Page 35 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

Tess’s lips parted. She really needed to tell him now. If he was growing to depend on her like this, it was only making what she was doing to him that much worse.

As if he knew her mind, he caught a piece of her hair and gently tucked it behind her ear. “You can always tell me tomorrow. One more night won’t hurt anything.”

Damn, his powers of persuasion were much stronger than her conscience, and she always followed her ever-nagging, potent conscience.

But one glance into Jonah’s Abbott’s eyes, and she caved. “Okay,” she said. “Tomorrow, then.”

His relief was palpable. The kiss he planted on her melted the rest of her resistance. Tess curled into him, arching closer without realizing what she was doing until he hissed out a breath of pain and broke his mouth from her to grimace.

“Oh, my God.” She pushed against his chest. “I’m so sorry. Let me up.”

“No,” he gasped, tightening his grip on her.

What? Was he insane? “But I’m hurting you.”

His casted arm didn’t budge. “It’ll hurt more if you leave.”

“Jonah,” she begged, beginning to panic because the muscles in his face hadn’t loosened yet, telling her loud and clear that he was still in misery. “Don’t do this to me. You’re in pain. God, at least push your morphine button.”

He shook his head stiffly. “Hate that stuff. It always knocks me out and gives me nightmares.”

“But you said—”

“Some things are more tolerable than others. This is tolerable. Losing the rest of my time with you tonight is not.”

She sighed. “At least let me get off the bed so I won’t—”

“No.”

If both her arms had been free to do so, she would’ve thrown them up in the air in frustration. “You are so freaking stubborn, do you know that?”

r /> He just grinned and nuzzled his face into her neck. “But I’m going to get my way, aren’t I?”

Oh, now he was just rubbing it in. Not cool. “Yes,” she grumbled, then quickly added a “probably” so it wouldn’t sound like she was a complete pushover, even though she was.

“Good.” His mouth pressed against the pulse in her throat. “Now…what were we talking about again?”

“We weren’t.” She giggled because, geesh, his lips kind of tickled when he hit a sensitive spot right behind her ear. “You were demonstrating to me how frisky you were tonight.”

“Good plan. Let’s keep doing that.”

With another laugh, she nudged him in the shoulder. “Jonah. What if someone walks in?”

“They’ll just have to settle for watching, because there’s not enough room on this bed for a third person.”

Her scandalized gasp made him chuckle.

“God, I love shocking you,” he confessed. His warm touch soaked through the cotton of her shirt as he skimmed his hand from her hip and right up her ribcage until he toyed with the edges of her bra.

Tess totally didn’t mean to encourage him, but she bowed up her back, thrusting her chest firmly against his. Groaning, he slid his palm over her until he was cupping her through her clothes. When he began to knead her, she clamped her thighs around his leg and clenched her teeth to keep in all the feelings wanting to break free from every pore in her body.

“Jonah,” she gasped, gripping his shoulders.

“Damn,” he breathed, kissing the tip of her chin as she arched her neck back. “The way you say my name makes me want to be this guy you seem to think I am.” Then he kissed her jaw and next her throat. “Let me be that guy, Tess.”

The serious, heartbreaking tone in his voice made her glance at his expression. She wasn’t sure what had shifted him from playful to somber so quickly, but she was ready to take that trip with him, wherever he needed to go. Cupping his face in both her hands, she sent him a soft smile.

“You can be anything you want to be.”

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