An hour later—after I had calmly paced around the house just thinking about what Maria had said—I was lying in bed, about to fall into a peaceful sleep without worrying about Eros for once.

Someone knocked on my bedroom door, and my eyes snapped open. I gripped the white sheets in my hand, pulling them over my bare legs. If this was another one of Eros’s little games, I swear to God I would—

The door opened, and Trevon walked in juggling a pizza from Giorgino’s in one hand and a bottle of white wine with two glasses in the other. “Delivery for a sexy, little lady.” He planted a kiss on my lips and dropped the pizza on my bed.

A smile crept onto my face, and I sat up. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to work tonight,” I said, grabbing the bottle of wine.

He took off his baseball cap and tossed it onto the dresser. “I took the night off, wanted to see you.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight into his chest, fingers lightly scratching the top of my head just where I liked. “I miss you. I feel like we haven’t spent any real time together in a while.”

His arms relaxed, and he sat back against the headboard. I poured two glasses of wine for us and snuggled up against him. We stared at the city lights through my window, watching the lights turned off in the buildings downtown every few minutes.

At 8 o’clock sharp, I watched Dr. U’s office go dark and silently thanked her for that little talk she had with me.

Eros was nothing compared to Trevon. I knew that. And I was so glad that I hadn’t gone out with them. I would’ve had a bad time, sitting next to Eros at dinner, having him flirt endlessly with me, gazing at that stupid damn smirk. So confusing, overwhelming, unnerving.

Trevon gripped my waist, pulling me closer, and tugged on one strap of my tank top. “What’re you dressing as for tomorrow?” He brushed his nose up the side of my neck. “Something sexy?”

“I’m not going.”

“Oh, come on, Babe. What happened last year is over. Nobody remembers anything.”

“I do.” I couldn’t go through that kind of embarrassment again.

He grabbed my glass of wine and placed it on my dresser, then crawled on top of me, pressing his lips against mine. “What do I have to do to get you to go?” He dipped his fingers into my underwear and pressed them against me. “This?”

“Trevon,” I said, smiling. I grabbed his hand. “No.”

“No?” He placed kisses down the middle of my chest to my navel and smirked up at me. “What about this?” He kissed me through my underwear, hooked his fingers under the string, and pulled them down.

I giggled softly at him and shook my head, pulling him back up to me. “I just want to spend time with you.” I brushed my fingers across the side of his head, where the kinky texture of his hair faded out. “I don’t want to go out.”

“Will you at least think about it? For me?”

I sighed. “Fine, but no promises.”

At 12am, I walked Trevon to the door. He told me he had to be at the bar at 6am for delivery, so he wouldn’t be able to stay the night. Again.

The apartment was deathly silent since Maria still wasn’t home yet, and it was making me anxious. I leaned against the doorway, bouncing my foot up and down, and watched him walk toward the elevators. “See you tomorrow night, Babe!” he said as the elevator doors closed.

I groaned and rubbed my hand over my face. The sacrifices I made for that man. I was stuck going now.

“That bad, huh?” someone said from behind me.

Damn it.

Eros was leaning against his door frame, arms crossed over one another. The sleeves of his gray crew-neck sweater were pulled up his forearms, and he was giving me those eyes again.

“What?”

“That’s the first time I heard you groan all night.” He smirked. “I think it’s safe to say he didn’t please you like he should have.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t think you’d understand, but you don’t have to fuck in order to enjoy the time you spend with someone you like.”

He raised his brow. “Like? You don’t love Trevon?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That’s not what I meant. Of course, I love him.”

“Maybe, you wouldn’t have to pretend to love him if he could actually please you.”

My nostrils flared, and I stepped into the hallway. “Well, maybe, you wouldn’t have to flirt with a girl who’s already taken if you could actually get someone to like you.”

He took a step toward me. “Maybe if you didn’t like it so much, you wouldn’t flirt back.”

I marched right up to him and stared into those deep, dark eyes. “You think I like your constant, uninvited flirting?”

“Oh, I do, Dani.” He brushed his fingers against my hips and pushed me against the wall. “I think you love every… single… second of it.” He posted his hands on the wall next to me, trapping me.

Push him away, Dani.

I swallowed hard.

He was close. So damn close.

His stubble brushed against my neck, making me shiver. His fingers felt rough against my skin. I inhaled his cinnamon scent, eyes fluttering closed. Don’t fall under his spell, Dani. Don’t do it.

“Aren’t you supposed to be out with Maria?” I whispered. I didn’t know why I was still standing here this close to him. Maybe it was because I couldn’t move—my arms felt heavy, my legs wouldn’t budge, my head felt muddled—or maybe I just didn’t want to.

He chuckled, and my heart raced at the sound. I didn’t know how far gone I was until now. How could I ache for something so immoral? Why did I want to sin with him? Mom had to be cursing me out up in Heaven for thinking such devilish thoughts, but I couldn’t stop.

When he gazed into my eyes, all I wanted him to do was to push his lips against mine, tug on my hair, thrust me against the wall over and over until I was gasping for breath, until my nails were digging into his back, until I was screaming out his name.

He trailed one finger up the column of my neck to my chin, his gaze following, then gently wrapped his hand around the front of my throat and drew me close to him until his lips were against my ear. “You can try to fight it, Dani, but you won’t win.”

I placed my hands on his taut chest, wanting to push him away.

“Go ahead,” he said, fingers stroking my jaw. “Tell me that you never want me to touch you again.”

I dug my nails into him softly and parted my lips. Say it, Dani.

“Do it.”

Cinnamon. Sweet cinnamon. Drifting through the air, coiling around me, consuming me.

When I didn’t answer him, he pushed himself away from me and sneered in victory. “I’ll see you at the party tomorrow then, Dani.” He turned around and walked to his apartment. “Oh, and, if it makes you feel any better”—he stopped and looked back—“I didn’t go out with Maria tonight.”

Then the door closed.

I parted my lips, staring at the gold label 56C on his stupid door. “Yeah… well…” I said to myself. “I don’t care.”

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 9

OceanofPDF.com

Dani

Kasey banged on the bathroom door. “Come out!”

I gripped onto the latex costume that she had given me and tried to pull it up again, but the damn thing wouldn’t even go past my hips.

“Just give it a little tug!”

After a few more pulls, I released the material from my fists. “It’s too small. I guess I won’t be able to go tonight. Oh, darn, maybe next year,” I said. I couldn’t go to a Halloween party without a Halloween costume. It was the perfect excuse to get out of tonight and it wasn’t even an excuse which made me feel that much better about it.

She wiggled the handle and pushed open the door. I covered my chest with my hands. “Kasey!”