Page 54 of Secrets That We Keep (Forbidden Descendants 2)

A moment of radio silence passed between us. I knew it was my turn to banter something—probably snarky—back to him, but I didn’t feel like being playfully mean anymore. An ache had started in the center of my chest. I no longer wanted him to be just words on a screen. I wanted him here, warm and alive next to me, where I could press my nose into his shirt and smell my Fox in person, or I could touch his unshaven jaw and run my fingers over his scruff.

I’d been with him just last night, yet I missed him.

Before I could stop myself, I wrote something I immediately regretted.

BELLA: So are you coming over tomorrow night?

I always felt weak and needy and pathetic when I asked about seeing him again, so I usually left that specific topic up to him to cover. Except I found myself asking it more and more lately.

Too often.

I’m not sure what was wrong with me. I didn’t want anything between us to get too dangerous. I didn’t want either of us sucked into some kind of serious deal, full of strings and emotions and trust and responsibility. He’d been trying to escape that when we had first hooked up.

What we had going right now was perfect. Dipping into anything deeper would only end in disaster. I’d tried that before; it had sucked. So I knew better this time around. I wasn’t going to ruin anything with Fox by giving him too much of myself and overwhelming him with the disaster that was me. He’d start to need breathing room, just like Ethan had, and then he’d run off and have sex with someone else.

I wouldn’t be able to handle that, ergo I refused to get clingy.

Feeling antsy and worried as I watched the dots appear on my screen, I chewed on my bottom lip and ignored the gnawing unease in my stomach as I prayed he didn’t respond with something about needing more space or accuse me of smothering him. Those were two big signs I’d missed last time, and I wasn’t about to make that mistake again.

Fox’s answer appeared.

FOX: Or I could come over now.

I released a relieved breath. Oh God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. He’d given me the perfect answer.

I immediately wanted to tell him, yes, get your sexy ass over here NOW. I was craving him hard.

But I knew better. Maybe he didn’t even realize it himself, but he needed some kind of space. I had to keep him wanting more. Otherwise, he’d get bored, find someone else, and leave.

I couldn’t give in to my yearnings; it’d only push him away in the end.

So I swallowed my instinctive response and gave him the smart answer. The logical answer.

BELLA: It’s already after midnight. I’d probably be asleep by the time you made it here, anyway.

FOX: Then I’ll just spoon up behind you and we can cuddle all night so we can wake up together for some morning nookie.

Damn, that sounded nice. Despite how muscled and hard he was, Fox really was the best at cuddling. But I stayed strong. I resisted.

BELLA: Tomorrow night.

I could practically hear him sigh out his regret.

FOX: Fine. Be a spoilsport. I’ll see you tomorrow. Until then, goodnight, beautiful.

There. I still had him on the line. I wasn’t smothering him but leaving him with something promising to look forward to.

Wanting to sweeten the pot even more, I responded with my own goodnight, including a quick selfie of me in my camisole and underwear. He called me a tease for it and accused me of trying to kill him, but I could tell he liked the shot, and I just knew we both went to sleep grinning, equally anxious for the day to come.

Chapter Nine

Gracen

SEVEN HOURS LATER

Just as it had two weeks before, guilt prompted me to visit Bella the morning after watching another movie with Yellow.

And going to bed thinking about Yellow.

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