Page 62 of Into the Woods

Court shook his head and blew out a hard breath. He tipped his head back, looking at the ceiling for a long moment. “Becca… Can we not do this right now? Please?”

Dammit. All it took was a please and those big brown eyes to have me considering that maybe now wasn’t the time for this fight.

Then again, maybe Court felt like it would never be the right time. He could just keep pushing off all these uncomfortable conversations indefinitely, because I didn’t matter enough—

“No.” He moved back to the bed and sat, grabbing one of my hands.

Surprised, I looked down at where he’d laced our fingers together. Had his hand always been that big? Or was mine just stupidly small?

“This isn’t me trying to get you to drop it,” he added, his tone kinder and gentler. “This is me asking for a ten-minute pause so I can take a shower, you can get some coffee, and then we can sit down and talk.” He squeezed my fingers. “Really talk. There’s a lot that I think we need to say to each other.”

And suddenly, talking was the last thing I wanted to do. Nope. I actually preferred my ostrich way of handling things. Head in the sand had worked for me for eighteen years, right?

“Becca,” he murmured, using his other hand to lift my chin. “I mean it. No more running away for either of us. I can’t keep doing this.”

My eyes widened. “Oh, you can’t do this anymore? Well, since you can’t, I guess that fixes everything.”

He had the decency to look ashamed. “I know it’ll take more than words to earn back your trust, but I’ll do it. I swear I will.”

“Why?” I blurted out. “Why now? Court, I’ll stay here, okay? It’s stupid to fly back to California for three days and then fly back. Carbon footprint and all that, you know? The environment—”

His index finger feathered over my bottom lip, rendering me speechless. His mouth curved into a wicked, devastating smile. “You’re rambling, baby.”

“You shouldn’t call me that,” was all I could think to say.

His head tilted. “I think I like calling you that.”

It was like I could hear my synapses attempting to fire, to form a response, but I couldn’t. As always, being around Court was like being restored to factory reset. Instead of remembering all the ways he’d hurt me and let me down, I was ready to trust him with my heart.

“Do you need the bathroom before I take a shower?” he offered, leaning back but still holding my hand and touching my face.

I blinked once. Twice. Then nodded.

“All right.” Letting me go, he stood up.

I started to get out of the bed and froze when I remembered that I was still naked. “Uh.”

Court did that guy thing where he grabbed his shirt by the back of his neck and yanked it off in one smooth tug. If his nearness caused my neurons to misfire, him shirtless was going to liquefy my brain.

Tan skin stretched taut over hard muscles that looked like they’d been created using the same mold as a Greek god. Each ab was perfectly outlined, and it took all my willpower not to let my gaze follow the trail of dark hair that disappeared into the waistband of his sweatpants.

But it was the gold, orange, and red phoenix tattooed on his ribs that snagged my attention. The mythical bird wrapped in flames, that rippled across his skin as he breathed, looked ready to set the world ablaze.

“Becca?” He sounded utterly amused.

My gaze snapped up to see he was holding his shirt out to me. I stared at it dumbly for a second before grabbing it. I tried not to focus on the fact that it was still warm and smelled like him as I pulled it over my head.

“Fuck,” he murmured, heat flaring in his irises. “You look good in my clothes.”

I adjusted the collar, which had slipped off one shoulder, but then it slipped off the other. I was basically swimming in his shirt, but I was woman enough to admit I liked it.

Fine.

Loved it.

I rose from the bed, feeling my cheeks heat as the cool air brushed my bare legs. The shirt landed a few inches above my knees, but I still felt exposed and raw in front of him. Especially when he flashed those hungry eyes at me.

Ducking my head, I hurried into the bathroom and closed the door. I leaned against it for a moment as I took a deep breath and looked at my reflection in the large mirror over the double vanity.

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