Page 30 of Lust

“Fine,” I complied.

One of Tris’ rare smiles dazzled his face. It’s a shame he did it so seldomly because it could stop any woman's heart.

“Thank you, Angel. I’ll be back before you know it.” Before I could respond, he brushed his lips to my forehead.

I thought he’d pull away immediately, but his lips lingered. I stood there complacent, aware that my heart rate had picked up at an alarming rate. He was so much taller than me that I was eye-level with his broad chest. My distracted gaze trailed from his hard chest to the muscular forearms with defined veins. Other than porn, I had never so languidly inspected a male body, and yet he surpassed all those videos to mimic that of a male model. It wasn’t just the sheer size of his six-feet-three frame that screamed all-male, but also the rugged build and rigid lines.

When I tilted my head, my gaze carelessly landed on his lips next. My mouth dried at the way they parted, his breath quickening against mine. A surge of unwavering shivers curled around my spine, despite the air conditioning in my room being turned off. I shivered again, and two irrationally hard nipples stood to attention.

Disgusted with myself, I crossed my arms over my chest to hide the evidence.

Ridiculous! My hormones were absolutely absurd and entirely out of control. Who acted this way around their family? Before I could further scold myself, Tristan turned on his heels and walked out without another word.

For several moments, I stood there, motionless. “Bye, Tris,” I finally said to the empty room.

Shaking my head, I forced myself into the bathroom for a shower. What the fuck was wrong with me today?

After a long shower to wash away my sinful thoughts, I pulled on a robe when it was Mom’s turn to run into my room.

“You have a visitor!” she gushed.

Mom’s enthusiasm was infectious but misdirected at the wrong offspring. “Do you mean Tristan has a visitor? They’d be disappointed because he already left,” I said, feeling a tad bit disappointed about it myself.

“No,youhave a visitor. It’s that handsome cop, Tobias.” She put both of her hands next to her lips as if announcing our impending engagement.

I jolted. “W-What? Why is he here?”

“Well, it’s certainly not to see me.”

I narrowed my eyes.

No doubt Mom was behind this, just like last night. Undeterred by my misfortunes, an ever-so-optimistic Mary Marcolf wanted nothing more than to set me up with a good-looking boy.

Unfortunately for her, I cared about Tobias and couldn’t let that happen.

“Tell him I’m not here.”

“Sara—”

“Please, Mom.”

“Sara, there is a beautiful boy downstairs, the one everyone saw you dancing with last night. All he wants to do is talk to you. The house isn’t going to fall on him if you agree.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I argued.

Mom huffed and started riffling through my closet. She settled on a backless white summer dress. “Here. Change into this.”

“Oh, God. You are basically pimping me out.”

“Yes. And I don’t care. At the rate Tristan is going, I’ll never see grandkids. You’re my last hope.”

“Guilt trip doesn’t work on me.”

“Worth a shot.” She shrugged.

“Tristan doesn’t want me hanging out with that cop,” I argued again.

“He doesn’t want you hanging out with anyone,” she countered. “Downstairs. Five minutes.”