Page 78 of Weak Side

Either way I looked at it, I had been put in a shitty position—tell Claire what I’d learned or wait until Tom showed up and we’d tell her together. I had no idea what to do, but all I wanted to do right now was pull her in close and press my lips to hers.

Her soft hand fell to mine, and still, it felt like it was just the two of us in the room. There was chatter around us, and everyone was staring, but the only thing I focused on was her.

“Hey,” she whispered, taking a step closer to me.

I tugged her in closer and wrapped my hand around her waist. “Hey,” I breathed down into her space.Damn, she was like a fucking drug.“I miss you.”

Her mouth opened slightly from the truth spilling from mine. “You do?”

I nodded, moving my hand from her waist and cupping the side of her face. “Can I kiss you?”

“Since when do you ask?” She grinned, but I didn’t have it in me to smile. Instead, I bounced my eyes back and forth between hers and dipped down, pressing a soft kiss against her mouth. Since the beginning, our touches and kisses had been to fool other people and were fueled by none other than desire and lust. But this moment was different.

This was intimate, and she felt it. She pulled back and paused for a split second before grabbing onto my hand and dragging me toward the stairs.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Upstairs.”

We were all but running by the end, and I almost stopped so I could pick her up because I knew that her ankle was still bruised from her fall. I lifted the covers this morning while she was sleeping and cursed at the blue bruise before I ran to the rink to continue the extra conditioning ordered by Coach.

“Bryant, slow it down,” I said, out of breath. Not from physical exertion, though, more so because that was just what she did to me.

Her devilish grin peered over her shoulder, and if I wasn’t already a goner, I would be by the look in her eye. The door slammed behind me, and although the only light throughout the random bedroom was from the moon shining a glow through the window, I could see every last inch of her.

I leaned against the door as she stood in front of me. Time seemed to slow as silence settled around us, and I hesitantly reached my hands out in front of me. My fingers slipped underneath the black disguise, and I pulled it up and over her head, dropping it to the floor beside us. My heart did a triple-take, and a swallow got lodged in my throat.

Claire did the same to me, slipping her delicate fingers underneath the mask and reaching up on her tiptoes to pull the rest of it over my head. She dropped it right beside hers, and I pulled her in close, gripping her tightly because I was afraid that, sooner or later, she’d slip right through my fingers.

“What are you doing?” I pressed, half afraid to know the answer.

Her light and airy tone calmed me almost instantly. “Showing you how I really feel about you.”

My heart came to life at the sight of her timid smile. It could have been the end of the world, and I would have been perfectly content, standing here with her body in my hands.

Claire took a step back from me, and silence came between us, but that was what was special about the two of us. We didn’t need words. All it took was one look.

Her hand moved to her shoulder, and the thin strap that held the dress up slipped down her arm, and I gulped, watching her undress. “Claire,” I croaked.Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.“Wait.”

“No.” A deep breath left her. “I know we need to talk, Theo. But let’s just live in the now. We can talk after.”

I clenched my teeth and fell for her pretty words because I’d rather die than deprive her of what she wanted.

My hands fell to the pockets of my suit pants, and I tipped my chin, watching her accept my silence for what it was. The tiniest smile caught my eye, but I quickly moved to her hand as she reached over and delicately shoved the other strap of her dress off her shoulder, showing off the top of her bare chest.

Temptation is a bitch.

“Spin,” I demanded, pushing myself off the door and eyeing the zipper on the back of her dress. The sound fueled my desire like gasoline on a fire. I let my finger trail down her spine as I unzipped the dress, letting it fall to her hips. I took a step back, and rested against the door again, placing my hands back in my pockets.Fuck.

She spun back around, pushing her hair over her shoulder and giving me a full view of her naked chest. My mouth watered, and although I wanted to stand there and watch her undress, I had to do something with my hands or I was going to lose all control. So, just as she was tugging the dress past her hips, I shrugged off my suit jacket and kept my eyes trained to hers as I slowly began unbuttoning my white shirt.

Claire stood in front of me with nothing on but a pair of panties, and I fought the urge to pounce on her. Instead, I shoved my white shirt off my shoulders and let it fall to the ground behind me before moving my hands to my belt. Claire’s nipples tightened at the clanking sound, and before I knew it, she had shoved my hands away and finished the job, pushing my pants down and then my boxers.

She gasped when she saw that I was already hard, and I threw my head back when her hand gripped me tightly. It felt good. It felt better than most, and that was simply because it washer.

I palmed her waist and picked her up, carrying her over to the bed. Instead of throwing her on it and ravishing her body like I wanted, I slowly sat down with her straddling me and peered up at her sweet face as her brown locks surrounded us like a veil.

I wanted to sayI love you, but I didn’t because it didn’t feel right after knowing what I knew and hiding it from her. So instead, I would show her.

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