Dynasty (Boys of Winter 1)

“I …” I stare up at him, unable to figure out why this means so much to me, especially since I’d already kind of worked it out. “And did you? Find him and beat him to a pulp, I mean?”

Carver holds up his hand to show me his split knuckles, and I instantly take it in my hands, holding it tight as though he holds every last answer to every damn question I’ve ever asked. “That’s where we’ve been all afternoon,” he tells me, looking deep into my eyes as though he can see right through to my soul. “There’s something about you, Winter. I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Something settles within my chest and I find myself dipping my lips to his hand and pressing a feather-soft kiss to his broken knuckles.

We stand in comfortable silence for a long minute, neither of us willing to move until Carver finally tugs his hand out of my grasp. “Come on,” he tells me, walking over to his bed and peeling back the sheets. “Just lie here with me tonight, and I promise, in the morning, everything can go back to how it usually is. I’m not ready to watch you walk out that door.”

And with those words, I walk across his room, slip out of my jeans, and slide in between his sheets, allowing him to pull me into his arms and feel his strong body pressed up behind mine until we’re both falling into a deep and confused sleep.

CHAPTER 14

The sound of a door slamming inside the house has my eyes springing open and I realize that I’ve been asleep in Carver’s bed all night.

What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m screwing his friend, flirting with another, and now this? Why do I insist on making things complicated for myself? I shouldn’t have stayed tonight. In fact, I shouldn’t have come here at all. How stupid could I be? All I’ve managed to do is ask a question that only made things harder between us, all because now there’s no going back. Carver said the one thing he shouldn’t have said out loud, making me realize that maybe I don’t hate him at all, and now he can’t take it back. The words are out there, and now I feel more confused than ever.

Does he hate me, or am I something so much more? Either way, I need to not be here when he wakes up.

His body has been pressed against mine for most of the night, with his arm curled around my waist, his hand securely cupping my left tit, and his cock against my ass. I take hold of his arm and gently raise it before slipping out from under it and all but rolling out of his bed, silently wishing that, come morning, everything that happened here tonight will be forgotten. Or at least we can pretend because the feelings that sat in the air between us tonight were far too strong and intense for me to handle.

Why can’t things be easy like it is with King? It’s all about sex. It’s fun, raw, and exciting, and when we’re not screwing, we secretly get to pretend that we hate each other’s guts. It’s perfect. What more could a woman want? Though with Cruz, I get to bat my eyelashes and make him squirm and I can’t deny that the more I see him, the more I’m intrigued about what he’d be like between the sheets. Fuck it, I’ve thought about all four of them between the sheets, and damn it, I know I’d never be lucky enough to get to experience something like that.

Wanting to get out of here as soon as possible, I pull my jeans straight on, cringing as the bottom of them is still damp against my legs. I can’t help but glance back at Carver sound asleep in his bed. I’d give anything to be able to stay here all night and have things be absolutely perfect between us in the morning, but when it comes to Carver, a reality like that isn’t possible. That’s not who we are, and our relationship is nowhere near being able to withstand something like that. We’d burn it to the ground before we even gave it a chance.

Realizing that the bang that woke me must have been the three guys getting home, I sneak out of Carver’s room like a mouse trying to make its way through a hungry lions’ den. I make it to the stairs and take a shaky breath realizing that once I hit the stairs, I have to go fast. There’s nowhere to hide and if one of the guys sees me, it’s game over.

I run.

I nearly fall down the freaking stairs and only just save myself by gripping onto the banister and then easily propelling myself the rest of the way down. I get to the bottom and throw myself behind a massive pillar to give myself a second to calm my racing heart.