Sin With Me

29

It doesn’t help that they never found the bastard that ran into them. It was a hit-and-run.

It was the last part that made my blood run cold and bile rise up in my throat, hot and choking. Even after Chloe’s water broke and everyone rushed to the hospital, I sat frozen at the kitchen table, fighting the urge to vomit, blinded by horrible memories and wondering what the odds were that the woman I felt so drawn to had suffered that particular tragedy.

That old b***h karma again, stabbing me in the heart and laughing in my face.

A strong feeling of protectiveness comes over me. All I want to do is put my arms around Grace and tell her everything is going to be okay, but she’s not done talking yet.

She looks into my eyes. In a small voice, she says, “I could not remember you one day. We could start something and then . . . I could lose any recollection of it. You’d be a stranger. Do you understand?”

Like fingers interlacing, several things slowly come together and fit into place.

“You could fall in love with me and not remember it?” I whisper.

She swallows and nods.

Dumbfounded, I stare at her. “Holy fuck.”

Looking miserable, she nods again. She tries to pull away but I don’t let her. I put my arms around her and squeeze.

She resists for what feels like forever, stiff and uncomfortable in my arms, but then slowly she gives in. She melts against me with a sigh, tucks her face into the space between my neck and shoulder, and winds her arms around my waist.

We stand like that for a while, not talking, feeling the chaotic beating of each other’s hearts. Her hair smells like sunshine. She’s soft and warm against me, lush and feminine. My d**k is still wrestling for control with my brain, which is in a state of shock and is just sitting there lifelessly inside my skull like a big lump of cheese.

And suddenly I realize what a gift I’m being offered.

I can never right the wrongs of the past, no matter how desperately I might want to. But maybe those wrongs aren’t the end of the story. Maybe they’re only a new beginning.

If I’m going to do good by her, this is a f*****g fantastic place to start.

My voice gruff, I say, “I’m in.”

She pulls away and looks at me, a little furrow between her brows. “What?”

“I said I’m in. f**k it. If I can make you fall in love with me once, I can make you fall in love with me again and again. Every day if I have to.”

Grace blanches. “The Egosaurus rides again. I’m not in love with you!”

“But you will be,” I vow, looking at her dead-on. “Because I’m not gonna leave you any other choice.”

I plunge my hands into her hair, grip her head, pull her toward me, and fit my mouth against hers.

It’s like the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve and Christmas morning, all rolled into one.

Heat. Color. Noise. Fireworks behind my eyes. She moans into my mouth, digs her nails into my back, arches against me. I moan, too, f*****g her luscious mouth with my tongue, one hand behind her neck and the other roaming all over her body, learning her shape, the dip of her waist, the full, tight curve of her ass.

It’s greedy.

It’s scorching.

It’s everything.

If there were a Guinness World Record for the most amazing, mind-blowing, c**k-stiffening, heart-pounding, panty-melting, burn-down-the-house kiss, we’d win that motherfucker hands down.

We’re both breathing hard, desperate, mindless, lost. The kiss goes on and on, until I’m drunk on her. I’m flying. I’m melting. I’m—

Someone loudly clears his throat.

Stunned and reeling, Grace and I break apart.

Nico stands in the kitchen doorway with his hands on his hips, grinning like an i***t. “Hiya, kids,” he drawls. “What’re you two squirrels up to?”

Flushed and trembling, Grace lifts a hand to her lips. She lets out a short, astonished laugh and cuts her gaze to me.

I can’t talk, either. My mouth can’t form any coherent words. I just stand there, dumb as a rock, my mind blank, my shorts tented, staring at Grace like I’ve spent my entire life up to this point living in a dark cave, surviving on worms and insects, and she just walked in with candles and flowers and a big f*****g steak on a hot plate.

“Uh . . .”

Nico bursts out laughing.

“I’ll just go see what Kat’s up to.” Grace’s voice is high and shaky. She bolts from the room.

“Just wanted to let you know a few people are starting to show up.” Nico glances at the front of my shorts and chuckles. “So, uh, you might want to pull yourself together, brother.”

Shaken to my core, I sag against the counter, gripping it hard for support, and let out a ragged breath. “Jesus. Is that what it’s like for you with Kat? That feeling like you’re . . .”

“Free-falling?” Nico supplies when I can’t find the right word. “High flying? Completely out of control?”