Page 194 of Silver Elite

I’m an obnoxiously curious person, so the fact that I can’t make sense of those cryptic words eats at my brain like a worm in an apple.

What does it mean, damn it?

When I shift on the mattress, his eyes slit open.

“Did I wake you?” I murmur.

“No, I wasn’t asleep.”

I reach out and rub my fingertips over the stubble on his face. “You look messy in the morning.”

His lips quirk. “Yeah, I need a shave and a coffee.”

“You look tired. Did you have a bad sleep?”

“No. But I didn’t sleep much.”

“What kept you up?”

Rather than answer, he searches my face, those blue eyes flickering with an emotion I can’t read. “We’ll never fully trust each other, will we?”

The question takes me by surprise.

“Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t know. Just a thought I had during the night. Whether it’s possible to trust someone completely.”

“Cross. You’re too smart to ask a question like that, when we both know the answer is no, you can’t.”

“I know.” He rolls onto his back, sighing. “But man, imagine how fucking nice that would be.”

It would be more than nice. Trusting someone with my entire being. Ripping my chest open and letting them see inside. All the dark, ugly, twisted parts. All my secrets and fears and crippling insecurities. Showing them every part of me without fear of judgment or betrayal.

But the world doesn’t allow for such luxuries.

“You can trust me,” I tell him, nestling at his side. “Mostly.”

He snorts. “Mostly.”

“Uh-huh. You can mostly trust me.” I run my hand along the warm, sculpted flesh of his chest and enjoy the way he shivers. “You can trust me not to lie to you. Sometimes.”

“I’m honored.” His laughter is choked.

My fingers dance down his body, teasing his abs, following the tantalizing line of hair that arrows southward. “You can trust me to make you feel good.”

“Is that right?”

“Uh-huh.”

My mouth follows the path of my fingers, until I find him, hot and hard for me. I wrap my lips around him and am rewarded with a low moan.

In the back of my mind, I’m unable to shake the nagging feeling that I’m nearing a point of no return with Cross. That soon it will be too late to turn back, and this warm bubble that surrounds me when I’m with him will burst and destroy everything around me.

But for now, I push aside my doubts, choosing instead to focus on the fragile illusion of happiness.

Chapter 43

“Is this a date?” The question pops out of my mouth before I can stop it. For a second, I hope he didn’t hear me over the sound of the rotors and rush of the wind at the open sides of the helicopter. But then he chuckles, and embarrassment warms my cheeks.

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