Page 28 of Promised Secret
“No? As in, ‘No problem, Dan. No more lip locking’?”
“No, as in, I’m rejecting your suggestion,” he said firmly.
I swept a frustrated hand through my hair. It was getting a bit longer than I liked. Maybe I should ask Clay’s mom for a trim, too?
“Why are you being so difficult, Clay? It’s not like you evenlikekissing me,” I argued.
“I don’tnotlike it,” he offered, which only made me want to pull my hair out even more.
“Do you even understand how ridiculous this is? You want to continue kissing me because what? You don’t dislike it?”
“Becauseyoulike it.”
He spoke the words softly, but they still took the air out of my lungs. It was confirmation that this fuckery really was of my own making.
“It’s wrong,” I said just as softly. “You shouldn’t letme take advantage of you just because it’s something I want.”
“You’re not taking advantage of me. I’m offering myself up.”
I wanted to strangle him for making it so fucking hard to put an end to this. Or kiss him, but our kissing was the reason we were having this conversation in the first place.
“So what? You’ll let me do anything to you? You’ll be a good boy and do whatever I want? What if I told you to get naked right now, huh? You gonna strip for me?” I said, arms crossed in challenge.
I thought I’d won when he didn’t have a rebuttal, but I should have known Clay was never one to back down. He smoothly whipped his shirt over his head and tossed it behind him.
“What are you?—”
Clay stood, unzipped his jeans, and was already kicking them off when I shot out of my seat to try stopping him.
“Clay, stop,stop,” I told him, begged him, because I was only so strong, and those thick, hairy thighs had my brain short-circuiting.
He wore tight black briefs that had to be cutting off circulation to his legs, butgod, did they look good on him. I had to swallow down my saliva when my gaze landed on his bulge.
His thumb slipped under the top band of his underwear, and my eyes refused to look at anything else.
“Clay…” I rasped, warning him,still begginghim. For what? I couldn’t answer, but Clay did the answering for me.
He slipped the briefs down his thighs, letting them fall down his legs before kicking them away. He slowly opened his arms, as if telling me he meant it when he said he was mine to use.
My eyes trailed down his body—a literal work of art. What made it even more alluring was that Iknewhow hard he’d worked to get it. All the hours he’d put in the gym, all the weights he’d lifted to make sure he’d never be at the other end of a fist again. To make sure he could protect the people he loved.
It was no wonder that I failed at every attempt tostoploving him.
He was fucking perfect.
Clay sank back onto the couch, arms resting on the back on either side of him, his dick flaccid against his thigh.
My mouth went dry.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him naked, but itwasthe first time I hadn’t had to sneak glances at him, worried he’d catch me checking him out. He had to be doing this to prove something to me, and I wasn’t strong enough tonotlook.
“What now?” he asked, hands opened facing me.
“Now, you put your clothes back on,” I forced out, praying he got dressed before I sported a very inconvenientboner. Explaining why I got hard from seeing my stepbrother naked was not something I cared to do.
“Nah, I’m good,” he answered.
“Jesus, Clay. Just put your fucking clothes back on.”
