I ease back just enough to see her properly, my hands still warm against her back, thumbs moving in slow, absent strokes.
“I need you to listen to me,” I say quietly. “What they said in there, none of it is true. Not about you. Not about that ridiculous baby talk. None of it.”
The idea alone makes me want to pull my dick off. I've not wanted that with Rose for a long time. And the way they spoke about Willow—like she's difficult, and that she's something to be tolerated instead of treasured—stirs up a dark and protective feeling within me.
“I don't really care what she says about me. I figured out a long time ago that I was never going to have a loving mum like other people do. And that's okay. I had my dad.”
Her teeth catch her bottom lip, and her gaze drifts to the side for a second. I feel the change in her breathing before she looks back at me.
“I just hate when she talks badly about him,” she admits. “Because he wasn't a bad person. And I know you aren't either.”
She leans in and presses another quick kiss to my mouth. “She doesn't deserve you.”
A faint smile pulls at my lips because I wish I believed that as easily as she does. My past is a mess of things I’m not proud of, things she doesn't know yet. But right now isn't the time to let her know everything I regret.
“I don't deserve you,” I confess.
It's the truth. I don't
I should've kept my distance. I should have let her hate me if that's what it took to stop this from happening.
Instead, I was selfish.
I wanted her to want me. I wanted her close. I wanted that look in her eyes every time she smiled at me, even when I knew letting it happen would tangle us into something complicated, messy… wrong in everyone's eyes.
When I kissed her, everything changed. I fought against it, trying to be the good man, the responsible one. She needed someone to stay in the dark with her until she could find the light again, not another complication.
But the devil on my shoulder won, and I would do it again.
“You deserve to be happy, Elijah. And for the first time in a while… You make the pain quieter.”
Something in me gives way at that.
I kiss her again—deeper, slower—guiding her back until the sink presses into her hips. My hands settle at her waist, drawing her in like I’m afraid she might slip through my fingers if I don't hold her tight enough. She gasps softly into my mouth, her grip fisting my shirt.
“I won't lie,” I murmur against her lips, my voice rougher now, “watching that idiot stare at you and touch you like that nearly broke my restraint.”
“Were you jealous?”
I bite her bottom lip, surprised by how I’m feeling. I felt more jealousy watching Blake with Willow than I did seeing Rose ride someone else's cock.
She leans back, smirking, and I know she can feel exactly what she does to me. My hand drifts slowly down her chest, my finger tracing a lazy path that makes her inhale sharply when I brush over her nipple through the fabric.
Her body reacts before she can hide it, and I love that I make her feel like that.
I need her. Even more so, but we need to go back out there soon.
“I've never been a jealous man, princess… But when it comes to you, I’m nothing short of feral. Now spin around and show me my pussy. I need to taste you if I’m going to get through the rest of this dinner.”
“Are you serious?” she whispers.
“Deadly, baby.”
I kiss her hard, then turn her so she's facing the mirror. Her palms brace against the sink as I glance once at the door, half-surprised we haven't been interrupted yet, but the thought barely registers.
I’m not leaving this room without making her come on my tongue.
I drop to my knees behind her, hands sliding over the curve of her ass before I lift the hem of her dress. A light pink thong.
