Page 62 of Promised Secret
“How could you even think that? Your mom is your family. You can’t just walk away from her. She’s too important,” he said, sounding as frantic as my mom had earlier.
“You’re important, too,” I replied. “I can’t lose you.”
Dan seemed to soften at that. He sighed, the sound seemingly carrying the weight of the entire world.
“This is all my fault,” he muttered. “If I’d controlled myself better, none of this would have happened.”
He spoke so softly I didn’t know if he’d intended for me to hear.
I lifted my head from his shoulder and gently turned his head so that he looked at me. I loved it when he looked at me. His eyes reflected me clearly, like I was the only thing he saw, like he saw me forme.
“Noneof this is your fault,” I emphasized.
“But if only I hadn’t put these thoughts in your head. If only I hadn’t forced you to kiss me back then, we?—”
“Do you really think you forced me?”
He flapped his lips, but no words came out. I swept my thumb over his lips and remembered the pure shock of our first kiss as adults. I’d been surprised by how soft his lips were and how they molded against mine so perfectly.
The kiss had me itching for somethingmore. I was too naïve to know what it was in the past, but now I knew that incessant feeling was longing to have all of him.
I brushed his bottom lip again. Dan’s pupils dilated, but my reflection was still crystal clear in them.
“You couldn’t have forced me if it wassomethingIwanted, too. If you hadn’t kissed me, then I would have kissed you,” I murmured and leaned in to do exactly that.
Dan’s lips moved against mine. It was a tangle that needed no words. How could he think this was wrong when we fit together so seamlessly?
Dan’s eyes were hooded, and his breath was heavy when the kiss ended. His entire body showed the effect I had on him, and it hit me once again just how much he loved me. I was empowered by how much he wanted me.
“I’ll take care of everything, so you don’t have to worry,” I reassured him.
He looked anything but reassured. It hurt knowing how long he had to keep his feelings a secret. It hurt knowing hestillthought that our being together was wrong. I wanted to prove to him that it wasn’t.
I untangled myself from him, got to my feet, and pulled Dan up with me.
“What are you doing?” he asked when I guided us to his bedroom. I kicked the door closed behind us. The things I planned to do were not meant for our baby rats’ eyes.
I flipped us around so that Dan’s back was to his bed. He sucked in a breath when I pulled my shirt over my head. He stayed frozen when I kicked my pants and underwear off, too, with no preamble. All he could do was drag his heavy gaze over my nakedform.
Ilovedthose eyes on me.
“Don’t think about anything else and just focus on me,” I said. Although with how he was basically eating me up with his eyes, I didn’t know if he was even paying attention to what I was saying.
I took a step closer to him, my cock plumping from his gaze’s caress. His hand was on me as soon as I was within reach. His hot palm slid up my abs and over my pecs until it stopped right over my heart.
“Clay…” Dan whimpered, the sound a plea that conveyed his longing.
“We were always meant to end up here. We sealed our fate with a clumsy kiss and fallen tooth,” I said with a teasing smile.
Dan snorted out a laugh. I beamed at the fact that I was able to get him laughing at all.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I told him again, and I’d keep telling him that until he got it into his head. “I’ll take care of everything else. All you have to take care of is…me.”
The corner of his lips wiggled. It was obvious he was holding back his laugh.
“Was that too cheesy?”
“Maybe just a tad bit,” he replied, letting his smile show through. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me toward him. “But I like the sentiment.”
