#Rev (GearShark #2)(13)

Even if all he was determined to give us was one more night.

I reached for the shorts, suddenly feeling incredibly grumpy.

“Can you hit the light? My f*cking head hurts,” Trent remarked.

I dropped the clothes and crossed to the light switch. The room went into shadows but wasn’t completely dark because the lamp on my side of the bed was still on. I reached for it, too.

“Leave that one.” He stopped me.

I frowned. “You still got a couple hours before I can give you more pain reliever. Maybe the dark—”

“I want to see you,” he said in a rushed, quiet tone.

I didn’t acknowledge the admission with words, but everything inside me quaked. I’d been with lots of women in my life. Getting one in bed was never a problem for me. I drove fast, had dimples and blue eyes… Plus, I was good in bed.

I wasn’t being arrogant. Okay, maybe I was.

Even so, it was the truth.

So obviously, I’d had some good sex. My body understood what pleasure felt like.

But never before had I ever felt such a physical reaction to a person. No woman ever made my insides dip and tumble. No woman ever made my fingers shake and my breathing unsteady.

And it wasn’t just when we were in bed.

All it took was the sound of his voice. A look. A single gesture.

Trent possessed some kind of ability to turn me inside out with the greatest of ease.

That’s how I felt just then. Turned inside out. Shaken, not stirred. All because he wanted to look at me.

It was borderline insane.

But it was the best goddamned feeling I’d ever known.

“Careful.” I spoke quietly and gripped the blankets to peel them down the bed. His legs were over them, and I had to slide them from beneath his body. When his hips thrust upward making room for the blankets to move, my sight zeroed in on the rock-solid bulge beneath his tight red boxer briefs.

The way the fabric molded to his shaft, I could see the slightly larger head on the tip, and it made my mouth run dry.

I cleared my throat and forced my eyes away, back up to his face. He wasn’t watching me, but trying to disguise a grimace as he settled back against the mattress. A few curse words dropped into the air between us. I jetted forward and slid my arm and some of my shoulder beneath him. Almost instantly, he relaxed against me, allowing me to support all his considerable weight.

It was a weight I would bear willingly.

I’d bear it forever if he let me.

The thought was kind of like a bitch slap to the face. Sharp and stinging. Sometimes the truth hurt. Sometimes it took something heinous to really make everything completely clear.

I’d already known I was in love with T.

I’d fought my feelings for a long time.

We’d even begun exploring who we were to each other… And now he was hurt.

Beaten and aching.

The roughed-up shape he was in made everything so incredibly clear.

I wanted him. For now. For always.

Trent would always be my ultimate adrenaline rush. Not even a car or racetrack could beat him. He’d crossed the finish line in my heart a long time ago.

“I love you.” It came out like it was the first time I’d said it. Hell, it almost still felt like the first time.

Trent affected me profoundly. I wondered if I would ever get used to loving him or if it would always astonish me.

“Drew…” Trent warned, his voice wobbly and apprehensive.

My back and shoulder hit the headboard, but instead of easing my arm and side from underneath him, I settled back farther and spanned my fingers out at his waist, gently pushing so he would relax against me.

He did. He let me hold him. It was one of the first times we’d sat like this, with him in my arms this way. It was incredible to hold the very thing you loved most in your arms, to have it so close.

“Say it,” I whispered. “Please, frat boy.”

His back expanded against my chest when he inhaled. “I love you.”

My eyes closed, and I was glad he couldn’t see my face. I was the strong one right now, but his words… they broke me down.

My lips dropped, and I kissed the top of his shoulder as I softly looped my other arm around his waist so he was encircled.

We leaned our heads together and sat quietly while I listened to his breaths, silently making sure he was okay.

A few minutes later, he spoke. “It doesn’t change anything.”

I knew what he meant. I wanted to yell and put another fist through the wall. But I didn’t move. I sat there calmly and held him.

How did I do it?

I realized.

I felt.

Beneath all the anger, I was calm. Calm because there was no way in hell our love wouldn’t win out. We’d already been to hell and back just to make it to our first kiss.

Just because I wasn’t confused anymore didn’t mean Trent wasn’t. He was battling inside himself. He was battling against the past and his future.

“We’re not going to talk about that tonight.” I stroked a hand across his hip.

Tonight wasn’t caught up in the past or the future. Tonight was just the present.

And presently, I was going to love him.

Gingerly, I moved out from beneath him to pull up the covers around his legs. It wasn’t lost on me his cock was still hard (I had that effect on him), and I knew from experience (he had the same effect on me) it was probably painful.