“Is that what we were? A mistake?” Her eyelashes were tear-damp and spiky, but her voice didn’t waver.
“I don’t know what we were. I just knew I had to make Soteria a success. To finally do something to prove that I could take care of you.”
Anger flooded her cheeks. Not broken anymore. Avenging. “I didn’t need you to take care of me.”
Something cracked and splintered behind his ribs. “You think I didn’t know that? Of course, I knew that! Do you know how many sugar momma jokes I endured from your college friends? How it felt to have your dad look down his nose at me because of the calluses on my hands?”
“And that mattered more to you than how I felt?”
“Not more. But it mattered. What they thought was just one part of it—do you get that? It was about what I thought. I needed to prove to myself that I was responsible enough to show up for you in all the ways that mattered. That if we ever got married, or had kids, that I could be better than my con man, absentee-dad role model.”
Viv blanched at the confession, and Wes cursed himself. Jesus. Why were they even talking about this stuff? It was dead and long buried. Resurrection at this point wouldn’t revive anything but a slimy, rotting mess.
“Let me go.”
Wes looked down. He’d been so caught up in the moment that he was surprised to see he was still holding her hands against his chest. But when he obeyed the order, she didn’t call him an asshole and storm away like he deserved.
She took off her blouse.
“Viv...” He wasn’t sure if it was a warning or a plea.
And when her skirt hit the floor, he found he didn’t much care.
“I don’t want to fight anymore.” She reached behind her to unhook her bra.
That hum of awareness that had started yesterday in the elevator was back, arcing between them, charging up his cells. So fucking beautiful.
She slid her panties down her thighs, stepping out of them when they hit the floor. “I’m so tired of fighting.”
And just when Wes thought he couldn’t get any luckier, she reached out and his towel hit the floor. He had a moment to wonder at the power she wielded over him before it surged bright and hot, and she crushed her mouth to his, clutching at his shoulders as he yanked her up his body. Then she moaned into his mouth as she wrapped her legs around his waist and he was lost. The realization rang an alarm bell in his head.
He was too much like his mother, so desperate to escape reality, to trade everything for a moment’s pleasure.
Despite the need coursing through his body, and how good she felt pressed up against him, Wes forced himself to break the kiss.
Vivienne’s fingers tightened on his shoulders in protest. “Wes,” she breathed. “Please don’t stop.”
But she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were closed. Just like they’d been in the elevator. And on the dining room table.
Fucking to forget.
And the thought that she might be pretending he was someone else, even some former version of himself, was more than he could handle.
“Not like this.” The words scraped against his throat as he unhooked her ankles from around his hips and set her down.
“Not like what?” she asked. Her eyes were open now, wide with confusion as he stepped back from her.
“I just got out of jail.”
The slightest crease marred her forehead. “I know.”
“You know, but do you understand what that means? I’m not the same guy you used to screw in the bathroom at Señor Taco’s for kicks.” Wes dragged his hand through his hair. “Everything has changed, and we’re way past that. So if you want to fuck me, you’re going to have to do it with your eyes wide-open. Because I’m done pretending.”
Vivienne stared at him for a long time. So long that when she finally spoke, her words didn’t make sense in his brain. “Challenge accepted.”
“What?”
“Sit down, Wes.”
He obeyed, dropping his big frame onto the couch, watching in awe as she crawled on him, planting a knee on either side of his hips. When she’d settled, her breasts were at eye level, pretty pink nipples drawn tight, begging for his mouth. But before he could decide where to start, she curled a finger under his chin and angled his head higher.
“My eyes are up here,” she teased. “We haven’t even started yet, and you’re already breaking the rules. You sure you can handle this?” she asked.
A moment ago, he’d been positive he could. But then she reached between them, and his hips canted the second her hand made contact with his cock, and suddenly, he wasn’t so sure.
No one touched him like Viv. Literally. Figuratively.
God, she was beautiful.
He loved the way her eyes widened and her breath caught as she took him inside. The slow, sweet slide of her down the length of him was the most exquisite torture. No better feeling in the world.
And then she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and started to move and made a liar of him.
Wes ran his hands up her torso, palming her breasts, watching the pleasure ripple across her face as he flicked his thumb across her nipple.
Her mouth parted, and she ran her palms up the sides of his neck until she held his bearded jaw between her hands as she increased her pace.
The pressure was mind-blowing, and when he dropped his hands to her waist, he tried to remind himself that he was the one who’d wanted to
