug him back fiercely. Because like him, I need this badly.

After what feels like forever, he pulls back. His features aren’t tensed like they were before.

Overpowered by emotions, I stand on my tiptoes, take his face in my hands and kiss the tip of his nose. Then both his eyelids, silently giving him comfort I know he needs.

When I land back down, his eyes are heated. Reaching out, he grips my chin in a possessive hold. Bending his head, he asks, “May I kiss you, Summer?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The question slays me. Forget the butterflies, my stomach has turned into a zoo. And my heart does a somersault.

There’s something unusually hot about Archer asking for permission to kiss me.

I don’t want him to just kiss me. I want him to devour me until there’s nothing left behind. I want him to claim my lips and show me how much he desires me.

Heat is engulfing my core at the mere thought of his mouth on me. And there’s no greater pleasure than seeing the exact same emotion I am going through flash in his eyes.

My brain fails to formulate any words so I nod shyly, giving him my consent.

His arm snakes around waist, pulling me to him. I thought he would be all over me the moment I expressed my assent. But he takes his sweet time roaming his gaze all over my face.

Then he finally closes the gap between our lips. But stops an inch away, his mouth hovering over mine in a wordless promise of rapture.

His warm, teasing breath against my lips makes my eyes flutter close. Just when I think I’ll combust, he takes mercy and presses his lips to mine.

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