Mine.
The word should have scared me.
Instead, it felt like safety.
His words pushed me higher, and I could feel my release building, coiling tight in my belly. He must have felt it too, because he picked up the pace, driving into me harder and faster until the sound of our bodies coming together echoed through the empty store.
“Come for me, Avery,” his voice was ragged and desperate as sweat slicked between us. “Come on my cock so I can feel you squeeze me.”
I shattered.
The orgasm crashed through me like a wave, and I cried his name as I clenched around him. He followed me over the edgewith a guttural groan, spilling himself inside me with one final thrust.
We lay there afterward, tangled together on the floor, surrounded by fallen books, our breathing slowly returning to normal as our hearts raced together.
Flint didn’t rush away the way Sawyer always had. He stayed right where he was, his arm heavy around me, with no intention of letting me go.
His fingers traced slow circles on my arm while we caught our breath. His touch had become the most natural thing in the world.
The two of usfittogether somehow, even if it didn’t make sense. And the tiny feather kisses he was dropping on my neck right now told me that Flint wasn’t done with me yet.
His weight was heavy on top of me, but I didn’t want him to move. I wanted to stay in this moment forever, where everything felt possible and nothing hurt.
But even as bliss thrummed through my veins, fear crept in at the edges.
I was falling for him. Falling hard and fast, the way I’d sworn I would never do again.
And I was absolutely terrified that Flint Campbell was going to break my heart.
Chapter 10
Flint
I knew something was wrong the moment Avery walked through the door.
She was wearing a pink cardigan today, buttoned all the way up to her throat like armor, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Her smile when she greeted me was polite and distant, the same smile she’d give a stranger browsing the travel section.
I reached for her anyway, brushing a strand of hair off her shoulder, and she went still beneath my touch.
The morning doubts had hit her hard.
I’d expected it, honestly.
A woman like Avery didn’t give herself easily, and now that she had, every fear she’d ever carried was probably screaming at her to run.
But I wasn’t deterred. Not even close.
Especially not after the bomb Marlene had dropped on me this morning.
My aunt had called at seven, her voice strange and nervous in a way I’d never heard from her before. What she’d told mechanged everything, and I was still turning it over in my mind, trying to figure out how to handle it.
“Good morning,” Avery said, her voice carefully neutral as she slipped behind the counter and stowed her bag.
“Morning, gorgeous,” I watched her move, the way she kept her body angled away from mine as she busied herself straightening a stack of bookmarks that didn’t need straightening.
But her pulse was beating hard in her chest, and I couldn’t be the only one that noticed her perky nipples poking at her cardigan, giving me a rowdy hello.
A customer approached with a stack of mystery novels, and Avery practically lunged to help them. I stepped back and let her work, but I kept my eyes on her as the day progressed.
