Page 122 of Beautiful Thing

“Well, yes…” Fiddling with the string of her apron, she digs the toe of her sneaker into the concrete floor.

I give my head a vigorous shake. “No, Layla. I invited you into my home because I…because I need you close to me.”

She looks like she’s not quite sure.

“I…need…you…close,” I repeat slowly. “That’s the reason I drop whatever I’m doing to come to you whenever you need help. That’s the reason I show up wherever you are before youeven have to call. I can’tnotbe near you, Layla. The only fucking reason I even bought this hardware store was so I could be near you every day,” I confess.

“What…?” She says, her voice low and hoarse.

I go on. “I bought this store so I could spend my days with you. It made me feel better, knowing I could make sure you wouldn’t have to worry about whether your job is safe. I might as well hand you the keys and put your name on the bank accounts because this whole place is practically yours.”

All of me is practically yours.

“Everything I do for you is because of how good it makes me feel. It makes me happy to make you happy.”

I sound like a fucking stalker. I expect her to turn on her heels and bolt for the door any second now.

Instead, she takes a tiny step closer. “You bought this hardware store for…” She loses her words inside her throat.

“For you,” I finish her sentence. “I didn’t want the store. I wanted you.”

I’m shaking as I admit all this to her. I never thought I’d see the day. But here we are.

“What I’m saying is, nothing is too much when it comes to you. Don’t you see that?”

She trembles, shaking her head. “Archer…I can’t bring you into my mess. That’s not fair to you.”

“I’m already a part of your mess,” I rasp out. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Her eyes blink down at the floor. “Why would a man like you, who could have any woman, choose to be with me? I can’t force myself on someone who’ll eventually end up resenting me because of all the problems that come along with me. Because that’s what will happen, Archer.”

“I could never resent you.”

She scoffs bitterly. “This is all fun now, but eventually, you’ll grow to resent me. Like my dad resented my mom and me. Razor was right. I’m just…I’m ruined, Archer. ”

“Ruined? You are the most beautiful, most perfect woman I know, Belle.”

She just shakes her head, stubbornly refusing to believe how much I like her, value her, need her.

“All I do is make your life complicated,” she croaks out as tears fill her eyes. “Why would you go to all this trouble for me?

“Because I’m the best version of myself when I’m standing next to you, when I’m taking care of you, when I’m…loving you.”

Eyes widening in shock, she whimpers my name. “Archer…”

I reach out to her and she reaches out to me.

“Come here,” I growl, taking her hand. “Let me ruin you.”

We lock our arms around each other as our lips crash in a needy kiss.

Layla groans, her fingers slipping into my hair and pulling. Meanwhile, my greedy hands grab her ass, smoothing down her thighs and wrapping her legs around my waist.

By the time she starts rubbing her core against my growing erection, my mind is already half-gone. I move blindly around the storage room, looking for the closest flat surface.

We crash into a metal shelving unit and I wedge her onto a shelf, tubs of wood filler and spackling paste crashing around my feet.

Layla is too busy tugging at the fly of my jeans to notice. So I get busy pulling her own jeans off. Once she’s naked, I hook her knee higher around my waist, angling the head of my cock at her entrance.

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