Page 87 of Play Your Part

She covered her mouth with a hand, suppressing a smile. “I’ve never…”

I shifted to my side so we could look at each other. “What?”

“Felt that bold, I guess.”

I pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Well, it suits you.”

You suit me too.The words sat on the tip of my tongue. Not telling her I’d long moved past pretending meant I could have her a little longer like this, imagining this relationship was real, pretending she felt the same.

I was a fucking coward.

“There you go, saying all the right things again.”

“I am only telling you true things,” I said, strumming my fingertips along her arm. “It’s okay to be scared—everyone is, whether they admit it or not—but I wish you wouldn’t let it rule your life. You deserve more.”

Kennedy placed a finger on the tip of my chin, then traced up to my bottom lip. She seemed as helpless as I was against this pull between us. “Are you going to take your own advice? Stop thinking you can’t have what you want because people in the past made you doubt you could?”

“I’m lousy at relationships. I’m—”

She nudged herself into a sitting position, still tucked into my side. “Do not say you’re not cut out for it.”

“So bossy.” I laid my hand on her waist, atop the sheet covering her. “I think you’ve let all this control go to your head.”

“Stop trying to manipulate me with those dimples.”

“Dimples?” I asked, snagging her around the waist and pulling her tight against my body. “What dimples?”

“As if you don’t know,” she gasped.

I began kissing her neck, sucking lightly each time. Not enough to leave a mark, though some wild part of me considered it.

“They’re honestly so dangerous, you should have to register them.”

I laughed against her skin. “You’re one to talk, with those big brown eyes.”

“No one’s ever said that to me before.”

“If you want me to compliment other parts of you,” I said, moving down to tease the soft skin of her breasts. “That is not a problem.”

She rested her hand under my chin, stopping my movement south, guiding me back to her lips. “You’re so stupid.” Her lips formed the words against my mouth.

I grinned against her. “So stupid.”

I was stupid—giving into this overwhelming rush of lust, especially when what sat alongside it was more feelings than I could accept. My heart would break in the end.

And yet, I wouldn’t stop, couldn’t stop myself from spending time with her.

When I rolled over the next morning to find Kennedy still here, peacefully sleeping beside me, my heart expanded in size.I love her, it said with each beat. I wanted, more than anything, to kiss her awake and whisper the words to her in the morning sunlight, to slide in and out of her, to hear her moan my name.

But I did none of those things.

Just once, she said. It would never be enough for me.

Still, I put my hand on that hot stove, thinking if I pulled back quick enough, the burn wouldn’t fuck up my skin for life.

So fucking stupid.

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