The Trouble With Love: An Age Gap Romance (The Forbidden Love 1)

n that you can’t ever say you’ve never been attracted to an older man.”

I stare into his eyes, this jealousy turning back onto him. I throw my napkin down, crossing my arms in defiance.

“What exactly is your problem? Is it Will?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you’ve never mentioned him before, but he’s walking you to your dorm room when you’re dressed in something so—”

I push my chair out in a fit of rage. “Don’t you dare say what I think you’re going to say, Austin Carter!”

His expression doesn’t falter, almost as if he rolls his eyes.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you. I have done nothing but try to make us work. You, on the other hand, couldn’t care less,” I tell him brutally. “As for Will, he’s close to my dad. So, him walking me home was at the request of my father and not because anything is going on.”

“Right, so he’s besties with your dad? A great way to fuck the little princess, huh?”

I shake my head, not willing to put up with his mood swings for any longer. One minute we’re making sweet love, and the next, he’s putting me down and calling me a whore.

“If you came here to fuck me and make me feel cheap, then you’ve succeeded,” I tell him. “Goodbye, Austin. I guess fate doesn’t have a chance since you decided for both of us that we’re officially over.”

I bow my head, ignoring the curious eyes of the other patrons. Outside, the rain is heavy, the drops falling onto the pavement furiously. I throw my hood over my head and open my umbrella, walking though still getting wet.

So, this is what heartbreak feels like, the end of something that was once wonderful. It feels like concrete drying inside my chest—hard and pressing, restricting my ability to breathe. Behind my solemn eyes, tears linger. I try my best to hold it in, but much like the rain, it falls hard and unrelenting.

And perhaps my mom was right. A love so strong can cause a mountain of grief. I’m grieving for a boy turned man who I spent the last year with, someone who shared their hopes and dreams with me, as I had done, and who I had experienced so many firsts with during a transitional time in my life.

But most importantly, someone who I chose to give my virtue to, the greatest gift of all, which can never be taken back.

I enter my dorm room and stare at my bed we made love on earlier today.

I have to finally say goodbye. I fought for too long, and for what?

To end up just as I am now.

Heartbroken.

Fourteen

Will

Behind the door, inside the hotel room, she falls onto her knees at my command.

Closing my eyes, I focus on her tongue swirling around the tip of my cock, the flick of her tongue, and the build-up of her saliva around my shaft. Soft moans escape her red-stained lips as she alters between sucking me off and using her hand to get me to blow.

My entire body clenches as the grit of my teeth bite down on my jaw. Every single muscle is tense, and despite my dire need to come inside her mouth, something isn’t working.

Clear your goddamn head, Romano.

It’s been the week from hell, every single thing pushing me beyond my fucking limits. I fought more than I anticipated, embroiled in a legal case for a potential patent violation. Some small-time dickhead in Texas was claiming our new launch had been his original idea. The negative press followed, claiming the ‘big guns’ were trying to silence him.

Our company did nothing of the sort. I enlisted the help of only the best legal team, proving to him that our idea had been years in the making. The exercise itself was a waste of resources, all to prove a point to some company trying to embroil themselves in a scandal to gain press.

And then it continued. A deal almost falling through, our shares dropping, to a tech glitch in one of our major apps, forcing it to shut down and causing us to lose a hell of a lot of money.

All week, the persistent headache turned into a migraine each night. To alleviate some tension, I hit the gym even earlier, starting my days at three in the morning instead of four. Considering I go to bed at midnight and sometimes later, sleep has become close to non-existent.

Whatever the hell fucked with my mind to land myself in such a negative headspace should’ve disappeared when Alyssa got down on her knees and unzipped my pants. Alyssa, right? Or is it Alison? Fuck, you can’t even remember her name.

The echo of her hollow sucks pulls me out of my thoughts. Sure, she got me hard, but as I grab her hair, hoping for a spurt of desire to drive me home, I struggle to find the familiar feeling. My smartwatch begins to beep, prompting me that I need to be at an event downstairs in less than twenty minutes.