Page 41 of Your Fault

I took a deep breath and, hesitantly, held him back.

“Loving you is the most complicated thing I’ve ever done,” I said.

But it was impossible to stay mad at him.

“I’m dying to kiss you,” he said, as though asking for permission.

I waited for a few seconds before replying. “Do it, then.”

And I could tell he was still smiling a second later, when his lips touched mine.

16

Nick

I’d fucked up. The fear on her face when she’d seen me confirmed it. But I didn’t care. She was there with me again, and I was dying to kiss her.

When her soft lips pressed against mine, I felt a prick where mine had been cut. But still, I didn’t resist. Noah must have noticed, though, because she stopped.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, alarmed, her feline eyes, so adorable, roving my face, with their lashes damp from tears that, once again, were my fault.

“No,” I replied, distracted, wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her close again. “This is a dream. I’ve been wanting to kiss you like this for weeks.”

But Noah stopped me before I could resume.

“You winced,” she said. “I can tell it hurts.”

What?“I didn’t wince.”

“You did,” she said and traced a line from my cheek to my lower lip. I clenched my jaw. Okay, it hurt, but it was nothing compared to the pain of not seeing her for days, not kissing her, not making love to her. “Let me clean up your hands,” she said.

She turned, and I was no longer holding her. I wished I could have been quicker, grabbed her, tossed her over my shoulder, and taken her to the bedroom, but one of my ribs had a hairline fracture. I wasn’t even supposed to be out of bed…but there I was, like always, not listening to orders. I watched her go to the kitchen. At last, my apartment had life in it. The cat emerged from who knows where and started rubbing himself against Noah’s feet.

“Hey, N, how’s my pretty boy?” she exclaimed, effusive, bending over to pick the thing up. I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs while she cuddled with the cat and looked around for the first aid kit. When she found it, she sat down and spun the seat of her chair to face me.

“You look fantastic,” I said, loving the sight of her blushing.

“I wish I could say the same for you.”

I smiled. Parts of my face hurt that I hadn’t even known existed.

“Give me your hand,” she said gently.

I did so, and as she cleaned my wounds, which were barely bleeding anyway, I realized she was even prettier than before she’d left. Her hair was redder, with blond streaks here and there, and her tanned skin was an almost-bronze color that highlighted her face. Her lips were always swollen after she cried…and after we hooked up, and as she looked at me, I couldn’t stop thinking about all I wanted to do to her. To have those lips on my body, those hands on my back…

“Nicholas, I’m talking to you,” she said loudly, awakening me from my daydreams.

“Sorry, what did you say?” I asked, trying to express my flared-up desire.

“I said, how’s Lion?”

Lion… I didn’t even want to hear his fucking name.

“He was in the emergency room for a couple of hours, but he’s fine. He’s back at home.”

Noah was carefully examining my wounds as she cleaned and disinfected them.

“And Jenna?” she asked, bending over to grab some scissors off the counter. As she did so, I got a primo view of her breasts, and I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. Did we really need to talk about that now? I couldn’t give less of a shit about Jenna, to tell the truth. Sure, she knew what had happened. I mean, we hadn’t told her we were selling drugs—or, to be precise, that her boyfriend was selling drugs. She was taking care of Lion now.

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