Written with Regret (The Regret Duet #1)(73)

Her face snapped up so fast that it ignited the guilt inside me. Shit. Why had I confessed that to her? My fucking father killed her parents because of me, and like a selfish bastard, I’d told her that I was glad she’d been there that day because I appreciated that she could understand me.

What a fucking piece of shit I was. “I’m—”

“Don’t do that. Don’t you dare apologize to me.” She rolled so she was half on top of me. The light in the hall illuminated her as she supported herself on an elbow, bringing her face only inches from mine. “But what if we’re not?”

“What if we’re not what?”

“What if we’re not a disaster waiting to happen?”

I blinked, utterly in shock. “How do you do that? How did you hear everything I just said and know everything about me and just overlook it? Like it’s nothing.”

“Because it is nothing, Caven. You were a kid in a mall with a monster. Same as me.”

A lump formed in my throat. Jesus. This woman.

“It was different.”

“No, it wasn’t. That’s just a game you play in your head. The facts are you were a fifteen-year-old boy alone at a mall the day a sick individual decided to take his frustrations with life out on innocent victims. But we got out. It hasn’t been easy. It will never be easy. But you have to learn to stop apologizing for something you could never control in the first place.”

And that was where she was wrong. I should have been at the police station that day, turning over the stash of my father’s trophies I’d found to the authorities. And if that’s where I’d gone that day instead of going to work first, forty-eight people, including her parents, would still be alive.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” I went in for a kiss, but she easily dodged it.

“You will always have that free pass with me. Always, Caven. But let me say this before you take it. There’s a reason time only marches in one direction. You can choose any second to start over again.”

I stared at her, green eyes sparkling and red hair falling in messy waves over her shoulders. I wanted to believe her. To believe that I choose to shed the overwhelming burden I’d taken on that day in Hell all those years earlier.

But I didn’t believe her.

And I never would.

Rolling her to her back, I pulled the covers out from between us. “You said it scared you not knowing what I was thinking. Well, here’s what I’m thinking. We’re two consenting adults who both know that this thing between us might blow up in our faces, and because of that, we’re both going to tread in these uncharted waters with caution. But I swear to you our daughter is not a factor in what happens in this part of our lives. Neither is Beth. Neither is Ian. Outside of this room, we’re going to keep on figuring out our life the same way we have been for the last three months.” I traced my hand from her stomach, down the silken length of her thigh, gently guiding her legs apart to reveal her wet core.

She threw her head back as I dipped a finger inside her opening, her slick heat causing my cock to stir to life all over again. I moved my mouth to hers, teasing her with a kiss and allowing our lips to brush as I finished with, “But inside this room, I want to fuck you. I want to make you come on my fingers and on my mouth. I want your ass in the air when I take you from behind, and I want all of your hair fanned out over my stomach when you take my cock to the back of your throat.” I added a second finger and flicked my tongue over her lips. “And that’s all I’m thinking about right now.”

She hissed, her hand flying up to grip my ass.

Conversation.

Over.

A few minutes later, she came on my hand.

Shortly after that, she came on my cock.

And three hours later, when I crawled out of her bed in order to get home to my daughter, the only regret I had was that she was still wearing that fucking shirt.





HADLEY


“Beth, I have to go!” I whisper-yelled as I stood in Caven’s driveway.

“So, that’s it? You just went out to dinner, he ordered you a brownie with ranch, and then you came home and didn’t answer any of my texts?”

No. He’d come over. We’d had amazing sex, after which—or, depending on how you looked at it, before the second doubly incredible time we’d had sex—we’d agreed not to discuss it with Beth or Ian. And then, when he’d kissed me long and slow at my front door, he’d promised me again that whatever happened between us would not affect Rosalee. I had no idea how that was possible, but I trusted him enough to take it at face value.

“For the millionth time, yes. That’s all that happened. I was tired.”

The amount of sleep I’d gotten the night before was easier to measure in minutes than hours, but my lips were bruised and I had an intoxicating ache between my legs, so I was still riding the peak of a sexual high.

I couldn’t lie. I was a nervous wreck about seeing him that day. I’d started getting dressed at six in the morning even though I wasn’t supposed to be at his house until one. I’d torn everything out of my closet in search of something that said, Hi, I’m here to teach your daughter art, but I’d also like to see you naked later tonight. So look at my tastefully revealed cleavage as a sample of the goods while we wait for the hours to tick past.