Page 32 of Just One Spark

I sat on the couch, curling my legs underneath me.

He settled next to me, accepting the warm mug."Is this hot cocoa with the works?"

"The sweeter the better," I agreed.

He sipped the hot cocoa and sighed."It's good.Really good."

I rested my head against the cushions."I'm glad you like it."

He reached over and touched my stocking feet.

Everything inside me stilled.Was he touching me to comfort me, or was it a precursor to something else?I had to reel in my expectations, because he was not making a move.

"I like everything about you, Hattie."

I swallowed around the thickness in my throat."What are you saying?That we're friends?"

He set his mug down and then reached for mine, doing the same.Then he shifted so that he faced me."When I said you were my fiancée to the reporter, I had an ulterior motive."

"What are you talking about?"

"I always wondered why we stopped being friends."

"Oh, well—" I broke off, not sure what to tell him.The truth wasn't the right move.Not in this situation.

"I thought if we spent more time together, you'd confide in me, and I'd finally get closure.I always wondered what I'd done to ruin our friendship."

"You didn't do anything," I scrambled to assure him.

"Now I think it had something to do with your father.Maybe you just found out about his addiction and didn't want to involve me?"

I sighed."You always saw too much.I knew you'd know what was going on and start asking questions.You'd want to be involved."

"Of course I'd want to support you.Why was that a bad thing?"

"I'm sure it's not for most people.But I was ashamed.No one else I knew had a dad who came home drunk.I didn't even know where he was, when or if he was coming home some nights.It was scary."

He tugged me toward him, and I fell into his lap.I didn't want to talk about my dad or feel any of the familiar shame that was rising to the surface.Instead, I shifted so that I was straddling his hips, and his hand dived into my hair.

Everything felt like it was too much.I'd shared my most vulnerable feelings with him.I wanted to forget about it.

He was hard underneath me, and it ignited a deep burning desire that I didn't even know I had for him.I ground over him, and he pulled me down so that he could kiss me.

My lips parted on a gasp, and he took advantage, his tongue diving into my mouth.I couldn't seem to get close enough to him.And even with the cold air, I was hot.I broke away to pull the sweatshirt over my head, leaving me in a tank top.

His hands slipped under my shirt, and I lifted it to throw it somewhere.Now my breasts were bared to him, and he looked up at me as if he was awed that we were in this position."I didn't mean for this to happen tonight."

"But you wanted this.You want me."

"Yes," he said as I kissed him this time, wanting to hold onto the fact that he desired me.That he probably had for a while.I thought we were just friends, but maybe we were something more all along, and it took the fake relationship to bring us together again.

I didn't care about the specifics.I just wanted to feel him everywhere.He moved to suck on my nipple, and my fingers tangled in the hair at the back of his neck.His teeth scraped my breast, and I trembled.

His cock was growing longer and harder.I wanted to feel him.I scrambled off the couch and tugged on his sweats.He lifted his hips so that I could pull them down.Then he pulled the shirt over his head.

I settled on my knees, and he widened his legs to accommodate me.

"Hattie."My name was rough on his tongue, and I loved it.