“God.” His stare roved hungrily over my chest, the uncertainty on his face turning to lust. “You’re gorgeous.” Bending forward, he leaned down and took a nipple into his mouth, his eyes cutting to mine as I groaned with pleasure.
I arched my back, wanting more of him. “Pax, I need you.”
With a final kiss to my flesh, he lifted upward, then snagged the waistband of my pajamas and tugged them over my hipbones—panties and all.
As his glance fell to my exposed skin, he stilled.
For a moment, I wanted to hide, to jump from the bed and run into the hallway.What does he see?
“I-I know I’m not perfect, that my body isn’t like Katrina’s—”
“Don’t.” His chin jerked up as he glared at me. “You”—his index finger skirted over my lower belly—“are devastatingly beautiful.” He slid the fingertip lower, closer to my core. “You’re ruining me, CC. I’ll never be able to look at another girl without comparing them to you.”
That tiny spark of self-consciousness died a quick death, and I sat up, pushing Paxton flat on his back. It was my turn to straddle his hips.
He gave a low laugh. “Damn, Cotton Candy. You just keep surprising me.”
“I love you too, Paxton.”
His beautiful, wide smile dropped as he intently stared at me, his blue eyes darkening. “Say it again.” He placed his palms on each side of my hips, the grip firm and hard.
“I love you.”
His head fell back to the pillow and he squeezed his eyes shut. A visible shiver ran through his body.
Smiling, I grasped the belt loops of his jeans and pulled them down.
“Let’s fly, Pax.”
Opening his eyelids, he helped me remove his pants and underwear with two quick kicks, and we found our own version of a fairytale that night.
But like most fairytales, ours had a growing, malignant darkness. Maybe if we would’ve been more careful, maybe if I’d have never gone to the party, maybe if he hadn’t been so goddamned sweet and gentle, we could’ve had our happily ever after.
Chapter twenty-one
Paxton Ross
Brightlightpiercedthebacks of my eyelids and I slowly opened my stare to the window, yet something about its placement seemed off.
I squinted at it, then stretched out a hand to push off the bed and froze.
Silky flesh met my fingertips.
Cotton Candy.Images from last night flooded into my head. A smile formed on my lips as I remembered how beautiful and right it had felt being with her, beinginher.
Gently, I turned over.
Terri lay sleeping on her side, facing me, her hands resting on the pillow and under her cheek. Her long, curly black hair spilled out across the pale pink satin. Her shoulder, brown and bare, beckoned me to caress its shape.
I need to get out of here. If her mom, Lana, or Moira find us together like this…
Shuddering at the thought, I stopped my fingers half an inch from her skin, knowing I should leave immediately.
Yet her face stilled me. Because in all the weeks I’d known her, I’d never seen such a look of contentment.
As if she could sense my stare, her eyelids fluttered open. Her lush lips curved into a smile and her dark eyes shone with warmth.
“I’m so happy last night wasn’t a dream.” She reached a trembling hand to my face and stroked my cheek.
