Page 112 of One Bossy Disaster

Her breasts press my ribs, her cheek lies against my chest, and my arm is snug around her waist.

My posture is a fantasy, a lie that I could be the man to protect her, instead of the chosen asshole who’s about to blow her heart to hell.

This grass across my face is killing me, though, but I can’t will myself to move.

Destiny’s hand comes up and she trails a finger across my skin, skimming her nails through the hair and scraping down my muscles.

If I wasn’t too spent to speak, my dick would take a lot more interest.

“Hey,” she says through a yawn.

“Hey yourself.”

“You’re tense,” she points out.

Fuck.

Guilty.

I inhale slowly, thinking about how I can possibly approach this.

How do I convince her that this mistake can’t come out publicly without seeming like an even bigger ogre than I already am?

“Shepherd, you can relax,” she whispers, those fingers tracing down my stomach. Unwillingly, I soften under her touch. “I’m not going to tell anyone, if that’s what’s got you so on edge.”

“You’re not?” I try not to let too much suspicion cut my tone.

“No. It’s okay. What happened out here was between us, and more than consensual.” She hits me with that smile again.

Goddamn.

I feel like the biggest jackass ever born.

My breath stutters unevenly from my lungs, making her head bob on my chest.

“The choice is yours, Miss Lancaster. I can’t ask you to bottle up your feelings. Not when I’m the asshole who uncorked them in the first place, when I should have known better.”

“You’re Miss Lancastering me again. That’s something Iwilltell every tabloid rag from LA to Boston if you keep it up.” She looks up at me and laughs, asking for a smile I can’t give. “Come on. You were good—inhuman, really—but it’s not like you cast a spell that made me jump your bones. I wanted this. I won’t go blabbing to the world how you seduced me against my will. I wouldn’t dare, but even if I wanted to, it just isn’t true.” Her voice quivers at the end, uncertainty chewing at her words.

Despite everything, I tighten my hold on her.

“You really are torching my reputation. I’m not supposed to be this readable,” I say dryly. It’s annoying, but I can’t summon any disgust behind my heartache.

Disgust isn’t an emotion that happens under blue skies with wild songbirds and a woman so gorgeous she could shame every pinup from the last hundred years.

I just can’t believe my life has become an X-rated Disney film.

“But you’re hurting. The stress, it’s eating you alive.” She stares up with large eyes. Her hair is tossed across her face, her ponytail a loose mess.

Well, I wasn’t exactly tender.

“It’s very fucking complicated. There are good reasons to worry,” I tell her darkly.

“Because you regret it? Is that one of them?”

Shit.

Usually, I would snap thatof fucking courseI regret what was clearly a bigger misstep than triggering a landmine.

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