Page 93 of Blood & Betrayals

I laugh softly. “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do! Just not used to smelling as good as you.”

Smooth fucker.

“Just relax, big guy. Let me pamper you.”

“People will gossip if I smell like a giant strawberry.” He is playing with me, but his words are still edged with sharpness, the trauma still lingering. I wish I knew how to lessen his pain, but I don’t even know how to deal with my own.

“I promise I’ll buy some of your shampoo to keep here, okay?”

Connor’s eyes shoot open, and then he grimaces when soap cascades into them.

“Con!” I yelp, directing him under the spray.

Connor winces as he rinses the shampoo from his eyes. As soon as they are clear, he looks at me, his eyes bloodshot but still wide. “You’re not just offering that because of what happened, right?”

My brows furrow, and I brush the lingering shampoo from his forehead. “What?”

He blushes, and my heart softens even more. “About the shampoo.”

I lift an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

“W-Well, you’ve never suggested I leave stuff here before,” he stammers clumsily, rinsing the lingering shampoo from his hair.

“You’ve never slept over before.” I shrug. “It just makes sense if it happens again.”

Connor’s breath leaves him in a whoosh. “Babe,” he cups my cheeks in his large hands, “I want to, but I don’t want you to offer because I’m a wreck.”

I frown a little. “That’s not why.”

He searches my eyes. “It’s not?”

I shake my head.

Connor tips his head. “So you want me to sleep over again?”

I shrug noncommittally. “Maybe.”

A smile brightens Connor’s face, and this one reaches his eyes. He brushes his thumbs over my cheeks. “Really?”

“Maybe occasionally.”

Connor presses his lips to mine, and the taste of his smile prompts my own. “I love you,” he says, licking at my lower lip.

My body goes rigid, the words making every joint lock. My skin crawls with discomfort and then grows so tight that I want to rip it off.

Connor pulls back, looking down at me, his eyes wide. “Fuck. I didn’t say that.” He looks around, dropping his hands from my cheeks. “Forget that, okay?”

I blink and stare up at him. My lips move silently as I try to force myself to say something, to say anything, but my mind is blank.

Connor turns the shower off. “Fuck. Summer, that didn’t happen.”

I just blink again, not even sure if I’m fucking breathing. Connor practically falls out of the shower in his haste to escape. I stand there, the tiled stall getting cooler without the constant stream of hot water. My eyes are fixed blindly on the wall where Connor’s face was a few minutes ago. My hand is still slightly extended in the same position it was in when I was brushing my fingers over his abs.

I’m only vaguely aware of Alice popping her head around the shower door. There’s no embarrassment in her seeing me naked, not in this state of paralysis.

“What did you do to Connor? He just ran out of here half naked.”

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