Page 29 of Playing Pretend

“What if I said no?” I asked, willing my sensible side to negotiate her way out of this. It would have been better to stay with Caleb until I could find another place, but I wasn’t sure I could stay with him much longer and not get attached.

That’s if I wasn’t already.

“You don’t get a choice.”

I huffed, aware that my breasts brushed against his chest with the movement. His pupils dilated, but only slightly, and I hated how unaffected he was by me, while I was on the verge of dry-humping his thigh.

“What if you get tired of me? Will you expect me to just pack up and leave when you say so?”

Caleb pursed his lips, his eyes remaining fixed on my face. “If it ever gets to that, we’ll talk about it, but I would never leave you high and dry.”

No, he definitely didn’t leave me dry.

Jesus, Kadence.

“What?” he asked, his brows drawing in.

My eyes widened.

“What?” I repeated. “I didn’t say anything.”

“You said ‘Jesus, Kadence’.”

“Did I?”

“What were you thinking about?”

I looked down at Caleb’s mouth, and when my gaze shot back up, I knew the exact moment he’d caught me.

“I don’t think -” that’s as far as the words made it before Caleb crashed his mouth to mine. He pressed me into the metal of the car, the heat resonating down my back from the remnants of the late evening sun. He slipped his tongue between my lips, and if I moaned, it wasn’t consciously done. My nails dug into his biceps, and I tried to ground myself, convince myself we should stop before we got carried away, but my common sense kidnapped my logic, and skipped town for a long weekend.

Where did that leave me?

Up shit creek without a paddle.

I had no control over my reaction to that kiss, not when my tongue tentatively explored Caleb’s, and not when my nipples pebbled beneath the lace of my bra. If Caleb were to reach between my legs, he’d find my panties damp, and on the verge of self-combusting.

Like me.

I was also on the precipice of that fire, and the harder Caleb kissed me, the more he took, the bigger those flames grew and grew and grew.

I was mindless, so much so that when he pushed himself away without warning, it took me a few seconds to come to. I was panting, he was panting, and we both stared at each other like we had no idea who the other person was. But I knew exactly who he was, the same man I’d given my first kiss to on that rooftop years ago.

“I’m sorry,” he exhaled harshly, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Just like I said.

Same man.

My lips pulsed beneath my fingertips, and I wanted to tell him it was okay, but it wasn’t. I felt his want, and yet he was still going to play it off like a mistake, a lapse in judgment.

Well, if that’s how he saw me, there was nothing I could do to change it.

I squeezed my eyes closed, took a deep breath, and walked around to the passenger side. I ignored Caleb when he called out to me, and when he asked me if I was okay in the car. I didn’t want to talk to him, especially when my own judgment was so deficient, and as soon as we arrived back at his penthouse, I disappeared into the guest bedroom, and lost myself in the giant claw foot tub.