11
Knox knocked on the door of the Smiths’.
Ever since they’d gone bowling a couple of days prior, Alyssa had been distant. She insisted on going back to the Smith’s to sleep, and didn’t visit him or text him much in the last forty-eight hours. Used every bullshit excuse in the book. Had he said something that upset her?
He’d played their conversation at the bowling alley on and off, but couldn’t remember. It was like they were having a great time then she flicked a switch, and connecting again seemed hard. He’d thought they had a good time. He took her to a bowling alley that had seen better days, but it also was one of the places dear to his heart because he used to go there when he moved to LA from Seattle. When he was a struggling writer.
She opened the door, a neutral smile on her face—a much different one than the one he’d gotten used to. The carefree way her lips broke, and dented her cheeks. The one that had the power of undoing any knot of worry he had in his throat. “Hey.”
“May I come in?” he asked, a tad too formal, but he couldn’t have been wrong about how she changed with him.
“Sure,” she said casually, and opened the door wider, letting him enter.
Behind her, Flufflers hid, then when he recognized him, he came and sniffed him with his tail happily wagging. Well, at least the dog still treated him the same.
She closed the door and gestured for him to go to the living room.
“Did something happen? Ever since that bowling alley, you’ve switched on me,” he said, not willing to do much small talk.
She circled to see him, in the middle of the living area.
“If I said something that hurt your feelings, I need to know.”
She shifted her weight from side to side, then crossed her arms over her chest, flashing him a glance filled with resentment. “Why?”
He frowned. Fuck, he hadn’t imagined things. She was mad at him. His heart squeezed to the size of a marble. A glossy, lonely marble. “Why I need to know? To make things better.”
“What if there isn’t a way to make things better?”
“Alyssa…”
“I’m falling in love with you,” she blurted, her declaration more of an accusation than a love confession. She detected the notes of frustration in her voice, the vulnerability in her expression like she just admitted to a heinous crime. “There. You wanted honesty, you got it. Now you can fucking leave.”
He stepped back, retreating. Her words unlocked a part of him that had been dying to free himself, like a caged animal that had tried to flee for too long. His heart galloped in his chest, and this buzz spread through his body, a sense of unrest assailing him from top to bottom.
She watched him in silence, and one single tear fell down her cheek.
Fuck, he should leave. He dashed to the door, like he was running from a deranged serial killer, but when he motioned to touch the door handle and twist it, his temples throbbed. He should leave.
She just drew the line. He should too.
He didn’t. He couldn’t.
He turned around, rushing to her, finding her at the same spot, and pulled her to him. “What if I want to stay?” he said.
She reared back, putting her hands on his chest, her eyes searching for his. “What are you saying?”
“I’m falling in love with you too,” he said, and with each word his heart beat quicker than the last. He wiped the tear from her cheek, and their gazes locked. A world of promises and hope was exchanged within their intense stare, enough to make every fiber of him even more aware of her. The woman he loved in a way that defied reason.
She got on her tiptoes, and he grabbed her to him with animalistic hunger, fusing his lips with hers, and encircling his arms around her like he would never let her go. She matched his urgency, parting her mouth to offer herself to him. Then, she touched his chest, her fingers perusing over his taut pecs, making every part of him that wasn’t already simmering for her burn hard.
“I’m yours,” she whispered against his lips. “I’m yours,” she repeated, her voice throaty and so fucking sexy. “Take me.”
“Oh, I’ll take you baby. I’ll take you and never let go,” he promised, before kissing her again like their time together was about to end. It couldn’t. They’d figure out a way. Right now, the idea of ever being away from her burned a pit in his soul.
With a low growl, he scooped her from the floor and carried her to her room, and by the time they both plopped on her mattress, they both moaned. He made quick work of peeling off her clothes first, then his.
Naked, skin against skin, they stared at each other.
