Page 144 of Alive At Night

Those last words were definitely directions that I fully planned to ignore. Even when Juniper mouthed, “Gemma,” at me.

Nope. Uh-uh. My sister didn’t get to take this from me. I let her have Juni for years, and now she would have to share. But not right now. Right now, Juniper was naked in my bed for the first time, and we had plans that didn’t involve my sister. Right now, she was mine.

“Hang up,” I muttered, softer this time.

Juniper didn’t hang up, telling Gemma she had stayed in last night.

Yeah,stayed inmy bed.

Where we still were.

Had she forgotten?

Deciding she needed a reminder, I caught her lips with mine as soon as she’d finished her sentence. She sucked in with surprise as I tugged on her lower lip with my teeth.Mine.These lips were for me this morning. They weren’t for talking to best friends.

I dipped my head to her neck, sucking lightly on her skin as she muttered something noncommittal into the phone. God, she smelled good. The floral bouquet was still there, but her usual perfume was mixed with the scent of sex and sweat. It was intoxicating. This was what being drunk first thing in the morning felt like, huh?

Juni’s breath hitched, but it didn’t keep her from answering Gemma’s question about what book she had read last night. When shestayed in.

Sliding my palms up to her breasts, I cupped them and brushed my thumbs over her nipples. Juni’s eyes closed as she pressed her lips together, holding in a sound that I desperately wanted to hear. When I took Juniper’s nipple into my mouth, she gasped. Audibly, this time. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. After a pause, she sighed.

“Yes, fine, Iamwith a guy,” she admitted with a half groan. “And I have to go, but I’ll call you later. Okay?”

Juni barely waited for a reply before ending the call and throwing her phone to the other side of the bed, letting loose a loud moan.

“You’re the worst,” she complained. “The absolute worst.”

Even as she said it, she wound her fingers into my hair and held me against her chest. I smiled and flicked my tongue over her taut nipple.

“You like it,” I shot back.

She didn’t say yes, but she did whimper my name. I’d allow that. For now.

“Gemma was confused that you left without telling her last night,” Juni explained between cute little attempts to catch her breath as I continued to work my mouth over her. “She thought I might know what happened because your dad said something came up at work.”

“God, I told him that was a bad excuse,” I muttered, moving to take her other nipple between my lips.

“Yeah, Gemma doesn’t really believe it.”

I shrugged, not caring. I couldn’t remember a happier moment than when I’d walked through the door last night to find Juniper waiting for me. I couldn’t remember feeling more at peace than when I was so deep inside her that I didn’t know where I ended and she began.

Gemma could be suspicious; I didn’t regret leaving last night. Not at all. How could I? Look where I was right now.

“We’re done talking about my sister,” I decided. “Actually, the fact that you’re talking at all tells me I’m not doing my job well enough.”

After that, I got to work.

And Juniper didn’t say much else.

Except to scream my name, of course.

* * *

Juni pepperedme with questions about my plans for our first date. First, over text message because she wanted to know what to wear, and then, as we drove through the city. But I wasn’t sure why she thought she would get me to fold. I hadyearsof experience holding myself back when it came to her, so I just smiled and kept my eyes on the road, which made her all the more furious.

My plan was a bit of a gamble, and I wasn’t usually a betting man. But I was at the point where I’d risk it all to give Juniper even a slice of happiness.

My heart rate tripled when I led her into a small boutique in the heart of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. But with one step over the threshold and one look around, reassurance flooded through me. Because, just like I thought the first time I was here, this storewasJuniper.

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