When my shirt fell to the floor, Mo’s breath hitched. Her dainty hands danced across my rigid stomach, tightening my muscles to painful levels wherever she touched, her fingers slowly, agonizingly, moving up and down.
“This is new,” she whispered, her hands hovering over one of my many scars.
“Yeah.” I licked my lips. “It’s a flesh wound.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right, I know all about those.”
“Sorry to break it to you but yours is more than a flesh wound there, little tyke. I thought you were dying, and if you want this to continue you’ll stop reminding me why I shouldn’t be getting you naked.”
“Nixon may shoot you.”
“Great.” I leaned down and kissed her hot mouth. “Then he can get my other shoulder; it was feeling left out anyway.”
Monroe laughed against my lips, I couldn’t help but follow suit, her hands reached for the zipper of my jeans—and all laughing went straight out the window.
It would take an act of God for the girl to be able to actually strip me of all my clothing, so I stood, yanked off my jeans and waited for her to blush.
She always blushed.
It’s part of the reason I loved her so much.
She pretended to be a bad ass, but that was to protect herself… she pretended that sex wasn’t a big deal. But I knew it was. To Mo it always was… maybe that’s why it stung so much that she would give her body to anyone but me.
I’d taken the girl’s virginity.
I’d been the forever guy.
Until I wasn’t anything anymore.
“Tex—” Mo held up her hand. I grasped it and lay down next to her.
“We shouldn’t do this, Mo.” My body was screaming speak for yourself!
“I know.” Mo nodded, her lips trembling as a tear fell down her cheek. “But you’ve always kissed me when I’m down, and Tex, I’m really—” Her chest heaved with emotion. “Really down right now.”
“Alright.” I sighed. “An hour… for an hour… only we exist. But when that hour’s up… to protect you, to protect me, Mo… I’m going to go back to focusing on anger, on hate, because if I don’t, I’m pretty sure one or both of our hearts will shatter.”
She nodded.
And that’s all it took.
I was stupid enough to promise her an hour.
And she was stupid enough to take it.
With tenderness I’d never been able to fully extend towards Mo in the bedroom, I slowly kissed her mouth, savoring her flavor, sucking her lips. If I got an hour, it was going to be a damn good hour.
Her arms wrapped around my neck, pulling me tighter against her. We kissed until my lips hurt, until hers were swollen, and when my mouth was still buzzing with pleasure, I kissed her harder, I kissed away the pain, the memories, the past… and in return gave her everything I was capable of giving.
When our bodies joined it was with such a jolt, that I lost my breath. It had been too damn long. I moved within her, slowly at first, giving her body time to adjust to me, shocked that it needed to in the first place.
And kissed her mouth.
“So good,” Mo whispered against my lips. “Harder.”
“You’re—” I panted. “—injured.”
“So?” She hooked her good leg around me. “You were saying?”
“Damn it.”
She grinned.
“Think you’re funny?” I pumped harder, faster, digging my hands underneath her ass to angle her towards me so that I was hitting one of mine and her favorite places.
Her nails dug into my back.
“Tex!” She found her release, I soon followed, but I kept my eyes open, watching her, loving that look of pure bliss on her face.
I was still inside her when the knock came at the door.
Mo’s eyes widened in horror.
“Yeah?” I answered lazily.
“Hey, it’s Nixon.”
Well shit.
“Is Mo feeling okay? I heard yelling”
“Uh…” I bit my lip to keep from laughing while Mo turned twenty shades of scarlet beneath me. “Yeah she was um, dreaming.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Oh okay, can I come in and—”
“No!” I yelled. “I uh, I’ll come out, I need to talk to you about something and she’s super exhausted.” Especially after the hour we’d shared.
“Fine.” Nixon’s footsteps echoed down the hall.
With a, curse I slumped against Mo, then very slowly removed myself from her body and put on my clothes again.
Wordless, I helped her put on her bra, her shirt, her shorts, every article of clothing looked in place. I even pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tied it.
“Tex.” Mo’s eyes didn’t meet mine.
“Yeah?”
“What if an hour wasn’t enough?”
How was it possible for someone’s heart to be so elated and so broken at the same time? “Then you probably should have thought of that before you jumped into someone else’s bed… Today I gave you an hour. A year ago I would have given you an eternity.” With that, I stomped out of the room cursing myself as I heard her soft sobs escape her mouth.
It was better this way.
It had to be.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Everyone has words they hate. The word I hate? Choice. It seemed my whole life was framed around such an innocent word. Innocent. How ironic.