Page 107 of Hard Pass

What are you doing here, Valor? Fuck this up and the woman who can pull the pin on your entire career is the one you’re messing with.

Does it matter when it’s inevitable?

But it wasn’t. It isn’t. Sure we got hot and heavy five years ago, but who didn’t I get hot and heavy with when I was in college? The moment stood out simply because what guy wouldn’t get their ego bruised when a woman pretended to sleep instead of fuck you?

But I’m standing here, staring at her, wanting her in a way that the twenty-year-old me wouldn’t be able to comprehend, even when there are so many fucking risks involved. Even when I’m trying to respect those boundaries she needs.

Her lips part slightly, no doubt the same argument on her tongue that I heard earlier, but it doesn’t come. “I’m . . . this is confusing.”

My smile is quick. Automatic. “It doesn’t have to be.”

“That doesn’t mean that it’s not though.”

“You know that despite that this case is almost over, it doesn’t mean I want to be done with whatever this is, right?” I add, closing the space between us another inch. “Not even close.”

Her lashes flutter as her eyes lift to mine.

“If you want me to leave,” I whisper, “just say the words.”

I mean it. I will. And that’s the part that surprises me the most because I usually don’t give anyone that level of control.

She doesn’t answer.

Her silence is everything.

“You’re always talking about patterns.”

I take a step closer.

She doesn’t move.

“How they don’t lie.”

Another step as I pull my shirt over my head with one hand.

Her eyes dip down and take in my torso, pupils flaring, and yet she still doesn’t say anything.

“Maybe this is ours.”

And another.

Still nothing.

“Complicated. Probably a bad idea.” I shrug. “But still keeps happening.”

This time when I move forward, she retreats a step, bumping into the wall at her back. There’s nowhere else to go.

I brace one hand beside her head, leaning in so that we’re close but not touching, despite every nerve in my body begging to.

“Last chance,” I murmur as I cup her cheek with my other hand. “Say the word.”

Her breath is thready as her eyes drop to my lips and then back up.

She doesn’t say stop. Doesn’t push me away. And I’m done waiting.

So I kiss her.

Slower this time. Not fueled by frustration. The need is still there, the want to take and sate, but this kiss is more deliberate. More controlled. I want to feel it deep in my bones. I want her to feel us.