Page 77 of All Too Well
I plan to do a lot to her, but that’s not the plan I think she’s asking for.
“You matter to me, Ainsley. You aren’t just some hookup that I’ll never see again. You’re my best friend’s sister and you matter, understand?” I need that to be fully transparent. “If any of this idea doesn’t sit right, we figure something else out.”
Like I bribe Hazel to let her live there, because we can’t keep doing this dance. One way or another, I’m going to end this madness.
“And the same for you.”
I almost laugh, but I hold it in. “I want you. I have for a long time, but because you’re who you are, I’ve done my best to stay away.”
“I’m pretty sure you know where I stand.”
Again she moves an inch closer. Any more of this and she’s going to be plastered against me.
Which wouldn’t be unwelcome.
I need her to say the words, to tell me exactly what she wants. “I don’t know anything that goes on in your head, Ainsley, but here’s what I want ... you. I want you while you’re here. After you leave, we go our separate ways and remain friends.”
“So it’s just for while I’m here?” She licks her lips and I feel my cock harden.
“That’s it.”
“And after we pretend it didn’t happen?”
I’m pretty sure she’s going to fuck my entire world up when she goes, but that’s not her problem.
“We will always be in each other’s lives, and I don’t want to complicate that.”
She laughs softly, her lips a breath away from mine. “I’m pretty sure we’re about to complicate everything.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Sex? With you? Until I leave ... yeah, I’m okay with it.”
“Good.”
And then I lean the rest of the way in and kiss her.
sixteen
Ainsley
The calluses on his thumb brush my cheek, and I am so lost I don’t even remember we’re outside his house, in the truck, until he pulls back. “We need to get inside.”
I look around. “Right.”
I’m out of the truck before he has time to change his mind, and as I’m starting toward the house, he lifts me up, tosses me over his shoulder, and takes the stairs two at a time.
“I guess the fireman carry really does come in handy.”
He chuckles and then we’re in the house, alone, after just making an agreement I am pretty sure I’m going to fail at.
After these few weeks, there’s no way I’m going to be the same.
Lachlan destroyed me for any man four years ago, and since then I’ve lived in that memory.
Having him fully—yeah, goodbye life as we know it.
I’ll take every ounce of pain if it means I get to have him, even if only for a while.
