Page 33 of A Smile Full of Lies (Secrets of Stonewood #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Three

ROS

I woke up wrapped in the scent of him.

Cedarwood, leather, citrus, and sin.

Knox’s sheets were tangled around my bare legs, his pillow cradling the side of my face, his body still radiating heat as he slept beside me. My body felt boneless, sated, and heavy, like I’d been fucked into another dimension.

Probably because I had been.

My lips were swollen. My thighs ached. My hips still carried the bruises of his grip, but none of that compared to what I felt in my chest. The ache there was deeper, hotter, and more dangerous.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’d told myself it would be easy. A casual arrangement. Neighbors with benefits. No strings, no expectations. Just relief from the tension crackling between us like a live wire. Just one night to take the edge off.

But last night wasn’t casual. Not the way he touched me. Not the way he looked at me. I felt it in every stroke of his hands, every brush of his mouth, every dark command that made my body obey him before my brain could catch up.

I’d never felt anything like it, and that terrified me.

I slipped out of bed as quietly as I could, careful not to disturb him. My knees wobbled slightly when my feet hit the floor. I found his hoodie on the end of the bed and pulled it over my head, letting it swallow me whole.

I didn’t look back at him. I couldn’t, because if I did, I might not be able to leave. And I needed to breathe — just for a minute — before I drowned in everything I was starting to feel.

I padded into the kitchen and busied myself with making coffee, just to give myself something to do.

The coffee pot burbled behind me, the scent rich and bitter, but I didn’t reach for a cup. I sat at the kitchen island, Knox’s hoodie swallowing my frame, sleeves tugged down over my hands like they might protect me from the fire in my chest.

His kitchen was quiet, comfortable, and domestic in a way that made my throat ache. A pot from last night’s dinner still sat on the stove, rinsed and waiting. A few of his sketchbooks were stacked on the far counter. The morning light filtered soft and golden through the windows.

It felt like home, but I was unraveling.

My phone sat face-up on the island, where I’d abandoned it last night.

I opened my DMs with Nox Obscura and reread them, then went back over that goddamn phone call with him in my mind.

All of it. The filth. The bait. The game.

The way I’d let him pull confession after confession out of me like he owned the truth, and I was just his play pretty, to toy with and peel open as he pleased.

Nox Obscura could ruin my entire life with a single screenshot or phone call. He could destroy the fragile thing Knox and I were building, before it even had a chance to take root. But the truth was… I didn’t care. Not anymore.

I took a slow breath and typed out a message to him.

Midnight Rose

Whatever business you think you have with me is finished.

My hands were shaking, but I kept typing.

Midnight Rose

You win, okay? You win. I came for you. I wanted it. I got off on it. But it’s over and done.

I stared at the screen for a long moment. My thumbs hovered. Then I hit send and kept going.

Midnight Rose

I have feelings for Knox. Real ones. And if you want to be a petty piece of shit and tell him everything you pulled out of me during your little game yesterday, go ahead. I’m done living in fear of what it might cost me to admit what I really want.

My chest ached.

Midnight Rose

I choose him, come what may. If there are consequences… if you’re going to punish me for it, then so be it.

And I meant it. God help me, I fucking meant it.

The moment I hit send, I dropped the phone back on the counter like it had burned me. Like maybe if I put it down fast enough, I could pretend I hadn’t just handed over every piece of my heart to the worst possible person to hold it hostage.

But the truth had been clawing at the inside of my ribs since last night. I couldn’t bury it anymore. I didn’t want to.

I’d told myself it would be casual, that Knox and I could slip into something temporary, physical, and neighborly. No strings, no damage, no risk.

But there was nothing casual about the way he’d kissed me. Nothing simple about the way he’d held me after, one big hand splayed protectively across my ribs like he was anchoring me to the moment. There was no mistaking the way he looked at me like I was something sacred, something chosen.

And that scared the shit out of me.

Because I’d loved someone before. I’d given my whole heart to Thayer once, when I was young and stupid enough to think forever was a guarantee. And he’d burned me for it. He ended things publicly and worse, cruelly.

So even now, with Knox’s scent still clinging to my skin and his hoodie swallowing me whole, I could feel the ghost of that betrayal lurking under the surface.

But Knox wasn’t Thayer. He never had been. He was darker. Quieter. More dangerous in every possible way.

And last night? He’d touched me like I was his. Fucked me like it mattered.

Whatever we were doing, it wasn’t neighbors-with-benefits.

I knew it, deep down in my bones. And I suspected Knox did, too.

Which meant nothing was ever going to be simple again.

I went and got myself a cup of that coffee, and sat down again, staring into the distance, my mind full of Knox, of last night, of the terrifying unknown that faced me.

I was still sitting at the kitchen island, staring into my half-finished cup of coffee like it held answers, when I heard the soft creak of the hallway floorboards.

I didn’t need to look up to know it was Knox.