Page 114 of Catch You

Knowing he’s lost people he cared about, I tell myself that he really does. He must, or he’d still be angry at me. I shut him out, ignored him, yet here he is, with his arm wrapped around me and looking into my eyes, just like I remember.

I close my eyes for a beat as I prepare the words I need to say to him.

“My family.” He nods to tell me he’s listening. “My dad … he owned vineyards. A lot of them, actually. He’d taken a step back from running the business when my sister and I were babies. He said it took too much of his time, and we were more important. So, he brought in a team to manage the business, and he just oversaw it.

“When they died, all that fell to me. It was put into trust until I was twenty-one, thankfully, but then everything was mine.”

“Fucking hell,” he mutters, his eyes not leaving mine for even a second.

“I don’t want anything to do with it. I can’t. It reminds me too much of them, of everything I’ve lost. But that doesn’t stop the money coming in. I don’t need it. I certainly don’t earn it. But it’s mine, nonetheless.

“I donate a lot of it, and until my current job, I’ve only taken voluntary positions. But I couldn’t turn down the chance combining my two passions. To give talented kids a chance achieve their dreams.”

“You do more than they’re aware of, don’t you?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me.

“I might, yeah.” I think of my wages every month being wired straight back into the foundation, and the prizes I’ve organized for the ball. “Fuck. The gala.”

“It’s okay, Reese has it under control,” he soothes, cupping my cheek in his hand and brushing his thumb over my skin.

“I need to call her, make sure everything is okay.”

“Everythingisokay. Just chill.”

I nod at him, although I do anything but relax, and I have no doubt he can sense it.

“Just focus on you. Everything else is totally under control.”

He leans forward, his lips gently brushing mine.

“For now, just let me look after you. Let me do what I’ve been desperate to do, to make up for screwing this up.”

“Corey, I?—”

“No, Harlow. It’s my turn. I’m so fucking sorry. I was an idiot. But I need you. I need you so fucking much.” He leans over me, pressing me into the mattress as his lips capture mine.

I want to hesitate, morning breath and all that, but the second his tongue teases to get inside, my lips part, allowing him in.

His hand squeezes my hip before running up my body until he’s palming my breast. It’s only then that I realize I’m still wearing yesterday’s dress.

He kisses me so deeply, so passionately that it brings tears to my eyes.

“Oh God, Corey,” I moan when he leaves my lips in favor of my neck.

“I’ve got you, baby.”

He pulls the straps from my shoulder before sitting at my legs and pulling the fabric of my dress down my body.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he mutters, taking in my nude strapless bra and matching panties. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.”

I want to return the sentiment, but I can’t. I’m too lost.

His lips land on my collarbone, and he licks and nips his way down to the swell of my breasts.

“Please,” I moan, arching my back so he can release them.

They’re swollen, tender, extra sensitive and so desperate for his touch.

He follows my demand and slips his hand behind my back so he can unhook the fabric. In seconds it’s free of my body, and I sigh.

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