Page 24 of Same Time Next Year

No one is forcing me to wrap a forearm around the front of Britta’s hips and yank her up onto her toes, her backside more securely to my lap, either, but here we are, and she’s still, still, grinding on my dick, turning my blood to pure fucking fire. “Careful or you’re going to bust me.”

Thanks to our height difference, I’m looking down the front of her body, noting that her tits are starting to shudder up and down. Her head falls back against my shoulder, and she murmurs, “If your fake wife won’t help you out while your wrist is sprained, who will?”

Goddamn.Help me out, as in, make me come? Still, the wordsfake wifeearn my teeth scraping against the side of her neck, causing her to gasp, her ass jolting in my lap. “Why did you throw away my magazine, Britta?”

“What?” she asks too quickly, her movements slowing slightly. “What magazine?”

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we’re plastered together so tight that I can hear her thoughts, or if I’ve just been observing this girl long enough to read her mind, but I’m beginning to piece together her behavior. How she likes me being aroused for her and only her. How she doesn’t want me looking at half-naked women in a magazine. Throw in what I know about how her family broke up ... and I think the idea of monogamy appeals to her more than she’ll ever admit. But maybe she’s scared to hope for it or believe in it.

And maybe it’s about time Imakeher.

“Burn the magazine for all I care.” I rub my mouth in the hair above her ear, wrapping my arms around her tight. “You don’t have to stop me from looking at anyone but you, because Idon’t want to look in the first place. Put parental controls on my phone, my laptop, block porn sites. Track my location. Lock my dick in a cage. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you realize I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. I’ll make you feel secure until you realize it’s only ever going to be you.”

The pulse at the side of her neck is going a thousand miles an hour.

When she responds, her words are halting. “I’m not ... asking you for any of that.”

“It’s all on the table, regardless.”

“I think we should go,” she whispers, breaking free of my hold. She stoops down and retrieves her purse, eyes landing on everything but me. We sidestep down the row together, past people singing along with the music. Did I say the wrong thing to her? Or did I say the right thing, and she’s too scared to accept what I’m offering?

My money is on the latter.

None of that brings me closer to being with Britta for real, though.

Only she can do that.

Chapter Seven

BRITTA

When Sumner pulls up outside my building and puts his truck in park, I unfasten my seat belt and dive out the passenger side door, fumbling my keys with useless fingers. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since we left the concert prematurely. The ride home was dead silent, so he must have heard the incessant beating. It’s going off like gunfire in my ears.

I reach the entrance of my building and hear the driver’s side door slam, too, indicating that Sumner is following me. Walking me home. Like a gentleman. But I really should not let that happen. For one, his unorthodox offer is still jogging around in the forefront of my mind.

Put parental controls on my phone, my laptop, block porn sites. Track my location. Lock my dick in a cage. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you realize I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. I’ll make you feel secure until you realize it’s only ever going to be you.

I’m still in shock over the offer itself, which I wouldneveraccept, because that would make me controlling. But Sumnerwantingto give me those reassurances felt like a giant gulp of oxygen. There’s no pretending otherwise. And that tells me a lot about myself that I didn’t know this morning. I’m scarred from the nature of my parents’ divorce and my father’s infidelity. Ialready knew that. But the pure yearning in my chest when Sumner told me it would only ever be me? I didn’t expect that. I didn’t see it coming.

Have I been harboring a secret hope that I could be in a normal, functioning relationship someday? Or has Sumner created that desire in me?

When I see his reflection approaching behind me in the glass door of my building and a ripple carries through my heart, I’m terrified that I have my answer.

It’s ... him. It’s just Sumner.

Okay. Okay, I admitted it. I’m definitely falling hard for this man. But I need some time to sit with this knowledge before he comes for any more of my vulnerabilities.

“I don’t need you to walk me to my door.”

“I will always make sure you get inside safely, Britta.”

Shaking my head, I unlock the door and stomp inside, through the vestibule and up the stairs, trying very hard not to think about the fact that Sumner could almost definitely see up my skirt as he follows in my wake. In his current state, the view is probably causing him a lot of pain, and I don’t put a little extra sway in my hips, because that would be mean.

I’d probably snap your headboard in half.

A pulse between my thighs is beginning to pound with mounting insistence when I reach my apartment door. Do I want to have sex with Sumner?

Yes. Obviously, I do.

---