Page 38 of Depths of Desire
The hallway was quiet.
Door 212 stood straight ahead. The last one in a row.
I stared at it. My hand was already in the air, fingers curled, and I didn’t lower them.
The air in my lungs tightened.
Anger flared in my gut, not at him, but at myself. At the hunger he stirred in me. At the fact that after everything, after all the distance and silence, I was still here.
And worse—I wanted him to open the door.
Not for closure.
Definitely not to fight.
I wanted him to look at me the way he had under that cabin ceiling, like he couldn’t think of a thing he wanted more.
I knocked.
The seconds stretched.
Then the lock turned.
The door opened.
And there he was.
Lennox stood in the doorway in a faded T-shirt and shorts, his hair tousled, his expression startled, but not shocked. His lips parted like he had just taken a breath to speak, but no words came out.
I saw it in his face. The ache, the question, the flicker of hope.
I didn’t speak. Neither did he.
But in that single, crackling heartbeat, we both knew why I was there.
And we both knew it wasn’t to say goodbye.
TEN
LENNOX
I usheredhim inside without another word. He looked like a wet towel left on the floor, with hollow eyes and sunken cheeks. There were still those smoldering embers deep behind his chestnut irises.
Oliver stepped into my room, closing the door behind him. “Your roommate?”
I shook my head. “I’m alone.”
His hand moved back and turned the lock on the door.
My heart beat in my throat fearfully. “Do you…want to talk about it?” I asked.
“Absolutely not,” Oliver said, his voice like smoke.
Two words, one irresistible outcome. If it was a dirty distraction he was after, I knew how to provide it. My knees buckled just then, which was great fucking timing because I let my legs fold under me, kneeling before Oliver.
“Is this what you came for?” I asked, lips parting after the last word, my voice breathy and inviting.
Oliver’s gaze never left my face. “I don’t know what I came for,” he said and swallowed. Even so, he took a step toward me, then another, and a final one. His sweatpants bulged with agrowing erection, and he paused inches away from my face. “Is this what you want?”
