Page 43 of Careless

His tongue pushes past the barrier my lips create and crashes against mine, his fingers tangling with my hair.

Everything I’ve ever wanted is so close. I can practically taste it as clear as Rian’s tongue, but it’s not real. It’s just my imagination and the hopeless romantic in me. I’d kill for Rian to really love me, for my brother to accept us being together, and for us to be together forever, but it won’t happen. We can’t stay in this bubble for long before someone will burst it.

His lips slowly pull back and I’m panting from how bad my body tingles from his touch.

“You can’t distract me, Walsh,” I say and his lips nearly split from how wide his grin spreads.

“You’re such a firecracker.”

“Is that a good thing?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Depends on how you look at it.”

“And how doyoulook at it?” I make the insinuation clear.

He purses his lips in deep thought before frowning, the light gone from his eyes again. He’s so hot and cold it gives me whiplash. “You’re the bane of my existence.”

If that’s not the biggest slap in the face, I don’t know what is.

I try to move out from under him. He does this all the time. I think he’ll say something sweet and possibly romantic. He never fails to make me feel like shit.

He doesn’t let me move, though. Instead, he presses a kiss against my cheek, like it will completely erase what he just said.

Bane of his existence? Fuck him.

“And the object of all my desires,” he adds as he trails his nose along my jaw.

The butterflies race through every molecule of my body, and a pleasant buzz settles over me. Goddamn him.

He positions himself behind me as I lay on my side and trails kisses down my arm from the start of my shoulder, slowly descending like it’s a simple, mind-numbing task.

“Nigel wants me to stay away from you, but it has nothing to do with Finn,” he admits as he pulls my body into his. My flesh forms to him like I was made to fit perfectly against his chest.

“Why?” I ask, unable to stop myself from prying further.

“Because he wants you to leave Grove Hill behind after you graduate and he thinks I’ll prevent that.”

Leave? Why does he want me to leave? That’s never been the plan. Granted, I’ve never told anyone about my plans, but I didn’t realize that anyone else had an interest in them.

“I wasn’t going to leave,” I inform him and his arm tightens around me. “Grove Hill is my home. The furthest I would travel is Rice or Prairie View, but that’s just for college. I’ve never wanted to run away from here.”

His body relaxes as he hides his face behind my neck, running his lips along the skin exposed there.

“You wouldn’t have been able to outrun me anyway, kid. And hiding would be pointless.”

Something about those words is comforting, even though the thought should be scary. No sane person wants to be chased, but I’ve never been normal. I’ve always wanted Rian to chase me, and not just the stereotypical type of chasing.

The image flashes through my mind of running through the woods just to be grabbed by Rian. He’d push me up against a tree, his hand pinning me in place, as his eyes rake up and down me with blatant desire.

Fuck, yes.

Maybe that makes me weird, but growing up around psychos has rubbed off on me.

“I’ll always find you,” the words murmured against the back of my neck, voice soft. Rian’s arm loosens around my stomach as I turn to face him, his eyes drooping with exhaustion.

At this moment, I pray I’m capable of loving someone else. Loving Rian is a painful and terrifying roller coaster. One moment it’s great and we’re laughing, but then it changes and I’m struggling to pick up the pieces.

Rian Walsh himself is the biggest obstacle to us being happy. My brother has never hurt me, and it wasn’t for lack of being a massive jerk from time to time. The only one who could ever do long lasting damage is the man in my arms, but still, I can’t push him away. Even when I do, he comes crashing through my barriers like a tsunami directly created by Poseidon’s hands to smite me for defying him.

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