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“No, I don’t need an apology for any of it. If anything, I owe you one. I should have said no.”
She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “So you regret it.”
“No,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Then,why?—”
“Don’t. Let’s forget this conversation.”
“But—”
“Stella.”
“Alden,” she snapped. “We need to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Is there not? Because just this morning you said I didn’t know what I did to you.”
I sucked in a breath.I’d been sure she was still fast asleep, none the wiser of how much I wanted her.
“That was . . .”
She scoffed. “What? You have nothing to say to my face?”
I had nothinggoodto say to her face.
But she wasn’t going to let me get away with that.
“Well?”
She was challenging me in the way only she could, spice with a dash of vulnerability.
And I could never lie. Not seven years ago and certainly not now.
“I did say that.”
“So you want me. Physically, that is.”
The flames flickered, and I caught sight of her neck in the light. I had to rip my eyes away before I broke like last time.
“The world doesn’t end if you admit it,” she added.
Mine could, yet no lies could escape me. “You’re right. About me wanting you physically.”
Her eyes went back to the fire. “Then would you want to act on it?”
“What?” I asked. “Act on it as in ...”
“Be physical again. Nothing romantic. I just got out of a bad relationship, and you would never want one with me. So we can be casual.”
Casual.There was nothing casual about my feelings for her. They were all-consuming, infecting every inch of me.
“No,” I said.
Stella’s brow furrowed. “Why not?”
“Because you deserve something more than casual.”