by Tessa Bailey
She smiled, supremely satisfied with herself. “I might have to agree.” Her fingers rested on the hard plane of his stomach, tapping lightly.
His voice rumbled over the air. “I’m going to miss this.”
Her satiated smile slipped at the drop of his words.
Why the hell had he gone and said that?
Did he find it necessary to remind her that this wasn’t permanent? That it couldn’t be lasting? She hesitated for a moment before pulling away. Without looking at him, she snatched up her top and pulled it over her head, not bothering with a bra.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She looked at his face, not quite meeting his eyes. “Nothing.” As she slipped on her panties, her gaze grazed over him on her couch. Every gorgeous inch of him that wasn’t hers. She blinked against the sudden burn in her eyes.
He propped up on his elbows, watching her closely. “You just went from hot to cold in ten seconds flat. Is it what I said?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
Nothing except that he seemed eager for her to move back to Georgia. It would make all of this easier. Give whatever this was between them an end date.
She stepped into her leggings, her movements stiff with anger.
His dark eyes narrowed. “Let’s not bullshit each other here. If you’re angry say it.”
“Fine. I’m angry.” She planted both hands on her hips, feeling liberated at admitting it.
“Really? You’re mad?” He shot up off the couch, standing in front of her without a care in the world for his nakedness. “Because you’re the one talking about moving right after we started sleeping together. I’m not the one leaving.”
She stared at him, outrage washing over her. “Beck and my family want me to move back. I—I haven’t decided.”
“Any why not?” he accused. “Why haven’t you decided, Huntley?”
This was it. The moment she could declare herself and say: I’m not going. I’m staying because of you. Just a few words, but they terrified the hell out of her and stuck like a golf ball lodged in her throat. What if he didn’t feel the same way about her?
She squared her shoulders, her pride surfacing. Why couldn’t he say it? Nothing was stopping him. Why did it have to be here? Why did she have to take the risk?
Cullen watched her, unblinking, his eyes fastened on her face. His naked chest lifted on a breath and his eyes cut her like glass, dark as night waters. “Maybe you should just go.”
The words cut, burrowing deep. She watched his face carefully. Nothing. His expression was impassive.
“Maybe I should.” The words tumbled out of her, a stupid mistake the minute she said them and yet she couldn’t take them back.
They stared. After a long moment, he turned, grabbed his shirt off the floor and tugged it over his head. He snatched up his briefs and jeans next. “You need to do what’s right for you, Huntley. What makes you happy.”
The words weren’t issued with any heat. There was no anger in them. On the contrary, he actually said them kindly. Magnanimously. But they still felt like the cruelest jab.
He didn’t care.
She nodded stiffly. She wanted him to be selfish. To demand she stay for him.
Her chest hurt, the ache there so intense, so stabbing and profound. Like nothing she had known when she and Jackson broke up.
He nodded. “Let me know if you need any help moving.”
She sucked in a deep breath. That was the final nail in the coffin. He had actually offered to help her pack. This guy did not want her around. At least not badly enough to try and persuade her to stay.
She blinked burning eyes and turned her attention to tidying up the couch cushions.
Why did they have to sleep together? Sex always ruined everything. At least friendships. If they had kept their hands off each other, she wouldn’t now be facing a move. A pang punched her in the chest and she rubbed at her breastbone, her fingers massaging the tender area.
“Will do,” she replied through suddenly numb lips, not bothering to correct his misapprehension that she was moving. It didn’t matter. He was out of her reach.
He nodded once, brusque, turned for the door, and stepped out into the night.
As soon as the door clicked shut, she dropped down on the couch. Dry sobs sucked in and out of her. She pressed one hand against her chest and closed her eyes in a long blink. Was there any choice in the matter? The moment Cullen made his move, her heart and body were his. Logic stood no chance. The fallout was unavoidable.
She lifted her chin and stared unseeingly ahead. Unseeing and yet seeing. She would live in close proximity to Cullen. She’d cope. Hopefully, they could still be friends.
Maybe someday they would even look back and laugh over their fling. She winced. It was hard to imagine that now, but maybe.
She’d stay here. This was her life. Her home. Even if Cullen wasn’t a part of it.
Chapter Eleven
Cullen stormed into his house and flung his keys against the wall. He dropped down on his couch and scrubbed both hands over his face before standing and pacing a hard line in his living room.
Had he actually offered to help her pack?
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
The knock at his door pulled him up hard. He stared at it for a long moment, then his heart kicked into gear, pounding like a drum. Huntley.
In two strides he yanked open the door and stared at Beck standing there.
“Beck,” he said numbly, his heart deflating.
With a tight smile, his friend walked into the house. He looked around before facing Cullen.
“It’s late,” Cullen said rather dumbly. “What are you doing here?” From his last glimpse of Beck, he didn’t think the guy would pry himself off Kenna until well into next week, but here he was. Alone.
“I figured you would be back from Huntley’s by now,” he finally said.
Cullen watched his friend closely. He hadn’t left Huntley’s until a good while after Beck and Kenna bailed.
“Yeah?” He scratched the back of his head, tension hovering between them. As Cullen stared down Beck, he was hard pressed not to think about what he had been doing to Beck’s sister just a short while ago … and harder pressed not to feel guilty about it.
“Yeah.” Beck nodded once. “Thought it was time we talked about what’s going on between you and Hunt.”
Everything inside of Cullen locked tight in battle-readiness. He stared at Beck warily as he circled the living room. “What do you mean?”
Beck smiled humorlessly. “C’mon, man. It’s obvious you’re sleeping with my sister.” He shrugged one massive shoulder. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to look after her, but if you’re going to treat her with the respect she deserves, then we won’t have a problem. She’s an adult who makes her own decisions. A fact my girlfriend might have mentioned several times on the ride home.”
Cullen exhaled, not about to lie or deny the allegation. He knew touching Huntley had broken a code, but he wasn’t sorry for it. In fact, the only thing he regretted at the moment was how things went down between them back at her house.
Beck arched a brow and looked pointedly at Cullen. “So. Do we have a problem?”
Cullen shook his head and dropped back down on his couch. “She’s going back to Georgia.”
Beck studied him a moment. “Is that a fact?”
Cullen nodded once.
“And you’re down with that plan?”
“It’s her decision. I can’t make her stay here if she doesn’t want—”
Beck threw back his head and laughed. “Are you really that stupid? You have to give her a reason to stay. Same way I gave Kenna a reason to go. Have you asked Hunt to stay at Black Rock?”
Cullen’s hands opened and closed into fists. Was it that easy? He simply had to ask? “Maybe it’s best if she goes.” He dragged a hand over his head. “I only know that I can’t let her down.” He failed his father. He failed
Xander. He couldn’t fail Huntley, too.
“Maybe you don’t want her to stay,” Beck challenged. “Maybe you had your fun with her and now you’re done.”
“Hey.” Cullen surged to his feet, forgetting for a moment that this was Huntley’s brother. He grabbed Beck by the front of his shirt and shook once. “It’s not like that.”
“No? Then what is it like?” At Cullen’s silence, Beck nodded. “Maybe you need to figure that out before she’s gone. Because my sister is strong and she’ll move on, while you’re sitting here, wondering how the hell you let her get away.” He moved for the door and pulled it open. “Think about that.”
Thinking about that was all he did for the rest of the night.
He didn’t sleep a wink, staring into the dark, wondering when he had become so thoroughly fucked. He’d fallen in love with his best friend and had done everything wrong … everything to send her packing and walking out of his life forever.
It dawned on him then.
The exact thing he didn’t want to happen—failing Huntley, losing her—was happening.
Shit. If he didn’t fix things with Huntley now, it would be too late.
Maybe it already was.
* * *
“There’s a patient complaining of chest pains in exam room five,” Nancy, the senior nurse on duty, said as Huntley walked up to the nurse’s station after assisting one of the doctors with a broken arm in exam room three. She’d seen it time and time again. Alcohol and foosball did not mix.
Huntley eyed the clock, eager for when she could take her break and grab a latte from the food truck outside. “And I’m guessing you want me to take the patient?”
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“Course not.” Busy was good. Busy stopped her from thinking too much about Cullen. When she returned to her empty house tonight, she would have plenty of time for that.
Huntley took the chart and started down the hall, stopping when something occurred to her. She looked over her shoulder. “Exam room five?”
The other nurse shrugged, smiling mysteriously as she drifted in the opposite direction down the hall. Chest pain was usually prioritized into exam rooms one or two. Unless triage had deemed the patient low priority for some reason.
She continued, pushing open the door, a greeting on her lips as she flipped open the chart, ready to glance over the patient’s basic information—and found it blank.
Huntley looked up, her heart stopping at the sight of Cullen sitting on the exam table. Her chest squeezed at the sight of him. Those molten chocolate eyes. The hard body unmistakable beneath his fatigues. He braced his hands on each of his thighs in an anxious manner.
“Cullen? What are you doing here?”
Cullen was here. In front of her.
She snapped shut the chart, knowing she had been sabotaged. A quick glance up and down his lean body confirmed that he looked as hale and hearty as ever. He had to get Nancy’s help for this. “Shouldn’t you be at work?” she demanded.
He placed a hand over his heart. “I hurt. Right here.”
Her lips twitched at the utter seriousness of his expression. “That so?”
Pulse racing, she set the chart down on the counter and walked forward. Clearing her throat and ignoring the sudden constricting of her own heart, she feigned seriousness. “When did this pain start?”
“A few nights ago.”
“I see.” She swallowed against the sudden dryness of her throat and resisted the urge to fling her arms around his neck. “Can you describe the pain?”
He nodded solemnly. “Yeah, at first my pulse raced and it felt like my heart might explode.”
“Hm. Interesting.”
“And then last night, the pain changed.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” His hands closed around her hips, hauling her between his thighs. She suddenly didn’t think she was the only one whose heart might explode. “When you started talking about moving back home, leaving Black Rock, leaving me … it felt like a knife was stabbing me right here.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart. His eyes crawled over every inch of her face, his gaze penetrating past skin and bone, burrowing deep into her soul. “It still does.”
“Oh,” she breathed, her too-tight chest lifting, trying to pull in air. She supposed she could tell him she had no intention of moving. Maybe later. After he said everything he came here to say.
“Oh,” he echoed. “There’s only one way to make it stop. Only one way to fix me.”
She moistened her lips. “Well, then tell me. I’m a nurse. It’s my responsibility to—”
He silenced her with a kiss, his mouth slanting and moving on hers until she forgot whatever it was she was meant to say. He pulled back, leaving her gasping, his hand cupping her cheek. “Stay.”
“W-what?” Her voice trembled from her lips, but it was nothing compared to the way her heart shuddered inside her chest.
“I need you to stay. To live here. With me.” His fingers tightened over hers. “I need you to love me back.”
Her heart overflowed at those words. “Cullen,” she choked. “You love me?”
“I love you. I always have. I just didn’t know. You’re in my blood, Huntley. If you go, I’m lost.”
She nodded jerkily, blinking, trying not to cry. “I’m not going anywhere. I never intended to. This is my home.”
Relief flashed across his face. “Well, that’s good to know.”
“As far as loving you,” she continued. “I do. I have. For a long time.”
He brought his other hand up, framing her face in both hands. “So. Are you moving into my place, or am I moving into yours?”
She laughed. “Isn’t that a little sudden? A little bit—”
“Sweetheart, we’ve been dating for years. We just didn’t realize it.” He smiled, but his eyes drilled into her—intense, solemn. “And I don’t want to spend another night without you.”
“Wow,” she breathed. “You don’t waste time.”
“I know what I want.” His thumb traced her mouth. “And all this time we could have been having sex.”
“We have a lot of catching up to do,” she agreed, bringing her other hand up to his chest, reveling in the hardness of his flesh beneath her palm and hating the clothes barring her from complete access.
“Why don’t we get a new place together?” he suggested, kissing her jaw, her throat, inching toward the collar of her scrubs. “A fresh start for both us?”
“We might as well.” She nodded in approval.
“Some place big enough for all the kids we’re going to have.”
“Kids?” Her heart jumped wildly in her chest. She tugged his face back up.
“Well, yeah, we’ll get married first, of course. But there will be babies, Huntley.”
Tears burned in her eyes; there was no stopping them. She wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. She tried to speak, but a broken sob escaped instead.
“This isn’t very romantic, is it?” He frowned as if the idea just occurred to him. “Proposing this way. I should have—”
“It’s perfect.” She sniffed, her fingers curling into his shirt, gripping hard. “It’s beautiful. It’s you. I wouldn’t want anything different.”
“I won’t fail you.” He smoothed a hand over her hair.
“I know you won’t.”
“I’ll try to give you everything, Huntley.”
“Just love me.”
“Done.” He kissed her again, slow and deep and forever.
About the Authors
Tessa lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and young daughter. When she isn’t writing or reading romance, Tessa enjoys a good argument and thirty-minute recipes. Find out about new releases from Tessa at www.tessabailey.com.
Other titles by Tessa Bailey:
Line of Duty Series
PROTECTING WHAT’S HIS
PROTECTING WHAT’S THEIRS
HIS RISK TO TAKE
> OFFICER OFF LIMITS
ASKING FOR TROUBLE
STAKING HIS CLAIM
Crossing the Line Series
RISKIER BUSINESS
RISKING IT ALL
Serve Series
OWNED BY FATE
EXPOSED BY FATE
DRIVEN BY FATE
Broke and Beautiful Series
CHASE ME
NEED ME
Standalone Titles
UNFIXABLE
BAITING THE MAID OF HONOR
Sophie lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and children. When she isn’t writing or reading romance, Sophie enjoys lattes and cramming her DVR with shows she watches after her kids go to bed. Find out about new releases from Sophie at www.sophiejordan.net.
Other titles by Sophie Jordan:
The Ivy Chronicles
FOREPLAY
TEASE
WILD
Historical Romances
ONCE UPON A WEDDING NIGHT
TOO WICKED TO TAME
ONE NIGHT WITH YOU
SURRENDER TO YOU
SINS OF A WICKED DUKE
IN SCANDAL THEY WED
WICKED NIGHTS WITH A LOVER
HOW TO LOSE A BRIDE IN ONE NIGHT
LESSONS FROM A SCANDALOUS BRIDE
WICKED IN YOUR ARMS
A GOOD DEBUTANTE’S GUIDE TO RUIN
Young Adult Romance
The Firelight Trilogy (FIRELIGHT, VANISH, and HIDDEN)
UNINVITED
UNLEASHED