Lover (Court University 4)

As if it didn’t mean everything.

He kept me in a gentle sway, studied the effect of those words. His lips parted. “I told her about those feelings, and yeah, I told her other things. How there were feelings directed toward her, too. In the past.”

In the past.

“She basically already knew, but those didn’t seem so significant,” he said, shaking his head. “Not, well, after the other thing. They were the main things, so the others weren’t significant.”

Why was he saying this? Voicing this to me. I swallowed. “Ramses—”

“You asked me about the change of heart.” He studied my eyes. “Why I changed.”

I had but hadn’t known what I asked. It wasn’t until after I’d voiced it, when it was too late, and it became this.

Ramses blinked so slow, and pulling me close, he eased my hair away from my eyes. “I’m tired of being the one who gets in my own way,” he said, his throat constricting. “I’ve done it for years. I avoid and don’t deal with shit.”

I did too, how we met and connected. It wasn’t unknown to either of us. “I—”

His mouth dropped down in a breath, a charged pulse as he forced my lips apart. I hadn’t tasted him since his friend’s wedding night.

And God.

God, how he tasted, how he felt and smelled. He gathered my face and tugged my lip between his teeth, no chance of escape. There was no place to run. There was only him and me.

My mouth burned with a bruising kiss, and though he took what he wanted, he didn’t stay long.

He retreated with another breath, husky as he dragged his thumb across my mouth. His digit came away red, his lips the same. My lipstick hadn’t held up.

“Now, I can say I did everything I could when it came to this, you and me.” He nodded. “That I acted with no regrets.” He looked up. “Just like I did when I bought this place.”

His words made me emotional. Like I actually wanted to cry. He wouldn’t let me be a regret.

“I want you to be my girl. My girlfriend.” He smiled a little. “Whatever you want to call it, I want it. And I know what you said—”

I hooked an arm around his neck, stealing his lips before he both said and did more things that scared me. I didn’t want him to be a regret. And though, he may be one in the morning…

He wouldn’t be one now.

I kissed him, hungry, angry. I was angry.

Why did he have to ruin things? Break me down.

I was so damn vulnerable with him, but clearly, I wasn’t at the same place he was. It was enough to be here and in this moment.

And at the present, it seemed like enough.

His hand slid down my leg and beneath my dress slit. I toed out of my heels and weaved my legs around his waist.

He growled, pressing his lips to mine, his hands hugging my ass. I tongued his lips apart, grinding my hips against him, and he eased me away.

“What?”

He grinned, sliding me down his hard body. My feet returned to the floor, and he hooked a finger beneath my chin. He tipped it up. “Brielle, look at me.”

I did, and how beautiful he was, features defined and angular. Lips bruised from my mouth and smeared red from our kiss. I wanted to kiss the fuck out of this man, taste him everywhere.

But for some reason he was keeping that from me. He peeled my hands off his chest, kissing the back of them.

“For once, don’t use this.” He touched a lengthy digit to my temple before pressing my hands back to his desk. He angled in. “I got it from here. Trust me to. Okay?”