Page 128 of Nothing to Tell

Fuck.Fuck.

“Sweet,” his voice again, right on the other side of the door.“Baby, I’m sorry.”

No.Her head shook as she went back to the door and rested her forehead against it.

“You did nothing wrong,” she whispered.“Wedid that.”

“We wanted it.”That he could hear her was some reassurance.Weakness surrendered her weight to the door.“We did nothing wrong.It’s not wrong to want this.”

“What we want has to be smart.”

This was messy.Too messy.They’d been lucky to free themselves the first time.What were they thinking repeating history’s mistake?

“Baby, being with you—”

“Don’t make it worse,” she said, her hand rising to slap down though with barely any force.“Don’t use words.”

“If you open the door, I wouldn’t need words.”

Yeah, okay.Did he have to say that?In that tone?With that… Oh, her stomach flipped.The solid door between them made no difference.Hormones communicated without words or actions, pheromones breached the physical to consume her spirit.

Her body still vibrated with the climax he’d driven into her, out of her, in and out and—stop.Stop it.All the thoughts she’d pushed down—deep, deep down—were threatening to spill out.Some sort of peace shook within her, trapped and surrounded by quaking barbs threatening to keep it from freedom.

Keep her from freedom.

“We’re supposed to be friends.Friends don’t do that.”Not the kind of friends they were at any rate.“We can’t let this happen again.”

Because he had no idea.Talking to Carolyn and Keely, telling them she and Bastian were over, was difficult.Nowhere near as hard as it had been to walk into his office and play it like losing him was no big deal.That couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Sweet—”

“We can’t,” she said.Except how could they stop it?They never planned to have sex, it wasn’t like they talked about it.It happened all on its own.“It’s lazy.It only happened because we were both there.”

In a bed.In the almost dark.A man.A woman.What else did they expect?It was a foregone conclusion, biology, lizard brain and all that… Good try.Chemistry couldn’t be faked.Bastian was the only trigger.She’d be able to lie in bed with any other man and avoid getting intimate.

“It meant something to me.”

Damn, now she wanted the sexy voice back.The disappointment laced through those words was almost enough to break her heart.She hadn’t meant to let him down.It was a kiss.He’d kissed her.Okay, so it was more than a friend kiss, but she’d been the one to mount him.God, he was right to be disappointed.

“Do you want me to move out?”

“I want you to open the door,” he said.“Sweet…”

The sexy voice was back.“That’s dangerous.”

“I’d never hurt you.”

Her sharp inhale came before her jaw dropped.On a step back, she grabbed for the door handle.Lock released, it opened and… there he stood, in the dark hall, on the other side of her threshold.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“In any way,” he said.With one sure step, he cradled her jaw with both hands.“I’d never hurt you in any way.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” she said, guiding his wrists downward to free her face.He’d held her like that in his bed right before… “We act too much on instinct.”

He wouldn’t let go of her hand, so linked their fingers instead.“What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s not that easy,” she whispered, emotion suddenly welling on her lower lashes.“We haven’t known each other long, I know, but being without you… If you hadn’t shown up at my dad’s party…”