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Vaughn shifted uncomfortably. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”
“He already has.”
Vaughn shook his head. “For leaving, I mean.”
I honestly didn’t know. “I hope so.”
Because there was an energy between the two of them that couldn’t be denied. One that was strong, and tangible. Maybe it was frayed, but I didn’t think it was broken.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said to Vaughn. “I don’t want to be your consolation prize.” I went to get down off the desk, but he caught my leg.
“You would never be anyone’s second choice, Roach. I want you.”
Tingles started up deep in my core. “What about Kian?”
Vaughn trailed his fingertips around my clit before rubbing over it. “We don’t work.”
I tried to hold back the shiver his touched caused me. “You could if you tried again.”
He shook his head. “I want his forgiveness. I do. But I don’t think we can get back what we had. Not in the same way we had it in the beginning, anyway. Too much time has passed. There are too many hurt feelings.” He paused, gaze intent on me. “And then there’s you. There can’t be anything between Kian and me if having him means giving up you.”
I had no idea where I stood with him. “You and Kian had a good thing once, right? You and I? We kissed once. We aren’t anything.”
His brown-eyed gaze bored into mine. “Aren’t we? Say that looking into my eyes. Tell me there isn’t something here worth pursuing.”
I couldn’t say that. I’d called it attraction over and over again, but it was more. It was a pull to be near him. An urge to battle so we could make up. A desire to get beneath the front he put up and see the kindness he’d only shown glimpses of.
There was a good man in him. One he hid with arrogance and attitude.
But I didn’t think the apple fell too far from the tree. My mom had found a good one.
I suspected I had too, in the form of Bart’s son.
“There’s something between us,” I admitted.
Vaughn gave me an arrogant wink. “Told ya.”
I shook my head with a sigh. “You’re the most irritating person, Vaughn. Lick me some more so I don’t have to hear the rubbish that comes out of your mouth.”
“Thought you’d never ask.” His tongue flickered over my clit.
I lay back on the desk and took what he offered.
15
VAUGHN
I managed to convince Rebel to at least wait for the cover of darkness before she went handing out her flyers. But I was aware I probably only won that argument thanks to the fact she was a little tipsy and more agreeable after the oral-induced orgasm I’d given her.
Satisfied she wasn’t going to rush out and do anything crazier than her norm, I went to the pool and swam myself into oblivion, reliving her down on her knees in front of me while I plowed up and down the pool.
Best swim of my life.
I drove home from the aquatic center in a hoodie and a towel, flip-flops on, even though it was cold out. For as long as I’d been training, I’d always hated sticking my barely dried feet back into socks or Ugg boots like everyone else on the various swim teams I’d been a part of over the years.
It just begged for a case of tinea if you asked me.
Fungal foot infections aside, I loved everything else about swimming. From the fact it kept me fit and let me eat whatever I wanted. To the way my head cleared when I dove into the water. I’d always found clarity while staring at the black line on the bottom of the swimming pool.