GREY
Arden Rossi is in my bed, completely naked. It must be a dream. A fucked up, taunting, punishing dream because of what I did the other night in the bathroom with her. Because if she’s in my bed, then I’ve died. Maybe I’ve been shot like my father, maybe this is just the devil’s way of making me think that hell is paradise before I actually go there and see that it really is the pit of fire they make it out to be.
But this is real. I know because Arden’s slow breaths are real, I know that my mind would never think to place that delicate little freckle on her hip, the one that I lean over and kiss, letting my mouth drag across her feverish skin until I find her mouth and settle there.
There.
Never mind the hating, the rivalry. Not when there is this—whatever it is, between us. I don’t understand it, but it feels like something a little too close to love for my liking.
Damn, did I really just go there?
I’ve known Arden Rossi my entire life, a life that I’ve spent hating her and her family. It’s not like I’ve fallen in love at first fuck, but then again, is that what it is? Love? That seems too real, too wrong, too vulnerable, too… frightening. And I’ve seen a lot of shit in my lifetime; I don’t find a whole lot scary anymore.
But love?
Whatever it is, I don’t need to define it now. Maybe it’s the start of love, maybe it’s the start of a new attachment, a string of hookups that will eventually die down like all the others—but the latter seems impossible when I see her eyes flutter open, green and shining in the morning light, a sight that makes my breath catch in my throat.
Damn it, I think, I’m not letting a day go by that I don’t get to see that.
I reach up and brush a finger across her lips, soft, warm, but it’s not enough. I lean in and kiss her deeply, passionately, and when I pull away and look into her eyes, I know that she feels it too.
“What are we going to do, Grey?” she asks, almost shyly.
Shy? I cock an eyebrow. I’ve never seen Arden Rossi… shy.
“About this—” I gesture to our naked bodies tangled up in each other “—or the meeting last night.”
She lets out a sigh. “Us. The meeting. Both.”
I roll on top of her, my dick already hard again and aching as it presses into her silky soft thighs. “We’ll deal with it, just like we always do.” I reach between her thighs, loving the way that her breath hitches and her mouth parts as I slide a finger between her folds. “Are you sore?” I ask.
“A little bit,” she admits.
“Do you need me to stop?” I curl a finger up against her clit.
“No,” she shudders out. “Please… don’t.”
But I stop. I prop my elbows up on either side of her face, afraid that if I look away, she’ll suddenly vanish.
“Arden, I need you to let me tell you something,” I whisper. “You don’t have to say it back, but I just want you to know—”
She reaches up and grabs my chin, silencing me. “I know.” I can feel her heart racing against mine. “I feel the same. And even if right now I can’t say it, I want you to know that I feel it.”
I lean in and kiss her neck, wanting to bury myself forever in that sweet spot between her chin and her collarbones.
“I feel something for you, Arden Rossi,” I say, brushing my lips against hers. “And it feels a lot like love.”
She smiles.
But she doesn’t say a word.
