“What you talking about?”
“That night in your kitchen when I asked you if you ever wanted anything besides this life, you said that part of your brain didn’t work.” She belts out a low moan. “I wanna know if I’m finally fixing it.”
“Why you wanna do that?”
“‘Cause I think about stuff I’m not supposed to when I look at you.”
“Stuff like what?”
“Like all the things you said I’m not supposed to—things I probably shouldn’t think about when I’m supposed to be putting myself back together.”
I didn’t think it was possible—but my dick grows harder inside of her and she grinds against it as if she’s calming it down.
“Why you thinking like that? What’d I tell you about that?” I ask, pinching my eyes shut. “You know better.”
“Because I can’t fathom thinking any other way. If thirty is the pinnacle of a fighter’s life, then where do we go from here?”
We?
I shake my head.
I made a mess.
Fuck, I made a mess.
I peel my eyes open and find her with wet lashes and too much hope in her eyes. I swipe my nose against hers and my mouth across her face.
“Listen to me, baby,” I mutter, pressing my lips into her hairline.
“I’m listening,” she croaks back.
“Are you sure?”
She lets out a ragged breath and nods while I wrap my arms around her. “I’m always listening to you. God, Ilovelistening to you. That’s all I ever wanna do. You sound like home, you knowthat? So tell me where we’re going. Tell me where we go from here.”
I press down onto her body until she stops grinding, then I lift my hips until our rhythm changes to one that I control.
“Rich…” she moans, clinging to my neck and taking each long thrust I give her. “Tell me.”
“Listen, you can’t go where I’m gonna go. Okay?”
“That’s…that’s not how this friendship works. You know that,” she replies. “I go wherever you go. I follow you everywhere.”
“I promise you don’t wanna go where I’m going.” I kiss her temple while trying to blink away the wetness in my own eyes. “And I’ll nevereverlet you go there.”
She gasps. “Wh…why not?”
“‘Cause it’s not a place for you. You too sweet for it—too good. You the sweetest thing that ever happened to me, and I’m sorry you found me when you were supposed to be putting yourself back together. But you can’t go with me to this place, baby.”
A loud sob roars out of her.
“Shhhh.” I wrap my fingers around her neck and cover her ear with my mouth. “Remember what you told me in my kitchen that one night? You said you belong to me. You said even when I’m long gone, you’ll still belong to me.”
She nods.
“I wanna show you how to hold on to me.”
I pull back to look at her face as warm tears trickle over my hand. They dot her long lashes while she pinches her eyes closed.
