Page 77 of Reason to Believe (White Lace 2)

I had no time to finish my sentence because his lips were on mine, his fingers digging beneath the waistband of my jeans, causing my eyes to roll back in my head.

My libido was like an extra person in the room. It was a living, breathing entity, one I wasn’t able to control. And because of that, I was willing to overlook the fact that the connection between us I had come to crave was gone and in its place was…nothing.

Our encounters had never been emotionless, despite our best efforts. Ben had reminded me that intimacy between two people didn’t have to include sex, and the fact that we had a deeper connection only made the sex we had better.

But right now he was angry. Distant. And for the first time, kissing Ben was just like all the other sex I’d ever had. He was a nameless, faceless John taking what he wanted.

But God help me, I needed him. I loved him. He could take anything.

I was willing to give him it all.

Chapter 22

Ben

I had checked out as soon as I’d heard the words I love you.

But it didn’t stop my body from reacting to her presence. Just like every other time we’d been together, my body was on overdrive.

I had no other choice but to cut her off with a kiss. I didn’t know how to process that information.

A few weeks ago we’d started out friendly, then escalated to sexy…but never had I thought that Grace Nolan would be saying those three words I just didn’t believe in.

I kissed her with everything I had. Clawing and scraping my hands over her body like some kind of rabid animal that knew had met its last meal. Because this was the last time. And despite knowing that she had broken me, I couldn’t stop myself from claiming her.

One more time.

It made sense. Because if I didn’t feel something more for her, then her leaving me hanging at the speakers series wouldn’t have ruined me—she’d proven that I’d been right all along, that I just wasn’t good enough to show up for. And now she was here, telling me she loves me and acting like her betrayal didn’t matter.

“Where were you?”

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“You at least owe me the courtesy of an explanation.”

I was being an asshole. I knew it. She deserved it, at least a little bit.

She shook her head. “Please don’t ask me to tell you. I can’t tell you.”

What did it mean that she wasn’t lying? I would have expected her to come up with something, an excuse, a fabricated story.

“Then why did you come here?”

I didn’t understand. Not when she had Everly and Sadie to take care of her, yet for some reason when she was upset she’d shown up here. And I could tell she was upset. She thought I didn’t know what was going on behind her poor attempt to mask her feelings, but I’d written the book on masking feelings.

When she didn’t respond, I probed. “You come here when you’re upset.” I gripped her chin, preventing her from looking away. “You can’t hide from me.”

“I’m not here to hide.” Our eyes locked, and she stared me down. “I came here to forget.”

I had no fucking clue what I was doing. Why had I let her into my house? Why had I let this escalate?

I found the hem of her shirt and pulled up, forcing her arms over her head and wiggling the blue fabric off her body. Her bra was white lace and it was hard not to bend down and suck her rosy nipples through the fabric. Her arms fell lifelessly and she attacked my lips as I unhooked the plastic clasp in the front of her bra.

As she maneuvered her arms out of the straps, I undid her pants, pulling at the fly then slipping both hands under the jeans so I could grab

her ass cheeks. I jerked her forward until she was on her knees, hovering above me as her lips rained kisses over my face. But I had a mission to get her naked and underneath me. I tugged her jeans down to her knees then returned to do the same with the lace panties.

Without care, I gripped the backs of her thighs and jerked until she fell back, her feet caught under her ass, and her pussy staring me in the face. So perfect. So sweet and warm. And I wanted inside desperately.

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