Page 48 of It's Complicated

Without breaking the kiss, I lay my chest against hers, my hard planes molding perfectly against her soft curves. I caress her cheek and trail my hand down to her neck where her pulse is pounding harder than ever before. Lori’s warm breath tickles over my lips when she nips gently on them, driving me wild like never before.

My head is in a daze; all rational thought has left me. Nothing else matters but Lori and me on this couch lost to blissful oblivion while the wind blows wildly outside my windows.

Our hands move from one body part to the next while our breaths become more labored and ragged, blending together into one erratic rhythm.

Underneath her coat, Lori was still wearing only a tank top and now she pulls it above her head, revealing the simple black bra underneath. My T-shirt goes flying next.

She pulls me back down to her, desperate to kiss me. The friction between our bodies is heaven and hell, too much and not enough.

When she arches into me I’m about to completely lose it.

“Jace, please,” she moans.

I pull back to look at her. Her eyes are heavy-lidded and lust-filled,lustbeing the keyword here. She’s in lust with me, not in love. This is probably just a distraction for her from the heartbreak of Aiden getting married. No matter how hard I try to ignore it, reality crashes on me like an icy wave.

I can’t do this. I can’t make love to her. Not when I know she wants another man and is here with me only because she can’t have him. Not when she’s not mine.

I prop myself up on my elbows, putting a little distance between us. Lori tries to pull me back down to her, but I resist and use the backrest to drag myself upright and scoot down to the other end of the couch.

Lori blinks at me, her gaze still a little hazed but mostly confused. “What are you doing over there?” she asks.

“We can’t do this.”

She frowns. “You mean kiss?”

“We were about to do a lot more than kissing.” My gaze drops down to her bra.

She follows the trail of my eyes and blushes slightly, but makes no effort to cover herself. “Fair enough. Why can’t we?”

“Because it’s not fair on either of us.”

She’s obviously taken aback by my reply. “Why not?”

“I’m not the guy you want.”

“You don’t know that.”

“You’re in love with Aiden, and I don’t want to be your consolation prize.”

“Can we just leave Aiden out of this for a moment?” She tucks her feet underneath her thighs, staring at me with eyes bigger than ever. “I’m here with you. I’m attracted to you.”

“You want to bedistractedby me, to turn a blind eye to the fact that the man you really want is marrying someone else.”

“That’s not what this is, I swear.” She shakes her head. “Since we’ve started this fake-dating thing, I’ve begun to see you in a different light, and I’ve been thinking more and more about you not as my best friend… but as a man.”

I arch an eyebrow at that. “How did you think of me before? As an Ewok?”

Lori smiles. “Deflecting much? I see you’re attracted to me, too. So why can’t we explore whatever this new thing between us is?”

“I have my reasons.”

“What reasons? Are you afraid we might ruin our friendship?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Well, yes, but it seems like a worthwhile risk to take.” She looks at me pensively for a few seconds. “Or are you really worried that if we got into a relationship, it’d be too serious?”

I scoff at that. “Quite the opposite.”

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