“You’re a memory that will always make me think about good things, pretty girl. I’m not so sure you will be able to say the same thing about me.” His hand lifted and curled around the side of my throat. His thumb pressed against the line of my jaw so that I had to tilt my head back and look up at him. His eyes swirled with too many feelings to put names to but the lighter colors at the center lit up and I felt the warmth from that like a touch on every single part of my exposed skin. “Your Mr. Right will come along and you’ll forget about me but I will always, and I do mean always, remember every single second we spent together.”

I was going to give in to him because I was tired of trying to fight against something I wanted so desperately anyways. I had to have him, whatever part of himself he was willing to give me because I couldn’t not have it when he was the one offering it. Happy for now was all we were going to get and that was going to have to be enough. I was going to have to accept my own version of the fairy tale, including the ending that didn’t have me getting everything I wanted. There would be no cute story or shared smiles to hand down to my own kids because whatever and whoever came after Church wasn’t going to be the one my heart recognized as its own. There would never be any forgetting him, there would simply be loving him differently after he broke my heart. The poor, fractured thing would never work the same once he was done with it.

I lifted my hand up and circled his wrist. I smiled up at him and took a step closer. I felt my thighs clench and the center of my body throb the closer I got to him. His chest rose and fell, rubbing against the silky finish of the jersey and dragging the slick fabric across my puckered nipples.

He dipped his head and his extraordinarily long lashes dropped to shade his vibrant eyes. “I tried really hard to do the friend thing, Dixie. The second you put my dick in your mouth you made that impossible. I never wanted to let anyone else in, but every time I give you another piece of the past I feel you there … all the way in.”

His words send a fiery trail of delight zapping down my spine. I wanted to be in because he was all the way in with me. In under my skin. In, buried between each erratic beat of my heart. In deep within all the places that throbbed and ached at nothing more than the sound of his honeyed drawl. It hurt that he didn’t look thrilled about the fact I was getting to him the way he got to me, but I was all about taking what I could get when it came to him. “I want to make you smile. Focus on the good instead of the bad and remember how to smile, Church.”

I wanted that almost as much as I wanted him to love me back.

I let out a strangled yelp as one of his hands snaked around my back and slipped under the bottom of the jersey. His palm landed on a lot of naked ass as he jerked me to him, the front of his jeans digging into my stomach and letting me know he was ready, willing, able to make good on his promise to give me better than I ever had before.

“Give me something good to smile about and I’ll see what I can do for you, pretty girl.”

Challenge accepted.

I lifted up on my toes and planted my lips over his as his hand worked its way over my backside and up along my spine, taking his jersey with it. In a matter of seconds, I was naked in front of him and being devoured by his hungry gaze. He took a step towards me, which forced me to take a step back. He leered at me the entire time he advanced and I got the distinct feeling that I was being herded and hunted towards the exact spot where he wanted me. There was something infinitely arousing about being pursued by a man that you knew very rarely had to work for his prey. I liked the idea of being a challenge, especially considering how much work it had been for me to get even the smallest peek into those shadows that obscured who he really was.

The back of my knees hit the bed and down I went. Before I could catch my breath he was on his knees between my spread legs, using his wide shoulders as leverage to keep me open and exposed. He used his hands to pull me to the very edge of the bed and bent his head so that he could rub the scruff on his chin along the super sensitive skin of my inner thigh. It made me tingle. It made my core clench and my tummy muscles tighten. He was staring at me like he wanted to eat me up and couldn’t decide which part of me he wanted to put his mouth on first.

“You are without a doubt the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, Dixie.” He trailed a rough fingertip around the side of my knee and up the inside of my thigh until he reached the damp folds that were slick and glistening with anticipation. My entire body jolted at the light touch and I practically came up off the bed as that dangerous digit took a sudden detour and slipped inside my aching center. “And you feel like a fucking dream. So hot. So tight. So goddamn wet and ready for me. If I’d known you felt this good there’s no way I would have wasted my first shot at having you by fucking that smart mouth of yours. You’re good with your mouth but this pussy is as close to heaven as I’ve ever been.”

I blinked because I wasn’t used to hearing him say so much and I definitely wasn’t used to having him say such delightfully dirty things to me. The way his drawl dragged the words out and made them roll across my already overly stimulated skin had my hands curling in the covers and hips canting upwards chasing each syllable and breath.

“I liked having you in my mouth.” I was panting and breathing in a choppy rhythm that made talking hard. He added another finger to my now drenched opening and used the pad of his thumb to circle that little hidden nub of pleasure that was swollen and reaching for his attention.