Adore Me (Austin Singles 3)

“Morgan, you’re burning up.”

I OPENED AND closed my mouth while rubbing my jaw.

“Did you have to hit me so hard?” I asked, rubbing the soreness away and letting out a cough. I had finally just gotten my breath back from the sucker punch Nash landed on my stomach.

“You slept with my sister.”

Tucker leaned against his desk, arms folded across his chest and a smirk on his face.

“You appear to be enjoying this,” I spat out.

“Oh, I am. Don’t you worry, I am.”

Nash shook his hand and groaned. “Damn, your jaw is like granite, you asshole.”

Turning to him, I frowned. “I’m so sorry to have hurt your hand when you punched me.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay.”

I rolled my eyes and let out a deep exhale. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s just . . . I didn’t know how to tell you, and it all happened so damn fast. The way this whole thing started still has me in a tailspin.”

My gaze lifted to Tucker, and he nodded. I needed to tell Nash everything.

Nash sighed and said, “Then the best place to start is at the beginning.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and exhaled. “First, I need to go back to college.”

“College?” Nash asked, a confused expression on his face.

“When I told you I was leaving after graduating because of the night my mother died, it wasn’t exactly the full truth.”

“Okay.” Nash looked at Tucker then back to me.

“After my mother passed away, I was filled with so much anger and grief, and I vowed I would never let myself fall in love. I couldn’t stand the thought of my heart being ripped from my chest again. Then you brought Morgan to Tucker’s birthday party to introduce her to us.”

Nash leaned back in his chair. “You didn’t.”

“No, no. I would never do that. But the moment I met her . . . I don’t know how to explain it. It felt like she stole the air from the room. I was instantly attracted to her. Then we started talking, and for a quick minute, man, I thought she was attracted to me. Then she told me about Mike. I took her home, dropp

ed her off, and then couldn’t stop thinking about her. Whenever she came around, I wanted her even more. Fuck, I even started making plans to get her to fall for me and leave Mike.”

“What?” Nash said, leaning forward. “Jesus, Blake.”

I nodded. “I know. Then a week before graduation, I met Mike and saw Morgan with him. She looked happy. The way she smiled at him . . . it wasn’t how she smiled at me. I knew then that I needed to leave. I wouldn’t be able to see her with him every day.”

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me?”

With a small shrug, I replied, “I thought it was a fucking infatuation. She was the first woman who ever made me want to share something real. I figured if I left town and hooked up with a few random women in another city, I’d be able to forget about Morgan.”

Nash smiled. “Dude, you think I didn’t notice the way you looked at her when you came back to town? You think any of us didn’t notice?”

I stared at him and then Tucker, who nodded in agreement.

“You knew?”

“Not really, but I suspected you liked my sister. I just figured you thought she was cute, and that was it. I knew the day I saw the two of you together at Town Lake when we were running.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Well, shit.”