Page 10 of The Bachelor

Oaklyn

Heeeeey, it’s time to talk. Can you believe it’s been a whole year? Come over tonight … if you can.

“For the long flight,” the flight attendant said, setting a vodka on the rocks beside me.

I thanked her and brought the glass up to my lips, swallowing the cold, burning liquor as I scanned Oaklyn’s message again.

I knew how much time had passed since she’d propositioned me. I didn’t have a countdown going on my Calendar app, but every month, a mental check mark would swish across my brain, letting me know I was one step closer to potentially tasting her.

A thought that was still so fucking wild.

Dangerous.

Something I still shouldn’t even consider.

But, hell, I knew the temptation was far out of my control.

I wanted her.

I wanted to be inside her.

I wanted to be the man she compared all others to. Even when her future husband was pounding her pussy, I wanted her to remember me.

And every time I saw her, I was reminded of that fact. Like when I’d first moved back to LA and my parents threw a graduation party. Then, there were the times I’d stopped by their shared place to see my sister and when Hannah had brought Oaklyn to the gathering I’d put together when I got my condo.

Every time, she was there.

Always taking me in, locking eyes, silent words passing between us.

But there were spoken ones too. Ones that she would subtly say in front of me, so I knew what was happening in her life. A way to keep me updated without reaching out to me directly.

A year.

Shit, I had been positive things were going to change for her during that time, but the dates she’d gone on were nothing more than a few dinners, a concert, and a trip to the movies—details I’d heard about when I was in her presence.

None of those outings had amounted to anything more, which dropped Oaklyn straight into my hands.

Hands that were fucking dying to touch that perfect body.

Still, there was abut.

A realization that had come to me over the last several weeks as the one-year anniversary sprinted closer.

As my sister’s best friend, a woman who was off-limits and someone I cared about and wanted to protect, I was going to do her a favor.

That favor would show her exactly who I was and why I wasn’t the right man to take her virginity.

Not that I didn’t want to—fuck, I wanted nothing more.

But she needed someone soft.

Someone tender.

Someone who … wasn’t me.

And once I made her aware of that, I was sure she’d be too terrified to follow through with her proposition, and this whole fantasy would be over.

THREE

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