Page 100 of People Like Us

My hands fell to his broad shoulders, bracing myself there. My breath sat waiting in my chest, even my lungs too afraid to move—too afraid to break the spell that kept him talking.

“I’ve thought about this stupid skirt every day since then. I wondered why you wore it, and why it bothered me so much. Until that night we went to see The Amen Thieves and you looked at me with the same god damned look you’re giving me right now. Then I forgot all about this stupid skirt, and that look started haunting me instead.”

“What look?” I breathed.

“Like you want all of me,” he ground out.

“Then why can’t I have you?” I pleaded.

He gave me a sad smile. “Because I think loving you and trying to give you a good life, and still disappointing you would be worse than just disappointing you by doing nothing at all.”

My heart sank, and I did with it. August fell back into the couch as I moved my knees on either side of him. I settled in his lap, straddling him, as my hands found his jaw. He swallowed tightly beneath my palm.

“Is that all?” I laughed, “You’re scared you’ll disappoint me?”

“Isn’t that enough to be scared of?” He asked hesitantly.

I shook my head, smiling now. “August, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re going to disappoint me. Probably more than once. And I’ll disappoint you too. There will be days that we can’t stand each other. Days that your condition, and my abandonment issues are going to butt heads and we’ll probably fight. Often. But I want that. I want it so bad it hurts.”

I leaned forward, pressing desperate kisses along his jaw. “I don’t want you temporarily. I don’t want you as my pool boy, or in second place. And I don’t want to run into you some place in the future and remember you as the only person I could ever be honest with. I want you as mine. Either here,” I pressed his hand to my heart again, “Or as a fucking ghost, August. I won’t have you any other way.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth. He leaned forward, and I leaned back. “Do not kiss me if you aren’t going to let me have you,” I warned.

August’s lips curled into a soft smile before he closed the gap. His lips pressed to mine, reverent and slow. He mumbled against my mouth gently, “You can have me for as long as I make you happy.”

I sank my weight fully into him then. His hands traced my sides until they reached the tops of my thighs, and then slid underneath my skirt. “Say you’re mine,” he begged. And I knew he wasn’t asking me to tell him, but the voices in his head.

“I’m yours. You cannot hurt me. Or contaminate me. Or curse me, August. I am better for being loved by you.” I said, punctuating each sentence with a kiss across the bridge of his nose where blush was spreading.

He pulled me closer at that, and the friction of his jeans through my panties sent a jolt of desire through me. A small moan escaped me against his skin, and I felt him smile against my throat.

“Hey, Sin?” he said softly, though I could hear the tender amusement lacing through it.

“Yeah?” I whispered back.

He rocked his hips upward as he said, “I think I’m ready now.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Imoved my hips in a slow circle as I dropped my mouth to his ear. “Ready for what, August?” I teased.

His hands trailed up my calves, before digging into the flesh of my ass and pulling me down harder against him. He craned his head back against the cushion and looked me in the eyes to say, “To fuck you the way you deserve.”

An intoxicating thrill went through me, heat gathering where I could feel his hard length straining against his jeans. August’s mouth was on mine instantly. He moved like his mind wasn’t holding him back for the first time. Teeth clashing, tongue darting between us as if all his restraint had vanished. I moaned into the feeling as I tugged his shirt over his head.

My fingers ran through that patch of blonde curls below his navel and up over his chest, splaying widely as if I could take all of him in just through my palm.

He shifted his hands from my ass to my sides, slipped my top up over my ribs, and his mouth found my bare breast the moment the fabric hit the floor. His rings and nails grazed my shoulder blades as he trailed hot kisses across my chest. “I want you so bad, Lola,” he rasped.

“I want you always,” I panted back.

In one quick motion, I was laying on my back, August hovering over me. He jerked my skirt down my legs, taking my panties along with it. His mouth was on me instantly, and my long coral nails tangled in his black curls as my body arched against him.

“Dear God,” he groaned.

“Are you praying to me again, August?” I taunted.

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. He dropped his warm breath against my center and plunged his tongue inside me, flicking with urgent speed at my entrance.