the wedding?” I ask her, just to keep myself distracted.
“Unbelievably so. My brother is so smitten with Frankie, and I can’t wait to see him get everything he’s ever wanted.”
What about you? What do you want?
She gushes about her brother’s romance, and it’s like I’m on autopilot as I park my truck and open her door for her. Thea’s talking as we walk down the dock to my boat, but I’m not listening.
I can’t listen. I can’t focus.
Not on anything other than the fact that I’m in love with her and my gut is screaming at me about it because I know how this is going to play out, and it won’t be in my favor.
This feels like more than just breaking the rules. It feels like I’ve shattered them. I promised her I’d be upfront, and I can’t go forgetting my promises now.
I come to a halt, but she doesn’t notice. Just keeps walking and talking, her hand waving around in the air.
She’s beautiful in the moonlight, curvy and confident and oh so fucking sexy. I want to wrap my hands around her waist and hold her to me, never letting her go.
Never letting her run.
I inhale a steadying breath.
“Thea?”
She spins toward me, a playful grin on her lips. “That’s my name, and I give you full permission to wear it out in bed.”
“What are we doing here?”
She chuckles. “I figured you’d judge me for eating at least two cups of chocolate pudding after eating all that food at my parents’, and then I figured we could—”
Her mouth snaps closed, and her eyes turn serious.
“You’re not asking about right now, are you?”
I shake my head once. “No.” I take a step toward her. “What are we doing? What is this?” Another step. “What are we?”
“I…” She licks her lips, looking anywhere but at me.
She’s scared. I can see it—can feel it.
“What do you want us to be, Sully?”
“I have a feeling you might know the answer to that.”
“It’s fake. It’s just sex.” Her words are cold, like she’s practiced them a million times.
“No.” I shake my head again. “It’s not. It hasn’t been, not for a long time…for much longer than either of us realized. You know it, and I know it.”
She drops her head, and I close the distance between us.
With one hand on her hip, I use the other to bring her eyes to mine.
“Thea…”
“No,” she says. “Just…no.”
“Yes.”
“No. Stop ruining this.”
“I’m not ruining it. I’m—”
“Why?” she begs. “Why can’t this be enough?”
“Because I fucked up.” I tug her closer. “Because I fucked up, and I fell in love with you.”
She squeezes her eyes shut, her face crumpling. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do, Thea. I mean every word of it.”
“You can’t.”
“Well that’s too fucking bad.”
She peels her eyes open. “You can’t because I can’t.”
“Take the leap,” I plead on a whisper, dropping my head to hers. “Enjoy the fall.”
“I’m scared.”
“I am too, but you’re worth the risk.”
Without warning, she smashes her lips to mine.
And like the fool I am, I let her.
I even kiss her back, sliding my hands under her ass and carrying her back to my boat. I strip her clothes off and lay her under my sheets. I crawl between her legs and beg.
I beg her to give in.
To take the leap. To enjoy the fall.
I silently beg her to stay.
But I already know she won’t.
Slice Nineteen
Thea
“Okay, what’s the matter? I set that dessert pizza down in front of you ten minutes ago but you haven’t taken more than two bites from it, and I know there’s nothing wrong with it.”
I stare down at the Brookies & Cream pizza, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me…again.
I’ve been a mess for days. I haven’t eaten a single sweet.
But when Jonas called and asked me to come hang out tonight, just the two of us, I couldn’t tell him no. He’s just days away from getting married, and then he’ll be off on his honeymoon, then football season starts. This is likely the last time I’ll see him until the holidays.
My heartache can wait.
“It’s nothing,” I tell Simon.
He presses his lips into a thin line and nods, tossing the towel that’s over his shoulder onto the counter. Then he leans on his elbows, looking at me with a stare that has me averting my gaze. “Is this about Sully?”
“It is,” Jonas answers for me from where he sits at my side. “She’s been sulking for fucking days and it’s really killing my wedding