“Taking what’s mine.”
Heat spiked through me.Fury and longing tangled inside my chest, an unbearable knot of emotions I couldn’t untangle.
I shoved against his hold, ripping myself free, putting precious inches between us before he could trap me again.
“Stop,” I spat, my voice shaking.“I’m not a toy, Creed.You don’t get to pull me in and disappear whenever it suits you.“You’re acting like—”
“Like I don’t know what I’m doing?”His voice was low, dangerous.
I shook my head.“Like you don’t care what it does to me.”
He tilted his head, something dark flashing in his eyes.“You still don’t understand.”
“Then stop keeping me in the dark.”My voice cracked, raw and unfiltered.“Because I don’t know where I stand with you anymore.I don’t know if I ever did.”
Silence.Thick.Suffocating.
Then—
“You have no idea what it cost me when you doubted me.”
I flinched, but I didn’t look away.
“I know I hurt you.But you don’t get to punish me forever for it,” I whispered, the admission like glass cutting my throat.
His chest rose and fell, a sharp, unsteady breath escaping him.He shook his head, then raked a hand through his hair.“I don’t know how to move past it, Peyton.I don’t know how to sit in what I feel for you and still recognize myself.”His jaw clenched.“And yet, I can’t stay away from you.”
Tears burned the back of my throat.“Then say that.Don’t touch me and call it something else.”
His hands curled into fists.“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to decide.Not someday.Not when it’s easier.Now.”My voice broke.“Because I can’t be your in-between anymore.”
His face went rigid, his gray eyes stormy, unreadable.He turned away suddenly, pacing to the far end of the office, dragging a hand down his face like he was fighting to keep himself from losing control.
“Damn it,” he muttered under his breath, his shoulders tense.
I wiped a hand across my face, exhaling sharply.“Say something.”
He turned slowly, pinning me with a look so raw, so furious, that my knees nearly buckled.Then he was on me again, backing me into the desk, his body crowding mine, heat rolling off him in waves.
“You think this is simple for me?”His voice was low, his hands unsteady when they gripped the desk beside me.
I didn’t bother to comment.
“You think I don’t want to let you back in?”
I swallowed, my throat tight.“Do it and stop standing in the doorway.”
His nostrils flared.His jaw ticked.His fingers flexed.“I can’t.”
“Then stop pretending this is my fault.”
His hands slammed down on either side of me, his body trapping me against the desk.“You don’t hear what happens to me when you’re close.”
“Then don’t come close unless you mean it.”
His voice turned rough, ravaged.“Every time you speak.Every time I even breathe you in—” His forehead dropped to mine, his breathing ragged.“You broke the part of me that stayed untouched.”
