Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88262 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
The words seemed to bounce right off of him.
“And what was your childhood like, Max?” he said. “Happy family? Supportive parents? Small town charm?”
“Kind of. Yeah.”
I couldn’t even feel guilty about it. It was just true.
“Figured,” he said, not unkindly.
“I always loved my parents, and they always loved me. Lily and I fought a little as kids but pretty soon we were just glad to have each other. I played both football and hockey, depending on the year, and even though we were never rich, I never felt deprived of much.”
Draven was watching me, his eyes half-lidded, like he was envisioning my childhood as if it were some impossible dream.
He walked over a moment later and stood next to me at the edge of the mattress. He brought his fingers to my throat, just gently stroking them along my Adam’s apple, applying no pressure.
His eyes looked so beautiful.
So much hurt behind them, but so much… care, when he looked at me.
Was that even possible? I knew he didn’t see me as more than a piece of ass who needed protection.
“I’m so sorry for what happened to you,” I said. “I’m sorry I pushed. About the secrets.”
“There are more,” he said. “Ones that I’m not ready to tell tonight, and that I may not ever be.”
My chest felt heavy. But I nodded, understanding.
It still scared me, wondering what else had happened to him, or what else he’d done.
But for the first time, I felt a crest of a new wave rising inside me.
I trusted him.
I shouldn’t have. But I did.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked gently.
“That I trust you.”
“Max…”
“I know what you’re going to say. That’s a bad idea, Max. Don’t trust someone like me. I don’t care. I trust you, anyway. It might mean I’m naive, but you’re just going to have to live with it.”
He stroked the side of my jaw.
“And that’s why you’re beautiful,” he said. “Inside and out.”
My heart sped up like a goddamn hummingbird. I felt a heat creep up to my cheeks. He was making my brain feel all cross-wired, just like he always did, and I couldn’t even deny how good it felt now.
First I’d been mad at him for not sharing shit with me, but when he’d opened up, I realized that there was an iceberg of trauma inside of him.
But now, up close next to me, it was like all of that silently evaporated into the air.
A stillness had come over the room. Every cell inside me was a little sensor tuned toward his body.
How fucking good his chest looked, this close to me.
The intricate lines of a tattoo I’d never focused on before—a tiny wordless scroll, on one side of his ribcage.
The sound of the crickets was the only thing I could focus on as Draven’s hand moved over my throat.
Gently.
Maddeningly slow.
Then his hand laced around to the back of my neck, his fingers moving through my hair, like I was an animal he was taming, moment by moment.
And it was working. I was so fucked around him.
I loved the way he was towering above me. I responded to his touch, going docile the moment his skin was on mine.
And he knows it, I thought idly.
My pulse ticked up as he gazed down at my lips.
He leaned down.
Just kiss me so I can figure out why the hell I want it so badly.
Without thought, I went in, trying to close the distance between us.
But his resistance was immediate. Just before our lips could connect, his hands came down on my shoulders and he pushed me back onto the bed instead, straddling me, his gaze suddenly fierce.
I let out a breath. His face was still so close to mine. Just above me on the bed, hanging over me like he was trying to intimidate me or turn me on.
Congratulations, Draven, you have succeeded in both. As usual.
“Are you hooking up with anyone other than me?” he asked.
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
His question caught me completely off guard.
Yet again he’d changed the dynamic in an instant, regaining control of the evening. Control of me.
“Are you hooking up with anyone else? What’s not to understand? Do you want me to ask it in French instead?”
“I’m not hooking up with anyone at all,” I said.
Whatever Draven and I did together… it didn’t feel like that.
Hooking up was what I’d done in college, after stupid long nights at parties where cute girls would sometimes want to come up to my bedroom with me.
Hooking up was simple. Easy. Not…
Not something that felt like it completely dismantled my life.
“Good,” he said. “I like it when you’re hard around me.”
The green of his eyes was so luminous and bright, and again I was struck by how a person like him could go through life having eyes that beautiful. Whenever we were together, I truly felt like all of Draven’s attention was on me—as if the moment he decided you were worth his time, everything changed, and you became the star. In the spotlight.