My Cone and Only (King Family #1) - Susannah Nix Page 0,50

they were to each other, and it all came to nothing. It’s not fair.”

She blinked like she might start crying again, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, pulling her against my chest.

“I have a feeling this is about more than just that letter.”

“I guess.” Her fingers curled into the front of my shirt, which was soaked with her tears. “It’s everything else too. The stuff with the house and…”

“And?” I prompted quietly when she didn’t finish.

“And you, I guess.” Her voice sounded heartbreakingly small for someone I’d always considered impossibly strong.

Hating myself for hurting her, I squeezed her shoulder and pressed my face into her honeysuckle-scented hair. Neither of us moved or spoke. We just sat there like that, leaning against each other. Holding on to each other.

I got the sense she was waiting for me to say something. Or do something.

So I did.

“I lied before,” I admitted.

I felt her go rigid in my arms. “About what?”

“About having a date last night.” I winced as shame twisted inside me. “After I left here I went to Tanner’s and drank most of a bottle of whiskey.”

She lifted her head to look at me. “Why did you lie?”

I swallowed, quailing under the weight of her regard. But now that I’d started this I felt obliged to finish it. Tanner was right. I owed Andie the truth. “Because I was afraid.”

“Of what?”

My tongue shot out to lick my lips, tasting salt from her tears. It gave me the push I needed to force the words out. “Of the way I feel about you, and what’ll happen if I let myself act on it.”

“What will happen?” Her eyes bored into mine, dark and challenging.

“Your brother will never forgive me.”

The way Andie’s lips pressed together, I could tell she was pissed. But even worse than that: she was disappointed in me.

I leaned back against the bed and raked a hand through my hair. “Do you have any idea how fucking hard it’s been? How much willpower it’s taken to keep my hands off you, when all I want to do is touch you?”

“Yes.”

With that one word, spoken on a shaky exhalation, my world tilted off its axis.

It shocked me into seeing the truth I’d blinded myself to, even though it had been right in front of my face all this time. I hadn’t let myself acknowledge it, because if I ever did, there’d be no turning back.

Andie wanted me as much as I wanted her.

In case the point needed further confirmation, she swung her leg over my thighs and climbed into my lap.

My vision whited out as her soft curves settled against my growing hard-on. “Andie,” I bit out in a strained voice, screwing my eyes shut.

“What?”

I’d meant to warn her to knock it off, but I couldn’t make myself say the words. I didn’t want her to knock it off. I wanted her to do it some more.

Her fingers ghosted over my face, exploring the stubble on my jaw and sending tingles shooting down my spine. The whisper of her breath warmed my lips, and I knew her mouth was dangerously close to mine.

I was afraid to open my eyes and look at her. Every nerve ending in my body was standing at attention, every muscle tensed in a state of hypervigilance. My hands ached to touch her, to reach up and explore the curves balanced in my lap, but I balled them into fists, refusing to let them have their way.

“Do you want me?” she asked, and a shudder rippled through me.

When I didn’t answer fast enough, she squirmed in my lap, driving me to hiss out a tortured “Yesss.”

“Then say it.” Her voice was pitched so low I felt it all the way down in my balls. “Say you want me.”

I opened my eyes finally and looked into her dark, steady gaze. Her face was flushed and her luscious lips parted. Begging to be kissed.

Who was I to disappoint her?

I reached up and touched her face, smiling at the way it made her lashes flutter. A surge of warmth swept through me, softer and sweeter than the sharp heat rising in my blood.

“I want you,” I told her, letting the words set me free. “I’ve always wanted you.”

14

Andie

A supernova of relief tore through my chest when Wyatt said the words I’d been longing to hear.

I want you. I’ve always wanted you.

The hunger in his eyes should have been enough to tell me the truth, but I’d needed to actually hear