Page 9 of The Grumpy Billionaire
Now the tears spilled over, beginning to stream down her face. I couldn’t have let go of her if both of our lives depended on it.
Sliding a hand around the back of her head, I buried my fingers in her silky dark locks and pulled her head against my chest, holding her as she sobbed.
“Don’t cry,” I murmured. “Please don’t cry. We’ll just… just enjoy the time we have. That’s all we can do, isn’t it?”
“Can we?”
Her tears soaked the front of my t-shirt now. “I don't think we can even do that. If what you say is true, then it’s all pointless anyway. Maybe Ishouldgo ahead and kiss Harry McAllen or Jeff Graham—or one of the other boys at school who actually wants to be with me.”
A fierce sense of possessiveness and jealousy seized me, unraveling my last tenuous thread of self-control.
The thought of my beautiful Mara kissing any guy but me accomplished what even her tears had been unable to.
I clasped her jaw gently and angled her face up to mine.
“No,” I growled. “You won’t kiss Harry. You won’t kiss any of them. If you ever do, I’ll make sure it will never compare to kissing me—because their feelings for you could never compare to the way I feel about you.”
I gave in to the demand that pulsed through every part of me and dropped my mouth to hers.
When they met, the pleasure of it was shocking. Her warm, soft lips, the sweet scent of her skin, the happy, hungry little sounds she made—it was almost too much to take.
Small explosions went off across the surface of my skin and deeper, waking the depths of my secret desire for her. Well, not secret anymore. She could have no more doubt about how much I wanted her.
The strokes of her tongue matched mine, sweetly seductive movements drawing me closer, deeper, lighting me up and making me want more and more and more of her.
I would never get enough of this girl—not if I lived to be a hundred and twenty.
Believing there was no chance of ever being with Mara, I’d kissed a few women before, but this was something completely different. Everywhere she touched me, her fingers left a trail of fire.
It felt like there was something wild in me, some untamed creature that answered only to her call, responded only to her touch.
She was branding me with an imprint so deep it could never be erased. And I knew. I knew I wouldneverbe able to say no to her again.
It was stupid. It made no sense. But I was beyond the reach of good sense at this point. Once our lips had met, that was it for me.
I would do anything, say anything,beanything this girl wanted me to, and consequences be damned.
If her father wanted to fire my mom and kick us out of our house, then let him. I would figure out something, some way to take care of us that didn't involve leaving Mara.
I had to. Imagining a future without her in it was like picturing a world without air, water, or food.
When the kiss ended and we pulled apart, she looked up at me with wide, wondering eyes.
“That was everything I dreamed it would be,” she whispered. “And more. So much more. Promise me we’ll never be apart, Reid.”
Her tone grew more emphatic when I didn’t immediately respond. “Promise me. Say it.”
I shook my head, but in keeping with my newfound understanding of my absolute devotion to her, I did as she commanded.
“I promise, sweet girl. No matter what happens…. we will never be apart.”
THREE
Take Out
Mara
We’d been apart for more than a decade, but it was impossible not to have thoughts of Reid Mancini now that I was back in Rhode Island.
