Page 84 of The Moments You Were Mine

“You need sleep,” I told her softly.

Her throat bobbed, and for a moment, I thought she was going to cry again. “I do. But I also need to see my team. I’ll have them come here for a quick meeting, then I’ll rest.”

My teeth slid together, and the force of the grinding shot pain through my jaw.

“I need my phone, Parker.”

I debated, but having her agree to stay here was better than her running down the hill. I withdrew it from my pocket and handed it over.

She spent a few moments texting and then put the phone down.

“I have an hour. I’m going to wash the dirt and hospital scent off me,” she said.

This time, when she stood, she did it slowly, giving herself time to adjust. While I didn’t argue with her, I did follow her down the hall. Inside her room, she looked over her shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t crash and burn.”

She stepped slowly into the walk-in closet and returned with a stack of clothes before heading for the bathroom. When I followed her to that door too, she turned around, and the first sign of a smile crept over her face.

“You coming inside? Going to watch me strip? Maybe get in the shower with me? Wash my hair?”

Those were all the wrong words for her to say, because I wanted to do just that. See her naked. Watch the water pour over her slopes and valleys. Push her up against the tiled wall and take what was mine. Even knowing that couldn’t happen today, it didn’t stop my body from reacting.

I stepped closer instead of away as she’d expected, and her nostrils flared. I put one hand on her waist and pulled her so our hips touched, and that same damn electricity that always found us lit me up.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t curse it. I rejoiced in it. All of it. The heat. The absolute need. My hand went to her chin, capturing it and letting my thumb glide over her lower lip.

“Showering together will have to wait for another day.” Desire leaked into every word.

She stared at me for a moment before nipping at my thumb, and my body went up in flames. “Don’t make promises you won’t keep, Frogman.”

I lowered my mouth until our lips were almost brushing. “We will be showering together, Fallon. That isn’t a promise. It’s a fact. Get used to it. But it won’t be when you can barely stand and have employees showing up. It’s going to be when I can take my damn time, when I can have you up against the tile, and on the damn floor, and on all fours in the bed.”

A tremor went through her, and her eyes slammed shut. She inhaled and exhaled deeply. Then she pushed me away and pulled the door partially shut. When she looked at me again, the desolation had returned to those honeyed eyes. “Unfortunately, Park, I think that ship has sailed. You were right all along. It’s better if we’re just friends.”

I was so stunned, so fucking knocked sideways, I simply stood there while she shut the door in my face. I stared at the wood for far too long, processing her words. After the kiss on the field, she’d insisted it wouldn’t be the last one.

What had changed?

What had happened at the hospital? What had the doctor said? Did she tell Fallon she had some goddamn disease? Something permanent? Something that would put that despair in her eyes?

I turned the handle to find she hadn’t locked it. When I walked in, she yelped, covering her bra and panty-clad body with one hand and reaching for the sink to steady herself with the other. It shouldn’t have been any different than seeing her in a bikini, which I’d done more times than I could count, and yet it was different, because I’d dropped the barrier I’d always held up between us. Now, I wanted to do more than look. I wanted to touch every single inch of her. I wanted to know, not just where she was ticklish, but every spot that turned her on.

I stalked over to her, careless with her in a way I shouldn’t have been as I cupped her neck, tipped her chin, and devoured her mouth. This kiss wasn’t like the one on the field. This was angry and frustrated and full of promise. I would have her. She would be mine. She was already fucking mine. She’d been mine for more years than I could count. Just as I’d always been hers.I’d always known it deep inside me, even when I’d denied it. Denied her.

No more.

I plundered her mouth with an intensity that had her gasping and clinging to my arms. I held her steady and let the tidal wave consume us. Drowning in the emotions. Sweeping us into unsteady seas.

It took more willpower than I’d ever used before to stop myself. To step back.

For a brief moment, I regretted it, until I saw the desolation on her face had disappeared, and in its place desire and lust burned.

“Our ship hasn’t sailed, Ducky. And when it does, we’ll be on it. Together.”

Her mouth popped open.