Page 23 of Dirty Little Mistake

"Italy, I think." I kicked off my shoes beside the nightstand next to my bed before turning back to him. "They're rarely home anymore."

"Kind of like my mom and Robert." He flopped down on my bed. I smiled. I'd had this fantasy more times than I'd ever admit out loud. "They're gone more than they're home."

"Yeah," I sighed. "My aunt and uncle never wanted kids. They wanted to travel the world, but they kind of got stuck with me."

"Were they dicks?" He slid his hands behind his head and crossed his leg at his ankles. I would never get the image of Trystan West in dark, faded, ripped jeans and his favorite blacktee that rode up slightly, showing the trail of dark hair that disappeared into his pants, in my bed, out of my head.

"No." I smiled, dropping my gaze. "They were amazing, and I was lucky to have them, but they definitely weren't made to be parents." They'd taken excellent care of me. I had everything I needed and wanted except that parental bond. Or even the love of a parent, but I knew they tried. We'd all gotten the short end of the stick.

"So it's just you in this big house?"

I nodded. "That's kind of why I stay with Kai so much." He nodded like he understood, but I was pretty sure he didn't. Trystan and I lived completely different lives. He had both of his parents, even if they were divorced, and he had two very active stepparents. Even when his parents weren't around, he still had his siblings, and even though some of them were step-siblings, he would never be completely alone in this world. Once my aunt and uncle were gone, I would have no one.

"You know we all consider you part of the family, right?" My gaze lifted, meeting his, and I smiled. "You irritate Jax just like a sister would do." A laugh bubbled up. "And you give Harlow and Syn sisterly advice even when they don't want it. Oh yeah, and that time when Harlow was stuck at a party she didn't feel comfortable at. She called you like she would call a sister to come get her." He shrugged his shoulders. "You are a part of our family."

"And what about you?" My gaze dropped to my fidgeting hands. "Do you think of me as a sister?"

"Absolutely not." He laughed, pushing to a sitting position and throwing his long legs off the edge of the bed. "I would never look at my sister the way I look at you." He reached out, tangled his fingers in my pink top, and tugged me to him. "I would never think of doing the absolutely disgusting thing I want to do to you to my sister." My hands slid around his face as his slid undermy shirt, gripping my waist. I closed my eyes as heat flooded my body, settling between my thighs. "But regardless of what happens between us, I want you to know you can always count on me. I'm always only a call away."

My eyes eased open. "I appreciate that, but I want to hear more about the disgustingly dirty thoughts." His gaze locked on mine. My stomach fluttered when his lips curled into a grin. He lifted my shirt just a little and pressed his soft lips to the skin between my belly button and low-rise jeans, with his eyes locked on mine.

"I think we should set our boundaries before we go anything further."

Sucking in a deep breath of disappointment, I slowly exhaled. "If we must, but after?"

"I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Deal."

"Do you want to start?" He rested his chin on my stomach, staring up through hooded eyes.

"Rule 1 - Don't ask, don't tell, but if I ask or you ask, we tell the truth regardless of how we think it will make the other person feel."

"Okay," he said. "Rule 2?"

"You don't make promises you can't keep."

He nodded. "Rule 3?"

"That's all I got." I shrugged. "You?"

"No rules, but I want to be honest. I do not believe in monogamy."

And there was the problem. I did. In the long run, I knew this would never be anything more than a short fling, and at the time, I was okay with that.

"I've seen what trying to be monogamous does to people."

I opened my mouth to contest because that wasn't always the case, but I realized there was no point. He had his views, and I had mine.

"So tell me, what does your future look like?" I slid my fingers into his hair. "Will you have multiple wives, or do you have no intentions of ever settling down and just plan to move from one woman to the next?"

"I don't believe in marriage."

Another problem. I did. Trystan and I didn't have the same goals for our future, and that meant we were doomed from the start, but I was still young and ready to make as many mistakes as possible. He was going to be my first mistake. The one that I would remember for the rest of my life. I just had to keep my heart out of this game.

"I watched what my parents went through, and I don't ever want to go through that."

"So, no kids?"

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