take it back. How lame could I possibly sound? Damian wants to be monogamous; he wants a clean and steady fuck buddy, that doesn’t mean he wants forever.
He nips at my earlobe, and my insides turn to jelly. His hand goes to the waist of my pants and skims along the top, the pad of his fingers grazing my skin. “For now, yeah, I’ll take that label. But eventually Addison,” his tongue trails along the outer edge of my ear and a slight moan escapes my mouth. “That title isn’t going to be good enough.” His hand slips inside my pants, and any thought of Matt, our label, and what our future may look like gets shattered to pieces. Along with any dignity I had, as I’m sure anyone in the surrounding buildings is watching as Damian’s hand sends my body into an all-consuming orgasm that has me gripping his arm for any connection to the earth.
“Are you sure she’s not going to care that I’m with you?”
Damian stops mid stride and backs me up against the white walls of the hospital. His hand runs through my hair as his lips gently land on mine. “She doesn’t get a lot of visitors, Addison. It will mean the world to her that you came with me today.” He kisses me again then pulls me off the wall and towards her room.
“Damian?”
He stops again, curiosity in his eyes, and a compassion I’ve only seen when he’s with her. I’m nervous, and it must be showing. I know I mean a lot to Damian, I know he wants me as his girlfriend and he wants to move us forward, but I also know how important his relationship with Emily is. If she doesn’t like me, this is going to be very difficult—for all of us.
“It’s going to be okay. Emily trusts me, and so if I say you’re cool, she will too.”
“Does she know I work for her attorney?”
“She’s a kid. Doesn’t understand all of that. In her mind, Thomas is trying to find her a home. I’d never tell her he doesn’t think I’d make a fit dad, it would only scare her.”
I nod. He begins walking again and I stop, not wanting to go further until I have all the details. “Why doesn’t Thomas think you’re fit?”
Damian takes a big breath and a sad smile lifts the corners of his mouth. “Remember when I told you everyone at some point or another wants a re-do on their life?”
I nod, giving him my full attention.
“After my accident, for about three years, I was a mess. Completely lost in life. Thomas is holding that against me.”
“How bad was it?” I ask realizing I don’t really know all that much about Damian.
His face falls slightly and he’s quiet, his mind spinning. “Just your typical bad boy behavior,” he finally says before grabbing my hand walking us further down the hall. I’m not sure it was the answer I was looking for, but I’m going to let it go for now.
As we get closer, I realize I need to know one more thing. I should have asked him all of this in the car, but I hadn’t given it much thought. I’ve only seen Emily once, and that was on an errand for Thomas, walking into her room, hand in hand with Damian is going to feel much different.
Stopping, he turns his face towards me, his lip curling up on the side, his dark eyes glistening with concern and understanding. Wrapping an arm around my back, he pulls me closer. “Ask me anything about her, Addison. Whatever will make you feel better about walking in her room together, ask away.”
I see a few chairs in a waiting room and direct us to them. “What happened to her? Where is her family?”
Our chairs are across from each other, our knees touching as he takes my hands in his. He’s rubbing his thumb along the back of my hand, and it’s calming every nerve that is jumping all over the place in my system. His eyes stay locked on mine, his forehead creased in thought and contemplation.
Casually he tells me, “Her mom died in a car wreck a few years back. No known father. She bounced around here and there but eventually ended up with a nice couple down in Goleta. I hear they were good to her, treated her well, but within two months of moving in with them, she got sick. The husband was out