Page 103 of Sin with Me

He stares at me in amused silence.

I want to crawl underneath this desk. He’s got to be kidding. “Seriously?”

His mouth twitches, but he refuses to give in to the smile that is pushing its way through.

“Was it during… Were we…”

The grin finally breaks free, and he shakes his head once. “No. Even after two bottles of wine, you’d remember if I’d fucked you.”

I have not one single doubt that he is correct. Just the mention of it has me squeezing my thighs together. “I want you to stay with me tonight.”

He toys with a grin but doesn’t respond.

Maybe that was too much?

“Please,” I add, teeth tugging nervously on my bottom lip.

His mouth spreads into a full blown, gorgeous smile as he sweeps his hand across my shoulder, locking his fingers in my hair as he moves it aside. A wave of electricity shoots through my bloodstream at the simple touch.

The smile fades, and a fiery darkness fills his eyes. “Say that again.”

“Please,” I whisper.

His fingers tug at my hair, prompting my mouth open. He leans forward and brings his lips to mine, pushing his tongue inside, allowing me to drown in his warmth, his taste. I want this—all day every day. I don’t ever want to move from this place.

I slide my hands over his back, up his neck and into his hair, tangling my fingers in the unruly strands.

“You’re the only person who has ever successfully begged me for anything,” he tells me once I’ve come down from the high of kissing him.

I’m not sure what he means by that, but images of desperate women begging for his attention threaten to rain on my parade. I kick them in the face, putting them back where they belong.

“So, it worked?” I ask with a hopeful grin.

He skims over my lips with the pad of his thumb and returns my smile. “I’ll be there. But you’ve only just begun to beg.”

I had to down my drink in two gulps to dowse the fire that Callisto ignites within me. The confidence behind his words is not forced the way mine sometimes has to be. He is more than capable of backing up every promise he makes, and my body shudders deliciously at the thought of it.

I leave him the code to unlock my deadbolt and come home to patiently wait for him to make me beg.

I pull on an old T-shirt and slip into bed. It’s bad enough I felt like a traitor as I stood in the furniture gallery deciding which bed I was going to get to replace the one I shared with Reid. Now here I am wishing I were sharing this new one with someone else. As I lie here in the silence of darkness, a twinge of pain I know all too well seizes my heart, threatening to consume me with guilt and regret.

I reach across the bed and grab the framed photograph of me and Reid. I soak in the memory of the day Brynn took the picture, and of the day he framed it and gave it to me as a gift.

“Time hasn’t changed the way I feel about you, Reid,” I proclaim to the ceiling, the exact same way I have at least a hundred nights before. “I still miss the sound of your voice. The sarcastic wisdom in your advice. Your contagious smile. And just being with you.” I clutch the picture to my chest as I struggle to form my next sentences. “But I have to let you go now. Something is happening with Callisto. I don’t know what. And I don’t even know if it will last. Or if it will be worth it. But I do know I won’t ever find out as long as I’m holding back.” Two and a half years later, and I’m still not sure I have the strength to do this. It physically hurts. “I love you today, just as much as I did the day you died. But I need to make room for someone else. As much as it hurts, I have to try.” Then I fall asleep to the sound of my own weeping.

The sensation of someone moving my arm jars me awake. Callisto has the picture of Reid and me in his hands, studying it first then glancing down at me.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I explain as I sit up and rub a hand over my tired eyes.

He places the photograph back onto the nightstand and takes a step toward the bed. The room is dark, but my eyes begin to adjust, allowing me to make out his strong jawline and broad shoulders.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Makenna.”

I toss the comforter to the side and climb out of bed. My heart skips a beat as I take the picture and pull open the drawer on the nightstand and lay it inside. Callisto wraps his hand around my wrist, stopping me as I begin to slide the drawer shut.

“I know you didn’t ask for an explanation, but I’m going to give you one anyway,” I insist. “I was saying goodbye.” The finality of the word comes crashing down in an avalanche of emotions, but I am determined not to let it show. Although I’m certain he felt the tremble beneath his fingertips.

“Not for me, I hope,” he says.

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