Page 35 of Pretend it’s Forever

His eyes darkened as he leaned down and brushed his lips along mine. My toes curled, and I let out a sigh against his skin.

“I don’t want your heart, Sophia. I don’t know what to do with that. But I want you.”

The raw honesty of his answer shattered me. But not the parts of me that had been broken before, no, a new sense of me that I didn’t want to think about too harshly. And maybe his honesty was exactly what I needed. Because I had no heart to give. Everything I held within me kept me alive and kept me here for my girls.

I couldn’t give him everything, but maybe I could give him what he wanted.

What I wanted to want.

“Okay,” I said, surprising me.

And from the way his eyes widened ever so slightly, I had surprised him too.

And then his mouth was on mine, deepening the kiss. He squeezed my hip, and I wrapped my arms around him, arching for him. I could barely breathe, could barely focus, it was all on him.

And when he pulled away, his hand cupping me along my side, his forehead resting on mine, he smiled. That smile that did things to me, that made me wet, that made me want.

That smile was beyond dangerous.

“Tomorrow?” he asked.

I frowned. “Tomorrow?”

“You have to pick up your girls, and I have to meet your brother, preferably without a hard-on.” He laughed, and I looked down between us, my eyes widening. The way that his cock pressed against his pants should worry me. Because just the idea of his size, well, I would be thinking about that for a long time.

“Eyes up here, Sophia,” he ordered.

I looked up at him then, my cheeks blushing.

He ran his thumb along my lips. “I want you to look at me. Always. But we don’t have time for what we need right now. So tomorrow? Can I have you?”

“I have the girls.”

“When do they go to bed?” he asked.

“Oh. Well. Early.” What was I saying? What was I doing?

“I’ll see you tomorrow. I want to feed you. And then I want to taste you.”

I blushed, my face heating.

“Should I say okay to that?”

“Say yes. Say you want me.”

“You know I want you, Carson.”

“Good.” He kissed me again, slowly at first, then deeper.

“Tomorrow. Lock up behind me, Sophia. I need you safe.”

I followed him in a dream, his hand on mine, and then with one final kiss he was gone, leaving me standing there, gently locking the door behind him, wondering what the hell I was doing.

I had just consented to sex. Tomorrow. In my house. And yet, I didn’t think it was a mistake. At least not in this moment. Later, later I could worry.

It was something I was becoming far too accustomed to, after all. That…and pretending.

Chapter Seven