He blows a caressing breath on my skin, making the goose bumps more pronounced.
Lust, like I haven’t felt in many years, coalesces in my center and throbs in my core. “You can’t fix what’s broken, JD.”
“Love can fix anything, Aurora.”
“Even my broken heart?” I whimper, leaning back into him when I feel his hands go to my hips.
“Especially that,” he says, sliding his lips to my ear and I moan.
“Then maybe he’s just the man to put it back together,”I hear Mrs. Bollinger say.
“You are so beautiful, sunshine.”
My breathing picks up along with my heart rate.
“I have dreamed about you for five miserably long years. Missing you. Missing your love. Missing your smile and the way your ethereal blue eyes would look at me. You saw me, Aurora. You were the only one who saw the real me. I wonder—who do you see now when you look at me?”
My self-preservation wants to say that I see a man who left me and threw away my love like useless garbage. It’s on the tip of my tongue but my voice refuses to say it.
“I see a man who is a good father to his son, and a football star who will hopefully do great things for this youth center.”
His hands tighten on my hips, and he pulls me closer to him so that no space exists between us.
“Is that all you see?” he says. “Is that all you feel?” he accentuates, grinding against my buttocks to letmefeel how hard he is for me right now.
Stifling another moan, I reply, “That’s all I’m going to allow myself to see.”
“Then I’ll have to break down all your walls again, Aurora. I will never love another woman the way I love you. I haven’t touched another woman since you. I’ve waited five goddamn years to get back to you, and I’ll be damned if I let anything else stand in my way.”
He spins me around and grabs my face, the fiery determination clear in his eyes.
“I love you, Aurora. I need you to hear that loud and clear. I. Love. You.”
Oh God.
“Aurora! You in here?” Knox calls out.
I jump away from JD so fast that I knock back into the wall.
“Yeah. I’m here! Give me a sec and let me grab my things.”
I look to JD who wears the mask of a man about to lose his temper at Knox’s unexpected interruption.
“We aren’t over, Aurora. We never were.”
“Maybe in your deluded brain,” I snipe back, feeling bitchy about being put in this position. I promised Knox I would give us a chance, but right now, I just want to fall into JD’s arms and let him carry me away, preferably to the nearest bed, and deliver on all the promises I see storming in his deep-blue sapphire eyes.
I straighten my clothes and take in a calming breath, then plaster on my best poker face. Rounding the corner, I spot Knox standing inside the entranceway.
“Hey, baby. Thought I’d come by and surprise you with breakfast.” He dangles a bag from the donut shop I love.
“You’re the best,” I say a little too enthusiastically, popping up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. “Let me take a shower and I’ll meet you in my office.”
I pull him out of the gymnasium like it’s on fire. I just wish I could find a way to extinguish the fire that smolders inside of me for JD.
Chapter 50
As I make my way down the corridor to my new office, shirt now neatly tucked into my trousers, I see Knox standing at the doorway of the office Aurora and Austin have been using.
