Page 76 of Let's Be Forever

She doesn’t reply, and I don’t ever get a response because Maya arrives.

I want Anna to be happy and if having Maya live here is the reason for it, then she can live here for as long as she wants. But damnit to hell, bad fucking timing.

31

ANNA

“You’re avoiding me,”Sylas says as he maneuvers himself to stand beside me.

I side-eye him, then lift my gaze to the night sky. “Contrary to what you believe, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Some things really don’t change. You’re still the same egotistical, smug asshole who thinks he’s too important.”

He chuckles, propping his hands on the railing, close to mine. “You’re right, they don’t. I’m an asshole and you’re still a brat with a smart-ass mouth.”

I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, then roll my lips together to stop from smiling, but that doesn’t keep the laugh from tickling my throat. His pinky brushes mine and slips over it, rubbing my nail.

I know I should move. I know if I don’t, I’m contradicting everything I’ve asserted, but he was partially right four days ago when he said my body begs for him. Not just my body; every part of me.

“Look at us being consistent. I love that for us,” I quip, and pretend like I’m not on fire, that the shudder that zips down my body isn’t due to him rubbing the pad of his finger on my pinky.

“Why are you avoiding me?” I feel his eyes on the side of my face and his finger curl around mine.

“I’m not avoiding you.” I flit my gaze to the railing before shifting it up to him. “I’m just carving space out.” It’s comical to say that considering what he’s doing and how I’m simply letting him.

“There’s already too much of it.” He pulls me closer. “I hate it.”

It’s pathetic how my heart thunders at the proximity. “You’ve forgotten we’re not together. That is why there is the said space.”

“I’ve not forgotten.” His gaze descends to my mouth, and he lifts his free hand to cup my neck. I swallow as his thumb caresses the column of it. “I think about it every day.”

This isn’t the time to focus on his large hand—how I missed the feel of it against me, and how I want him to squeeze my throat.

He leans down, and the pads of his fingers dig faintly into my neck. My eyes flutter, and a noise threatens to work its way out from the back of my throat.

“Say the words and you know I’ll do it.” His mouth skims my ear. “Tell me what you want, what you need, and I’ll take care of it. I’ll take care of you.”

I squeeze my thighs together, grind my teeth, and attempt to steady my breathing, but his fingers dig deeper. I want him. My desire to have more of his skin against mine is fierce, my desperation intense. I almost cave as the pit in my stomach tightens and my nipples harden. But I’m able to hook back to reality and remind myself why I’ve been adding the space.

“I can take care of myself.” I wrap my hand around his wrist and shift his hand away. I keep my eyes on his face and not the erection I know is tenting his shorts. “Worry about taking care of yourself. Good night.”

Clementine enters the back room. Leaning a hip against the table, she folds her arms against her chest. “So are you going to tell me why you’ve been weird, or continue to be quiet?”

“I’m not being weird.” I box the malted coconut cake with mango yuzu curd that’ll be picked up in a few.

“Right, no, of course not,” she drawls. “You’re just quiet, huffing and puffing for no reason, and tense.”

When she puts it that way, I realize just how stiff my shoulders and neck are. I roll them a few times and tilt my head from side to side until it pops.

“I’m living with Sylas.” I turn, brushing my bangs away from my forehead. “It’s not easy being around him, and last night, I had this dream…” I rub my tired eyes, but they only grow heavier, and then my face heats.

“What kind of dream?” Her eyes light up, and a sly smile curls on her face. “Was it perverted?”

I shift on my feet and pick up my water, taking a long drink from it, but it does nothing to quench my thirst. “Trust you to think that.”

“Oh, shut up.” She playfully swats my arm. “Don’t act like that’s not what you insinuated.”

After I left the terrace, I went straight to bed. Rosie wanted to sleep with Maya, so it didn’t take long for me to drift off, and when I did, I had the filthiest dream.

In it, he was fucking me in every position, degrading me, choking me. I woke up in the middle of the night with my hand between my thighs. I should’ve stopped but instead I replayedthe dream, remembered how I rode his thigh, and fingered myself. But that didn’t feel enough, so I grabbed my vibrator, lay on my stomach, and came three times to the thought of Sylas.