Page 78 of Becoming Us

His eyes locked with mine. “Why are you stopping again?”

Atty had a tell when he was angry. His face was so impassive it could seem like he was always in a bad mood, even though he rarely was. But right now? That tell was unmistakable. He was grinding his teeth.

“Because we can’t have sex,” I told him.

“Why not?”

I almost laughed at the petulance in his tone.

“Because we can’t. Not right now. It’s not right. We need to take a minute.”

“I don’t want that. I want you. We already talked about this. Why are you pushing me away?”

A million reasons why this wasn’t the right choice for us raced through my head, but his hard body—and cock—were still pressed against me. The animalistic part of my brain wasn’t on board with my resistance, so what came out of my mouth wasn’t exactlyideal.

“Because you’re too desperate for it.”

His eyes widened, pain flashing through them in an instant.

Oh,fuck. “No! That’s not what I meant. I take it back,” I said quickly, but he was already climbing off me and the bed, reaching for his shorts.

He pulled his clothes back on roughly. “You keep putting up this wall, Noah. I don’t fucking get you.”

“I did that before.” I dressed myself and followed him off the bed. “But I’m not right now. This isn’t a wall—it’s a boundary.”

“Were you lying when you said you wanted me?” There was so much hurt etched across his expression.

“Atty, I want to have sex with you more than I want to take my next breath.” I blocked his path before he could reach the door. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Then why? Because I’m being too easy? If you want me to play hard to get, you actually have to try to get it.”

That made me chuckle—another terrible decision.

His scowl was firmly in place and one hundred percent directed at me. “Don’t fucking laugh at me!”

“It’s nervous laughter, I swear. Just listen to me for a second.”

“No!” he snapped.

I stilled.

“I don’t want to listen to you. What I want to do is leave, because I’m fucking embarrassed and confused, and I don’t want this to turn into a fight again.”

It felt like someone had yanked the air out of my lungs.“It’s not a fight. I’m just… I’m shit at saying the right things sometimes, and today, I’m all messed up. Just sit for a second and I’ll explain?—”

“You’re messed up today?”

“Yeah—”

“So you talked to your mother, and everything goes to shit again?”

Fuck.

I lowered my voice. “No. Please just stay and talk to me.”

“No.” His tone was final. “I’m going to cool off.”

I let go of his arm.