Page 35 of Wild Obsession
Chapter Fourteen
Chantel
The backyard was quiet,but it sure as hell wasn’t peaceful.This silence was weighted with all the things we hadn’t said.
Dylan was stretched out on the blanket beside me, eyes on the stars, beer in hand, looking every bit the man who’d rather be alone.
Which, honestly, pissed me off a little.
I’d spent half the drive here telling myself I wasn’t coming to save him, and the other half knowing I absolutely was.
And now here I was, and my presence didn’t seem to make a bit of difference.He was worse than I’d hoped.More withdrawn.More tangled up in Jamie than I’d wanted to believe.
Did he still love her?Probably.I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise just to make myself feel better.
But I was the one on his blanket tonight, so I’d work with what I had.
“Was it a nice wedding?”He finally broke the silence.
“It was.”I turned my gaze from the spectacle of the heavens above us, to the spectacular man at my side.“But you don’t really want to talk about that, do you?”
“No, not really.I just figure I’ll hear about it eventually.This town is full of people who know practically everything about everyone, and they all love to talk about it.I’d rather hear about it from someone I respect and trust.”
Respect and trust.
God, this man.A lump formed in my throat as I rolled onto my side and propped my head on my hand, studying him in the moonlight.
Three months had passed since that day in Jamie’s kitchen, and I’d thought about him more than I wanted to admit.Nearly every damn day.
Which was so far out of the ordinary, I’d started worrying something was wrong with me.
I didn’t fixate on people.On work, yes.But random encounters with men?Never.Especially not when the man was as emotionally unavailable as Dylan.
I’d tried brushing it off as novelty.The intensity of the experience.The way he’d handled me like no one before, anticipating my needs before I even knew them.
But it was more than that, and I’d known it even before the first orgasm had faded.
Heat coiled through me now just thinking about it.“You realize the only thing you really know about me is how divine my pussy tastes.”
“That’s not true.”His gaze didn’t stray from the stars, but his mouth twitched at the corner, a smile breaking through his guarded expression.“I know you live in Montreal.I know that you’re really dedicated to your job.And I know that you make a sexy little moaning sound right before you come.It sounds like you’re begging for it.It’s hot as fuck.”
“Mon dieu.”I laughed, not the least bit embarrassed.“That’s all you’ve got?But you say you trust me?”
“I’d trust you with my life.”The quiet way he said it almost knocked the breath out of me.“You don’t trust me?”
“I do.Probably more than I should.”God, why had I admitted that?If I gave him any more of myself, it might just ruin me.
But lying in his backyard with my heels kicked off and his big, solid body next to mine, it was harder than usual to hold things back.“I’m an inherently skeptical person.When I’m told I can’t or shouldn’t do something, I want to prove that I can.”
“Don’t you get tired of it, though?”His warm brown eyes finally met mine.“I’m sick of trying to prove myself all the time.”
A pain bloomed in my chest, and that fucking lump was back in my throat.“So stop.”
“That’s a hell of a lot easier said than done,” he huffed.
“True.”I shifted closer and pressed my palm flat against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart under my hand.
“But you can’t change the way the world sees you,” I murmured.“You can try, but people will only ever see the things they want.The only opinion you control is your own, and the only person you can make happy is you.So stop doing something that makes you so fucking miserable.”
