With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men 4)

“Ten?” Oh. Right. The double date. I winced, hoping Zoey had fared okay with Ten, since I obviously hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to keep him in line.

“You and Zoey both got plastered.”

My eyebrows crinkled. “We did?” Now that just sounded weird.

Cora started kissing her way down my chest. “Yep. And then you sang to me on the karaoke.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Then you danced with me until we came home and made love for the rest of the night. I’ve never seen you so insatiable before. It was like you just couldn’t get enough of me.”

I flushed, wishing I could remember that.

But then another flashing memory popped into my head. I’d been squeezing my eyes closed as I gasped for breath and pounded hard and without finesse into a woman. I’d been thinking about Zoey, though.

My gaze sprang guiltily to Cora. I’d been thinking about her roommate while I’d been inside her. That had to be the absolute worst thing I’d ever done. I wanted to apologize and beg her forgiveness, but no way did I want to actually confess to her what I’d done...or why I hadn’t been able to “get enough of her” last night.

Oh God. I think I needed to throw up.

“You were, like, the man I always knew you could be.” Cora rolled off me to curl against my side. Gazing lovingly at me, she kept running her hand up and down my chest.

I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t tell her. There was no point. It’d only hurt her, and I couldn’t take it back now. Wishing I could do something—anything—to make it up to Cora, I rolled toward her and nuzzled my nose into her neck, breathing in her scent and silently apologizing for picturing someone else while I should’ve been concentrating on nothing but her. She purred at my apologetic cuddling and clutched handfuls of my hair.

“So I’ve been thinking,” she murmured.

I rolled her onto her back and moved above her to trail the tip of my nose down the slope of her breast. This morning, I swore, I would have nothing but Cora on my mind, nothing but Cora in my heart. Whatever she wanted, I’d make sure she got it. “What’ve you been thinking?”

“You know the way Noel proposed to Aspen... It was kind of in public, and yet is was behind that bar and hidden behind all the girls sitting up there so no one else but our group could really see what was happening?”

“Yeah?” I said between batting my tongue against her nipple.

She arched under me and began to breathe hard as she petted my hair, encouraging me to continue.

“Okay, well, I was thinking, I’d want something even more public than that. I’d want everyone to see and know how much you loved and adored me.”

I deserted her nipple and lifted my face to stare into her eyes.

But had she just said...?

She grinned up at me and cupped my face. “As much as I want you again, baby, I don’t have time for another round this morning. I have to be out of here within the hour.”

I frowned. After what she’d just said to me, I was kind of hoping she’d want to spend the entire day together. I didn’t have class, practice, a game, or work...which was rare for me. I was ready to give her everything, especially after she’d just suggested that she wanted to marry me.

“Where do you have to go?” I asked, bewildered.

“Rachel demanded we go shopping.” She popped out of bed, but I just sat there, stumped, as I watched her slip on her underwear.

Then I sat up, running my hand through my hair, wondering how shopping with Rachel could be more important than me...after she’d just had the best night of her life with me and was mentioning proposals.

But she’d given me plenty to think about as she scooted me out the door ten minutes later. Marriage and proposals skipped through my brain.

Even as I thought about all that, I glanced around the apartment before leaving, hoping I’d catch a glimpse of Zoey. I wanted to ask how her night had gone and if her head was killing her as much as mine was killing me. But she was nowhere in sight. So I left without getting to talk to her.

I hid out in my bedroom for the rest of the weekend. After listening to Cora moaning Quinn’s name Saturday morning when I woke, I curled into a ball and cried.

My head was pounding, my mouth was beyond dry, and I needed to pee. But I refused to venture from my room until I’d heard both Quinn and Cora leave.

Once I was alone, I tried watching a little Psych on Netflix. But it reminded me too much of Quinn. When Shawn and Jules finally had their first kiss on the show, I started bawling all over again.