concerned. I didn’t know when you got this and I’m not going to ask. Not right now, okay? Just know that you don’t have to hide it around me. All right?”
She nodded, but doubt and distrust poured into her brown eyes. Wanting to prove what I said was true, I bent my head as I turned her arm over and pressed my lips to the scar. A shudder rocked Avery.
“I’d just turned sixteen.” Her voice was quiet and terribly young. “That’s when I did it. I don’t know if I really meant to do it or if I just wanted someone to . . .” She shook her head. “It’s something I regret every day.”
“Sixteen?”
“I would never do anything like that again. I swear. I’m not the same person I was then.”
“I know.” I placed my arm on her leg, wanting to take away the distant, painful look that darkened her eyes. “Now it’s time to take your pants off.”
She blinked and then laughed. “Nice.”
I helped her stand. My shirt reached her knees and I think it looked better on her than me. When I reached for the button on her jeans, she smacked my hands away. “I think I can do that,” she said.
“Are you sure?” I teased. “Because I’m here at your service and taking your jeans off is something I feel I’d be exceptionally wonderful at.”
Her lips twitched. “I’m sure you would be. Put your hoodie back on.”
I leaned against the sink, stretching out my back. “I like when you look.”
“I remember.” She turned and wiggled her ass in the most enticing way, shedding her jeans.
Looking away, I snatched my hoodie off the floor. “You think you’ll be good out of the bathroom?”
“I hope so.”
Once I had her back in the living room, I found aspirin and grabbed another bottle of water. After she drank up, I sat on the couch and tugged gently on her arm. “Sit with me.” When she started to climb over my legs, I stopped her. “No. Sit with me.”
Confused, she shook her head. I leaned back and pulled her down. She was stiff as a dollar bill for about a second and then her body caved into my lap. I grabbed the quilt, tossing it over her bare legs.
“You should try to go to sleep.” I wrapped my arms around her waist as the TV cast flickering shadows across the room. “It’ll help in the morning.”
Shortcake let out a little sigh as she snuggled against my chest. “You’re not leaving?”
“Nope.”
“At all?”
Lowering my chin, I brushed my lips across her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here when you wake up, sweetheart. I promise.”
I woke the following morning the same way I had fallen asleep. Avery was still curled up in my lap, but she was awake now and she kept wiggling around. I groaned, tightening my arms around her as her hip pressed against my erection.
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s morning and you’re sitting on me. That’s a combination meant to bring any man down.”
I opened my eyes in time to see a flush sweep over Shortcake’s cheeks. I moved a hand to her hip, watching her sleepy expression through heavily hooded eyes.
“Do you want me to get off you?” she asked.
“Hell no.” I slid my other hand up her spine, threading my fingers through her soft hair. “Absolutely fucking not.”
She grinned. “Okay.”
“Finally, I think we’re actually agreeing on something.”
Tilting her head to the side, she studied me for a long moment. “Did last night really happen?”
I grinned. “Depends on what you think happened.”
“I took my shirt off for you?”
At the mention of that, my gaze dipped. The hardened tips of her breasts were nicely visible. “Yes. Lovely moment.”
“And you turned me down?”
My hand drifted to the side of her thigh. “Only because our first time together isn’t going to be when you’re drunk.”
“Our first time together?”
I grinned lazily. “Uh-huh.”
She turned a pretty shade of pink. “You’re really confident about there being a first time between us.”
“I am.” I leaned back against the cushion, watching her as I smoothed my hand up and down, from hip to thigh.
“We talked, right?” She glanced at her bare wrist. “I told you when I did this?”
“Yes.”
Her lashes lifted. “And you don’t think I’m a raving bitch?”
“Well . . .”
She pinned me with a dry-as-sand look.
I grinned as I moved my other hand up to the nape of her neck. “You want to know what I think?”
“Depends.”
I led her head down so that our lips almost touched. “I think we need to talk.”
“We do,” she whispered.
But the longer she sat in my lap, the less likely we were to talk. I gripped her hips and lifted her up, dropping her on the cushion beside me.
“I thought we needed to talk,” she asked as I stood.
“We do. I’ll be right back.”
Confusion poured into her expression.
“Just stay there, okay?” I started for the door. “Don’t move from that spot. Don’t think about anything. Just sit there and I’ll be right back.”
She rested her chin on the back of the couch. “Okay.”
“I mean it, don’t think about anything.” I opened the door. “Not the last couple of minutes or last night. Not the last month. Or what’s coming next. Just sit there.”
“All right,” she whispered. “I promise.”
I held her gaze for a moment and once I was sure she wasn’t going to lock herself in her bedroom, I hurried to my apartment. It was quiet inside, but there was a pair of heels next to the couch. Smiling, I quickly brushed my teeth and then grabbed the required items from the kitchen. Took me all of five minutes and when I returned to her apartment, she was where I left her.
Her gaze dropped to what I held in my hands and she smiled. “Eggs—you brought eggs.”
“And my skillet.” Using my hip, I nudged the door closed. “And I brushed my teeth.”
“You didn’t put a shirt on.”
I cast her a long look. “I know it would break your heart not to be able to see me shirtless.”
As I put the eggs on the counter, I heard a muffled squeak and turned toward the door. “Avery, what in the hell are you doing?”
“Nothing,” was the response.
I smiled to myself as I turned back to the counter. “Then get your ass in here.” When I heard her feet hit the floor, I frowned. “And don’t you dare change.” I paused. “Because I really like seeing you in my clothes.”
“Well, when you put it like that . . .” She appeared in the doorway.
“What?” I looked over my shoulder at her. “You missed my eggs that badly?”
She blinked slowly. “I didn’t think I’d have you in my kitchen making eggs again.”
Those words affected me more than she knew. I adjusted the controls on the stove. “You missed me
“Yes.”
I turned to her, running a hand through my hair. “I’ve missed you.”
Shortcake inhaled deeply. “I want to say I’m sorry for how I acted when you . . . well, when you saw my
