“Are you flirting with me?” she jokingly chides, looking up at me through her lashes. “Does my terrible accent get you going?”
I could answer that verbally. Ishouldanswer, because it’s an easyfucking absolutely. But instead I wrap an arm around Stella’s waist and haul her against me. Then I dip my head until my lips find hers.That’smy answer.
If she’s surprised by the move, I don’t feel it. She leans in without hesitation, opening for me when I sweep my tongue over her bottom lip, inviting me in. Has she been thinking about it as much as I have? Because I’ve been hungering for this. Desperate for the chance to taste her again. She’s just as sweet as I remember.
This feels like we’ve picked up exactly where we left off in that Las Vegas strip club, before everything was put on hold for wedding vows and crisis control. And this time, I want to see it through. I want to see where it could have led. What a night together could have been like.
I just have to be so damn careful not to let the twinge of affection I feel for her get in the way.
Her mouth is pouty when I draw back, and it takes a second before her eyes flutter open. We’re still so close that we’re trading breaths, but I have no plans to move away.
“You just broke the rules,” she taunts, winded, and thethreat has no edge. “Although, I guess you warned me that you would.”
I chuckle, my hands moving down from her waist to grip her hips. “What consequences am I going to face?”
“No consequences. That was…” She sucks in a breath, then lets it out on a shaky exhale. “Honestly, it was fucking fantastic.”
She can say that, but I’m getting a different message from her body language. She’s gone tense under my touch, her shoulders rounding, and although she isn’t pulling away yet, I can feel it about to happen.
“I sense abutcoming,” I hedge, and my stomach falls inch by inch as Stella steps back.
“We can’t do that again, Thomas.” It’s a quiet sentence, said with the kind of resignation that tells me she’s already thought about this too much.
I sigh and lift a hand to rub the back of my neck, my skin burning as her rejection settles in. “I know.”
And I really do. I know the rules and why we have them. I know I shouldn’t be breaking them and tempting her to throw them away. It’s shitty and selfish of me, but how can I be expected to not want another taste of the woman I’ve been trying to get my hands on since the first night we met?
“We’ve been lax about things,” she goes on. “We’re introducing complications we don’t need. I’m guilty of it too, so don’t put all the blame on yourself.”
I deserve to, though. Sure, she’s done her fair share of flirting, but I’ve done nothing but encourage it. Because I wanted it. I still want it.
But this conversation is the death blow to that easy dynamic. And that’s completely my fault.
“I get it,” I make myself say. I even force a smile, one I hopecomes off as casual. “We’ll be more careful moving forward.” Then, just to drive the knife further into my own gut, I hold a hand out for her to shake. “Friends?”
Something crosses Stella’s face that I can’t decipher, but it’s replaced by an easy smile that would seem almost natural if I hadn’t already seen the real thing so many times.
She takes my hand in hers and squeezes. “Friends.”
It’s the only word I don’t want to hear her say.
Chapter 25
Stella
I’ve made everything weird, and I could slap myself for it.
I know it was the right decision to put the brakes on things between Thomas and me last night, but it’s built a wall between us that’s entirely too high. After the gala, we walked away from each other once we got home, barely sayinggood nightbefore retreating to our separate wings, like we were suddenly strangers again. I thought declaring our friendship—and our intentions to keep it that way—would ease the tension and make this fake marriage simpler to navigate, but nope. All I’ve done is add another complication while trying to prevent one.
I knew from the second his lips touched mine that I was going to be in deep trouble if I didn’t reinforce the rules—the kind of trouble that would make divorcing him one day emotionally messy. Worst of all, it made me question if I’d evenwantto leave. It was such a sudden, unbidden thought that it nearly had me running from the room, yet I somehow kept my feet planted. I evenexplainedmyself while my heart threatened to choke me, trying its best to stop the logical words from coming out.
But I had to do it, for my own sake. Because I can’t run the risk of getting attached to another man I’ve come to care about, just to have him leave me behind. Or worse, turn me into a version of myself that I no longer recognize. I barely made it out alive the first time; I don’t think I would survive a second.
Thomas is pouring two mugs of coffee when I shuffle into the kitchen. He’s bright-eyed and fresh-faced, even though I know he had just as much champagne as I did last night. In comparison, I’m squinting against the faint sunlight coming in through the windows and I haven’t bothered to take my bonnet off yet. Hard to believe that not long ago I refused to let him see me in it, but hey, we’re officiallyfriends. No point in hiding any aspect of myself from a man who’s going to be nothing more than that.
That’s exactly what you want, Stella. Stop being bitter and start being smart.
“It’s not fair that you wake up looking like a Disney prince,” I mumble as he hands me my favorite of the two mugs.
