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“Youwere trying to makemejealous?” He starts laughing again.
“After you met Vance at the club, he became convinced you were into me. I disagreed with him. So to prove his theory, he posed as my boyfriend to see how you’d react.” I shake my head in disbelief. “He’ll be happy to know he was right.”
He chuckles. “Baby girl, you didn’t have to make me jealous. I’ve been crazy about you for a long time.”
He pulls me into his lap. He wraps him arms around my waist as I do the same around his neck.
“You have?”
“Yes. Since you were seventeen.”
I freeze. For that long? That would mean he wanted me as much as I wanted him all those years ago. How could I not have known?
Because I didn’t believe it to be possible.
I blush. “I was crazy about you then, too.” I pause. “If you wanted me then, why did you say I was just a kid sister to you at my birthday party?”
He sighs deeply. “Your brother, at the time, had made it very clear to our friend group you weren’t to be pursued. You were young. And it was known that some of our friends would’ve been more than happy to take liberties with you once you became a legal adult. I knew that if I made them think you weren’t significant, they’d leave you alone. I never meant to hurt you.”
“You were protecting me?”
He nods. “When you came home from college, things changed. You were an adult. I didn’t see a point in pretending anymore. And seeing you for the first time in years made me want you all to myself even more.”
“Even when I was gone? Even when you surrounded yourself with other women?” How can I know they were there for nothing more than filling an empty hole?
“They never mattered to me. Every time I was with someone else, I’d imagine you. My heart has always belonged to you.”
And I foolishly pushed him away.
Since the minute I came home from school, all I’ve done is avoided him, pretended he didn’t exist, and wished I didn’t feel what I was feeling when I was with him. I tried everything to destroy the pedestal I’d made for him in my heart. I thought I’d made my peace with the past, knowing he didn’t feel the same as I did. But in reality, I now know I was lying to myself. Even when we were oceans apart, I found myself wishing he were the London boys that I was with. I don’t want to do any of that anymore. I don’t want to pretend I could be happy with someone else. And I don’t want to pretend I don’t love him when really I do.
I shift myself to straddle him. His dick is hard against me as I deeply kiss his mouth. “You don’t have to imagine anymore.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ipress my body against his. I can’t seem to get close enough, even when his hands are on my back, squeezing me closer. My arms are over his shoulders while my hands are in his hair.
I feel him press his hard erection against my entrance. I slightly wince from the soreness, but I don’t care. I need him with, in, and on me—now.
He pulls away from our kiss. “You’re hurt.”
“Not hurt. Just sore,” I assure him.
“You sure you’re ready for more?”
“Make love to me.” I don’t need to think to know what I want. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
He looks surprised at first, but then that surprised expression morphs into something like newfound determination. So much so, that he grabs hold of my backside with both hands and rises from his seat.
He slowly begins to walk down the hallway. “I know it’s late to ask this, but are you on the Pill?”
“I’m not.” Is this a dealbreaker for him? “But my period ended yesterday. Should we use a condom anyway?”
“No. I want nothing to be between us.”
He does? “But what if I get pregnant?”
His expression remains neutral. “And?”