I hooked my thumbs under the material and tried pulling it down. After five minutes of struggling, I let out a scream. Tonight just kept getting worse and worse, didn’t it? All I wanted was to take this off and forget about everything. Just one simple wish.

Eros knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”

“I can’t get this damn thing off.” I wiggled my hips again, pushing and pulling it in different directions. It should be so simple, so goddamn simple.

“Do you need help?”

“No.”

Yes, I did. Someone helped me get it on, someone probably needed to help me get it off. But that someone couldn’t be Eros. I didn’t have the energy to deal with his flirting right now.

I jerked up my knee, hoping that it’d help loosen something—anything—but I banged it against the closet door. “My God.”

“Let me help you,” Eros said.

I glared at the door, debating whether or not to actually open it for him and let him see me so bare. “If I unlock this door and you try something, I’ll suffocate you with this damn suit,” I said.

“I’m not going to try anything, Dani.”

I covered my breasts with my arm and opened the door. He stood in the doorway with a medicine cup in one hand. He had changed his angel costume out for a tight blue crewneck that hugged his body perfectly.

After placing the cup on the sink, he took a deep breath and knelt down in front of me. His fingers grazed against the sides of my hips. He loops them inside of my waistband, balled his hands into fists, and flexed his biceps. When he pulled down, the veins in his arms grew slightly more pronounced.

The costume slid over my hips almost effortlessly for him. Very slowly, he pulled it down my legs. Inch by inch by inch. His gaze followed. Once the costume was at my feet and I was standing in nothing but my underwear in front of him, he looked up at me. “You’re sure you couldn’t do that by yourself?”

“Yes.”

For a mere moment, his gaze flickered to my hips.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said.

“How am I looking at you?” he asked.

“Like… like…”

He stood up and turned away. The muscles in his back were flexed. “If you don’t want me to look at you, I won’t,” he said. His words didn’t calm me down like they should have. He tossed me a towel that hung off of the doorknob and gestured to the toilet. “Sit.”

I wrapped the towel around my body. He searched through the bathroom closet, pulled out Maria’s makeup wipes, and knelt next to me. “Close your eyes.”

He grasped my chin in his hand and gently wiped the wet cloth against my skin. My shoulders slumped forward, and I sighed. Maybe Eros was right. I shouldn’t sacrifice my happiness for someone else.

After wiping off my mascara, he softly brushed the cloth against my lips. I opened my eyes and watched his gaze travel across them. So slowly, taking in every inch. He trailed his thumb over my bottom lip, making it tingle.

The faint scent of cinnamon drifted through the air. He blinked a few times, drew my face into his hands, and leaned in. My heart raced, yet I leaned in too. Closer and closer until he brushed his nose against mine.

Our lips were so close that I could almost feel them on me. Pressing against mine. Moving down my neck. Running up the inside of my thigh. God, I was so hungry for him.

Starved. Famished. Ravenous.

And it terrified me because I had never felt this strongly about Trevon, I had never felt this way period about Trevon.

Unsure of myself, I closed my eyes and reluctantly pulled away. Eros’s head fell for a moment, then he sighed. “I should go,” he said quietly and walked out of the bathroom.

Regretting my hesitation, I jumped up, held the towel to my chest, and said, “Wait.”

He stopped in the middle of the living room but didn’t turn around. All I wanted was to see those lovely greens that always saw right through me, the ones that knew my every thought before I even did.

“Why were you so nice to me tonight?” I asked.

He turned, and for the briefest moment I saw pain in his eyes. “Because I know how you feel. I’ve felt that way before.”

How’d he feel? Embarrassed? Ashamed? Betrayed?

“Wha—”

“Good night, Dani,” he said before I could finish. Then he walked right out the door, leaving me in this lonesome apartment with daunting thoughts about us.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 12

OceanofPDF.com

Dani

My phone rang for the fifth time in the past hour. I gazed at it vibrating on my plush blanket. Kasey lit the vanilla candle on my dresser, then pointed the lighter at me. “Don’t even think about it.” She pursed her red lips and crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s not worth your time.”

The ringing stopped. “I can’t ignore him forever.”

“Yes, you can, and you should. Trust me.” She snatched the phone and leapt onto the bed. “You know what, I’m just going to delete his number.”

I tugged my phone away. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s probably just calling to apologize.”

Trevon’s name glowed on the phone again. Another text message from him. The twenty-seventh one today.

Kasey inhaled in annoyance and leaned back on the bed. “And you’re going to accept this apology?”

“Once we talk it through.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what you do when you’re in a committed relationship.” Dr. U’s words echoed through my mind. “You fight, talk, try to work things out…”

She frowned and leaned against the headboard. “Not to hurt your feelings, but by the way he acted at the party, it didn’t even seem like you two were together.” She toyed with the tag on the blanket and gazed out the window.

I sighed and followed her gaze. Well, I couldn’t argue with that. He didn’t even care that I was sick. He just yelled at me until I left.

Eros cared. He even left the party to bring me home. Held me in his arms when I was sick. Took off my make-up. Almost kissed me.

God, what was I even thinking? Comparing Eros to Trevon? Eros wasn’t even someone that I’d ever consider dating. He flirted way too much. Probably had girls on speed dial. Like that chick Luci that had called him the other night when he drove me home from the restaurant.

Pfft. Definitely wouldn’t date him.

I was just vulnerable and lonely last night.

Kasey flipped onto her stomach and kicked her legs back and forth in the air, humming to herself.

Even if I considered it, I wasn’t sure how he felt after I pulled away from our almost-kiss—which definitely only happened because we were in the heat of the moment. I hadn’t seen him since.

“When was the last time you and Trevon went out on a date?” Kasey asked, pulling me out of my daydream about Eros.

“Um, last week we went out to dinner with a few people.”

She tilted her head, red lips in a frown. “I mean just you two.”

I sighed and rubbed my palms across my face. “I… don’t know. A month ago? Maybe longer.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me down on the bed with her. “He says that he wants to show you off, but never takes you out, Sweet Cheeks.” She gazed at Mom’s pendant on my chest and grasped it between her fingers. Immediately she released it, as if it burned her, and pulled her hand away. “I know that he tells you he loves you—and he might—but make sure he’s actually showing you he does.”

I sighed softly to myself and sunk into the bed. I would make sure he did. I’d give him a chance to clean up his mess. One chance. Then I’d be done.

My heart clenched at the thought of breaking up with Trevon. The past five years would have been for nothing, but I couldn’t dwell on the past. I needed to make sure I was happy. I deserved that much.

“Are you going to be okay?” Kasey asked. I nodded. Yes, I would be okay, hopefully. She raised a brow. “Don’t lie to me.”