Dream Of You - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,43

we just reconnected and I don’t know where our relationship is going. And you know what? Yes. I don’t have the greatest confidence in myself right now. I haven’t seriously dated anyone besides Kevin, and the last four years have been a really long dry spell. And I know that’s not the greatest issue to have, but whatever. I like you.”

I’d blurted those last three words out and then I couldn’t take them back. “I really like you, Colton. I’ve always liked you, but I’m going to be honest. I’m going to suck at this whole dating thing and I’m going to have moments when I doubt why you’re here. And it doesn’t help when your ex-fiancée looks like a Sports Illustrated model. I shouldn’t have run from the bar. That was stupid, but guess what, I’m probably going to do a lot of stupid things. That’s just the beginning.”

His lips started to twitch.

My eyes narrowed. “You think this is funny?”

“No.” His eyes said he was lying. “Not at all.”

“Uh-huh.” I folded my arms across my chest and parroted back what he’d said earlier. “Is that all you have to say about that?”

“No. That’s not all.” His lips did curve up at the corners then. “I don’t think less of you because you don’t see what I see, what I know, when I look at you. That’s the issue I’m more than willing to work with. You get that?”

I nodded as I pressed my lips together.

“I like you, really like you,” he repeated, and that hope in my chest sparked into a wildfire. “I’ve always liked you, too. And yeah, Nicole is great looking, but she’s not the person I’m standing in front of and she’s not the person who gets me hard when I think of her. And she isn’t the person I almost lost last night. That’s you, sweetheart, all you.”

Warmth invaded my cheeks. Oh…oh wow.

“I can tell you where this relationship is going. Or at least where I hope it is. We’re going to spend more time together. We’re going to really get to know each other, and I’m going to chip away at that low confidence shit until you see what I see,” he said, and a shiver curled along the base of my spine in response to his steely determination.

My breath caught as he took a step forward and lifted his hands, gently holding my cheeks once more. “I want this to work,” he said, his voice low. “Because like I said before, I believe in second chances and I don’t believe in coincidences. There was a reason why you and I reconnected, and I don’t want to pass that up. And we almost lost that last night, so really, we’re working on a third chance. I want this to work.”

“I…I want this to work too.” My heart was thumping like a steel drum.

“Then we are on the same page.”

“We are,” I whispered.

“Good.”

Then he kissed me, and in the back of my head, I realized we were still standing just inside the foyer, but I didn’t care. His kiss started off sweet and tender, but I wanted more. So did he. My hands found their way to his chest, and I could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine.

I broke the kiss, breathing heavily. “Do you want to stay?”

“Hell yeah, but if I…if I do, I’m not leaving tonight.” His thumbs dragged over my cheeks. “And if I don’t leave tonight, I’m going to be upstairs and I’m going to want to be in that bed and in between those pretty thighs of yours. If you don’t want that or you’re not up to it because of last night, let me know now. I can wait, but either way, I’m not letting go of you tonight.”

“I’m fine.” There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. “I want that.”

Chapter 14

Colton didn’t waste a single moment.

He tilted my head back, lowering his mouth to mine in a deep, demanding kiss that brokered no room for denial. Not that I wanted to. That was the furthest thing from my mind as his tongue tangled with mine.

Backing me up, he kept going until we reached the bottom of the stairs; only then did he lift his mouth from mine. Blue eyes met mine, and my throat dried at the intensity of the passion in them. I turned and made it up three steps before his arm came around me from behind, curling around my waist. A second later, his