“It has to be in person,” he says. “I can’t risk sending anything.”
“This is all awfully convenient for you,” I say.
“You can’t blame me for wanting to see you or my son again.”
“Those are two separate questions. Seeing me and seeing Theo.”
“He’s my son, Ava. My blood. That means something.”
“Yes, fine. Just like my boundaries and my valid concerns and my wishes do.”
He sighs tiredly. “I’m not the enemy.”
“I’m not so sure about that yet.”
“We’ll meet somewhere public. I’ll give you answers, proof. Then you can make up your mind.”
I glance at Theo’s bedroom door, my skin pricking with something like adrenaline. Whatever else is happening here, future Theo will want to know I tried to make it so he could have a relationship with his father, right?
“Fine,” I mutter. “A cup of coffee. But don’t try anything.”
“Try anything,” he repeats. “What sort of monster do you think I…” He stops, laughs huskily. “Wait, you’re not talking about violence, are you, Ava?”
My skin pricks for an entirely different reason, my head cloudy. I can’t let him know the effect he has on me, but I must make a sound or something, or maybe he can just sense it.
“You’re talking about that night,” he says, tone fierce. “You’re talking about the white-hot fact I couldn’t keep my hands off you, couldn’t have resisted you even if there was a damn firing squad aiming their guns at me.”
I press my legs together so tightly that my muscles ache. My underwear is like a traitor grinding against my sex, sending sparks coursing through me. My conflicted heart sings out in denial, but my body can’t make any bold claims.
“Right,” I murmur…
No, Imoan.
“More lines.”
“Nothing I’ve said to you is a damn line,” he snarls. “When I talk about your thick, gorgeous, curvy body driving me wild, that’s the truth, Ava. When I talk about looking at you tonight, your hips and your ass and those delicious fucking thighs making me want to howl, that’s the truest thing I’ve ever said. When I say I’m getting rock-hard thinking about getting you naked and kissing every single inch of your beautiful body, you best believe I’m telling the truth.”
Say goodbye, I urge myself.Tell him he’s going too far…
“Oh?” I murmur instead.
“You want more?” he growls.
“I saidoh, didn’t I?” I snap.
“I’ll only give you more if I can confirm you’re getting some use out of these words. You know what I mean by that, angel?”
“Maybe I don’t.”
He laughs huskily. “You want me to say it.”
I do. God help me.
The spark I felt that first night has returned, only now there’s almost a year’s worth of extra kindling inside me, ready to catch the blaze.
“I need you to slide your hand down your perfect, curvy body and into your underwear. I need – fuckingneed, Ava – you to slide your hand over your soaked core, your entrance that’s fluttering and begging for my touch. I need you to remember that night we shared. When I went down on you for half an hour, even when you were moaning and twitchy and ready for me to fuck you. Not for you, Ava. But because I was addicted to your taste, to every twitch and shiver in your body.”
Oh, fuck.
