Page 64 of Fair Catch

I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. “Is this you trying to get an apology outta me? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve proven just how hard those are to come by.”

There’s a brief pause before he murmurs, “I’m well versed in just how hard you come, yes.”

Holy fucking shit.

I’m not sure what I was expecting him to say, but it certainly wasn’t that. Or anything of that nature. Apparently, Kason has a deviant little pervy side hidden beneath all that bumbling buffoonery, and all that was needed to unlock it was a single, mutual orgasm.

And for once, I’m left speechless.

Kason takes my momentary silence to round the island, closing the space separating us until he’s directly next to me. He brackets his arms on either side of me—one resting on the stone countertop, the other on the back of my chair—and it makes it impossible for me to ignore his overwhelming presence.

His bare chest brushes against my shoulder as he leans forward to whisper in my ear. “Are you even sorry?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Good.” A hellish grin crosses his face when I look up at him. “I’m not either.”

I hold his gaze, taking in his proximity while I search his deep, forest irises for any idea as to how he’s feeling about all this. About the things I said in the heat of the moment. About how he pictures this going forward.

And I find myself equally terrified and thrilled by what that might be.

There’s a beat where the two of us just look at each other, and I feel like I’m staring straight into his soul. Seeing everything I was too blind or stupid or stubborn to see before, all lingering right below the surface.

“If everything on the couch didn’t make it entirely obvious,” he starts, the hand on the counter reaching up to slide through my hair. “I like you, Hayes. Despite my better judgment, and no matter how much I tried not to.”

I know the feeling, because I was the one sitting home alone trying to convince myself that crashing his date was out of anything other than jealousy.

“I like you too,” I find myself whispering.

“Yeah, I got that. The way you kissed the daylights out of me kinda gave it away.” He grins, all stupidly boyish and unfortunately adorable. “And while I don’t want to put any pressure on you, I’d also be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping we could repeat it a lot more often.”

“I think I could be convinced.”

“Challenge accepted,” he whispers.

What the hell is happening?

It’s like my entire world has been inverted, making no sense. Because this isKason.The guy I was trying to run out of this apartment barely more than a month ago. Shit, a month ago, I was hyper focused on getting through the rest of the year without murdering the guy and passing my classes. That was all. Classes, homework, fighting the urge to commit homicide, sleep, repeat. And now I’m—

Fucked.

I’m so fucking fucked.

Oblivious to my internal ramblings, Kason dips his head and takes hold of my attention, trapping it with his imploring gaze.

“I’ve gotta get to bed,” he murmurs while skating his fingers over my back. Even through the thin cotton of my tee, the heat of his skin trailing over mine causes goosebumps to erupt in their wake.

Making an attempt at playing off the reaction, I smirk up at him and ask, “All that work on the couch made you that tired, huh?”

“Not even close. If you want to tire me out, you’re gonna have to work a lot harder than that.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I utter, dragging my gaze over his face.

His lips twitch into the most sinful smirk he’s ever aimed at me, and the flecks of brown near the edge of his pupil shimmer with amusement.

“We’ve got two-a-days all week. But I wanna talk about all this in the morning, if that’s okay?”

I’m all for talking this out, making sure we’re on the same page so things don’t get awkward or uncomfortable around here. But there’s just one little problem with his plan.

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