Page 40 of Cherry Beats

He rested his elbows on his knees, his body relaxed but tense at the same time. “I hate it when chicks ask that question. ‘Why me?’” he mimicked. “You’re gorgeous. You’re individual. You’re brave and different. You’re your own voice in a world drowning in clones. You’re funny as shit. Why the fucknotyou?”

“That’s not what I meant. I wasn’t looking for validation.”

“Yes, you were.”

“None of this…”makes sense, I wanted to finish. But it did make sense. There was some unspoken spark that lingered between us. I blew out a breath and tilted my head to one side. “Fine. What do you want from me?”

“Just you. Nothing else.”

“Another night together, is that it?”

“I’d take more if I could.”

“But you can’t. World tour coming up. No girlfriends allowed.”

“That, and the woman I adore is scared shitless of more, and I hate the way she looks at me like she’s desperate to run when all I ever really want is for her to stay.”

I sucked in a sharp breath—the weight of his admission leaving me winded.

“We were only ever meant to be a one-night thing,” I whispered.

“Isn’t that how all the best love stories start?” Presley smirked.

In a matter of hours, everything I’d worked so hard to fight against for three years became nothing more than dust and broken promises to myself, falling through the cracks of my fingers and fading away into nothing.

My elbows fell to my knees, and my face sank into the palms of my hands.

Presley needed a minute away from the circus.

I needed a minute away from him.

He moved across the room slowly, pushing my legs apart and sliding in between them on his knees. I couldn’t tear my hands away from my face. I wanted to hide and try and deal with the conflicting emotions. The desire and need to enjoy him while he was with me versus the fear of the heart-splintering pain IknewI’d feel when he left me at five in the morning.

“I always told you I was selfish.”

“You’re a rotten bastard, Presley West,” I squeaked into my hands.

“Is it so bad of me to want you?” He ran his hands up my thighs to the creases where they met my hips, and his fingers squeezed me tightly, forcing me to clench in his grip.

“No,” I breathed out softly. “I hate you because you’re making it impossible for me to not do this...”

My hands fell from my face, reaching up to grab the tendrils of his freshly-washed hair before I crushed my lips against his and let him catch me. We fell backwards together, a small grunt of air pouring out of Presley’s lungs as he took the brunt of the fall, causing our lips to bump and part only for a second before he growled and pulled me back to him. His hands curled around all of me, holding me tight, and he rolled us over until I was on my back looking up at him, and his impressive body hung over mine.

He was already hard, pushing against me through the thinness of my barely-there shorts and the gap in his towel. My legs rose, and I wrapped them around his waist, inviting him in without even having to bother with foreplay or any of that other stuff he loved so much. We’d been taking part in foreplay since he arrived. It was only now that I was willing to admit it.

I didn’t care anymore. I needed him inside me again. I needed to drown in the just-bathed scent of him. I needed him to take me and burn off some of this agonising desire, get rid of the aching pain in my stomach, and let me take control of my own goddamn body again.

“I want you,” I breathed heavily, and he swallowed those three words, making the most seductive moan of approval when he tasted them. “I want you so badly, Presley. I’m going crazy here. I’m tired of pretending.”

“Finally, she catches the fuck up. Now you know how it feels.”

His fingers slid beneath the now-damp material of my shorts, slipping through my folds, enticing another moan from the two of us. Just one feel of me had him pulling his fingers out, lifting them to his mouth and pushing them on his tongue before he closed his lips around them.

I watched his eyes roll, and his lips suck his fingers dry.

“I’m addicted to the taste of you.”

“Please,” I panted.

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