Page 68 of Yours to Keep

Just the thought had me hard as hell, imagining the sweat beading on her forehead as she writhed under my mouth, dangling right on the edge but not tipping over. I imagined sliding into the seat beside her right now, running my hand up and down her thigh under the table. She’d probably pretend not to notice, while in reality every nerve ending would be lighting up.

Bree was damn good at hiding how affected she was by me at times, but as soon as I touched her, she was always already soaked, her clit so swollen and needy. I bit back a groan at the memories of what it felt like to tease her, to slide my fingers between those silky, drenched folds until she was whimpering my name.

Shit, this is hell.

If my brain kept leading me down this path, bad things were going to happen. Things that would lead to me dragging her to someplace with a door that locked. Somewhere I could take my time reminding her what we were doing this for, why sneaking around felt dangerous and delicious instead of inconvenient.

“Sullivan?” a familiar voice said. “What are you doing in the cafeteria?”

I blinked and looked up to find my sister sliding into the chair across from me, both of her eyebrows arched.

“Hey, Liana,” I said. “It’s good to see you too.”

She glanced at my untouched croissant. “You never eat with the common folks.”

“Wow,” I said dryly. “We’re going straight into class warfare, huh?”

“You hate it down here,” she said. “So why, exactly, did you come?”

I haven’t come. That’s the fucking problem.

Instead of taking my frustration out on my sister, however, I took a sip of coffee to buy myself a second, but my gaze drifted back to Bree. “I wanted caffeine.”

Liana followed my line of sight without missing a beat, her mouth curving into a sly smile. “Ah. I see.”

“We don’t have to talk about it,” I said. “Not after what you just went through.”

She waved me off. “Actually, I’m mostly fine, so let’s talk about it.”

I looked at her a little more closely then, realizing that she did, in fact, look better. Lighter. She still seemed tired, but not brittle the way she’d looked before the wedding. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said without even taking a second to think about it. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still mad, but I’m mostly just relieved.”

Surprise flared through me. “Relieved?”

“I dodged a bullet,” she said plainly. “A big one. Despite all my doubts, I just didn’t have the courage to pull the trigger myself. So thank you.”

My jaw tightened. “I didn’t call it off. He did.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t lie for him, or try to cover it up or to soften the blow. You pulled back the curtain and showed me exactly who he was.”

I exhaled slowly. “I should’ve said something sooner.”

She shook her head. “No. You trusted me to make my own choice. I just wish I’d trusted myself. I should’ve listened to my gut, but at some point, we were just so far in that I didn’t know how to get out.”

She leaned back in her chair, studying me as another smile spread on her lips. “You look distracted.”

“We’re at work,” I said. “It’s an occupational hazard to be distracted by one’s actual occupation.”

She smirked. “Sure, that’s what it is.”

Across the room, Bree stood up with her tray in hand. Our eyes met for half a second, nothing more, and she gave me exactly one glance, just the tiniest of curves appearing on her mouth before she turned away, but my body reacted like she’d tased me.

Once again, I felt like a puppy, willing to sit up and beg for any scraps she sent my way. It had just been a glance and not even half a smile, yet my heart was thudding, my chest—and my pants—suddenly too tight.

Liana followed my gaze again. “I’m glad I stuck around instead of going on my trip straight away. This is pretty damn entertaining.”

I watched Bree disappear through the doors, the ache in my body sharpening instead of easing. Having her close was torture. Having her at all was going to ruin me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.