AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here you go.” I handed her the drink.
“Okay, so when do we drink?”
Right fucking now.“Ah, how about any time he calls her the wrong name?”
“Yes, good. And also whenever one of the parents walks into a room where they’re about to kiss.”
“Okay, and also any time she does that sighing hair flip thing.”
“Then I’m going to get hammered.”
“The movie’s half over.”
“You hope,” she laughed as I settled back onto the couch, scooting over a bit so Addie’s feet could come back into my lap but she could still sit up enough to drink.
An hour later, the credits were rolling and my plan had completely backfired. Addie was tipsy and adorable, and was now snuggled into my side with her hands on my chest under the blanket. And I was as hard as an iron rod and in the midst of the most difficult struggle I’d ever faced as everything in me demanded I take her into my arms, kiss her senseless, and then haul her upstairs to my newly installed bed.
I was this close to doing it. But I couldn’t make the first move here. If Addie did, however, all bets were off.
“That was fun,” she said, her head just beneath my chin as I switched the television off. Her hair smelled like heaven, and having my arm around her was practically killing me, but I wouldn’t have removed it for the world. “I like the part where—”
Addie was interrupted by a screech so loud and otherworldly that we both stiffened and leapt from the couch. Addie hit the coffee table with her shin as she leapt up, and started to topple over it sideways, so I grabbed for her arm and pulled her to me again. This put us chest to chest, and resulted in her body being essentially pressed up against the length of mine.
I knew it the exact second she registered the length of iron in my sweat pants. Her whole body stiffened against me, and I realized how inappropriate it was. She was staring up at me, her eyes widening as my erection pressed shamelessly against her belly, and just as I was opening my mouth to apologize, she pressed herself against me—against it—harder, rolling gently.
The sensation was sheer torture. “Addie, I’m—“
I had no idea what I was planning to say. But it didn’t matter, because she didn’t give me a chance. Addie pressed herself against me and raised herself up until we were nearly eye to eye. Then she tipped her head back, her mouth opening as a little sigh escaped her.
I inclined my head, my body finally having had enough with my restraint and taking charge, leaving my logic and reason on the couch behind us. We were centimeters apart, but I couldn’t let myself do it, couldn’t allow myself to take her mouth with mine, no matter how many times I’d dreamed it.
And I didn’t have to. She closed the distance, her mouth slamming into mine roughly at first, and then settling into a firm pressure of her lips over mine, and then—oh holy mother of fuck—she opened her mouth and took my bottom lip between her teeth, letting out a little moan as she did it.
Whatever was left of my reserve snapped—there was that first move, after all—and I kissed her then, my mouth claiming hers and my tongue tasting every bit of her that I had access to. For long, delicious moments, we kissed, our mouths confirming that every desire I had for this woman was reciprocated, her hands grabbing at my ass, sliding up under my shirt, and suggesting she’d thought about me just as much as I’d thought about her.
Until she stopped, freezing in my arms and then wrenching herself away and turning her back on me.
“Shit,” I muttered, not understanding what had shifted, but knowing it wasn’t going to be good.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, still not facing me.
“That wasn’t for you to be sorry about,” I told her. “From where I’m standing, that was one hundred percent mutual.”
She shook her head, finally turning back around, and as soon as I saw her face I wished I hadn’t. Her lips were swollen and red from our kiss, her skin heated and pink, but her eyes—were so full of regret that I wished I could unsee her expression.
“I never meant to do that,” she said, wiping at her mouth as if she could wipe the kiss away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I let myself get carried away.”
She took two steps backward, and I felt the connection between us sever. There would be no going back, no way to salvage this night or this relationship. I should have known better. I didn’t know why, but I knew that one kiss had ruined everything.
“It’s no problem,” I said, dropping her gaze before something in me snapped in two. “My fault. I overstepped.”
“You didn’t,” she rushed the words out. “Michael, you didn’t. You didn’t read it wrong or do anything I didn’t want. This was my fault. It’s just,” she laughed here, a light quick sound that made me feel so very small. “It’s just that this isn’t my real life,” she said. “And I have no business leading you on or fooling myself about the possibility of staying here once the house is finished. I mean, we both know that. I don’t belong here.”
“Right.” Darkness clouded my mind. She was too good for this place, for me. I’d known that, so why did it hurt so much? I turned and headed for the stairs. “I’m gonna head up.” I couldn’t face her now, couldn’t bear to look at her. Of course this wasn’t her real life. Who the fuck was I, anyway? A deadbeat townie with unrealized dreams and a heart full of regrets. I wasn’t the guy a woman like Addie needed. And I’d known it all along. I was so angry I’d allowed myself to believe, even for a second, that it might be different.
“Okay, I, uh...” Addie stuttered from where she still stood, in the spot where we’d kissed like there would be no tomorrow. “I’m really sorry, Michael.”
“Yeah, you said that.” I threw the words over my shoulder, bitterness sweeping in to replace the desire I’d felt. Because if I couldn’t get a little bit angry about it, I was pretty sure my heart would break.
