Page 28 of Taste of Surrender

I turned slightly and brushed my fingers against his cheek. I was seconds away from kissing him, but then I heard Jesse yell, “Malachi! Where did you go? We’re going out for steak and lobster to celebrate!”

With a heavy sigh, I stood. “I better slip out before your brother finds me in here.”

“Guess I need to get dressed for dinner too.”

“Yeah. We can talk more tonight, okay?”

“What is there to talk about?” His gaze finally lifted to mine. “We’ll just have to see what happens, right?”

“Right.” I blew out a breath.

“But no matter what, I’ll miss you.”

I reached for him, making him stand, and wrapping my arms around him. “I’ll miss you too.”

Without another thought, I kissed him so he knew I meant it.

7

Jasper

“What are you doing here?”I twisted the lock on my bedroom door, locking us inside.

Malachi stood from where he had been sitting on the edge of my bed and stalked toward me. “Your window was unlocked, and I needed to see you one more time before I leave tomorrow.”

The weeks since the guys found out they were headed to LA had passed so fast, Malachi and I had hardly had a moment to ourselves. And when we had been together, we’d both avoided talking about what his leaving meant for us. Deep down, I knew we really had no future. Our lives were headed in different directions, but that didn’t mean my feelings for him hadn’t grown stronger over the last few months while we’d been sneaking around.

“You’re lucky Jesse isn’t here.”

“He told me he was going to the gym, so I knew it was safe.”

“I can’t believe this is the last time I’m going to see you for a while.” I cupped the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

“I can’t believe it either,” he said against my lips. “I didn’t expect it to be so hard to say goodbye.”

Slowly, I walked us back toward my bed, and we tumbled onto the mattress when his knees hit the edge. Straddling his thighs, I reached for the button of his jeans. I wanted nothing more than to be with him one more time.

We were lyingbreathless on my bed when someone tried to open my door, but it wouldn’t budge since it was locked.

Jesse knocked. “Jasper, open up?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I grumbled, and then said louder, “What do you want?”

“Did you forget we were supposed to go get pizza tonight?”

Yeah, I had forgotten, even though I’d been excited a couple of days ago when we planned to spend a littlebrother timetogether before he left.

“I remembered,” I lied. “Just give me a sec.”

Malachi climbed out of bed and threw on his clothes.

“I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I sighed.

“Me too, but you should go have fun with Jesse,” he whispered and headed to the window.

Before he climbed out, I pressed my lips to his one final time. “Good luck in LA.”

I may have wanted more time with him, but maybe this was the perfect way to say goodbye. We had gotten some time together without another depressing conversation about this being the end for us. Our situation, whatever it was, had always been temporary and now it was over. But that didn’t mean my heart wasn’t breaking knowing we’d never share these moments again.