Page 52 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

I met his gaze for an instant and dropped it.

“Fuck it.”He crossed the space between us in two strides, hauled me against him, and kissed me like a man starving after years of pretending he wasn’t hungry.My back struck the side of the house hard enough to sting, but the discomfort vanished beneath the wildfire ripping through me.

He held my face like something precious while his mouth claimed mine.

I kissed him back.The kiss turned hungry fast.Messy.Breathless.His body pressed into mine like he couldn’t get close enough, and every drag of his mouth sent heat spiraling lower in my stomach.

When he finally broke away, it was only far enough to breathe against my lips.His forehead dropped to mine, chest heaving.

“Tell me to stop,” he said hoarsely, already kissing me again before I could answer.He kissed down my neck, stopping with his forehead resting against my shoulder, like he needed the contact as much as the air.

“If you don’t leave right now, I’m going to take you inside and—” His voice roughened into something almost desperate.“I’m going to erase the memory of anyone other than me.”

“I’ll regret it if you don’t.”

He sucked in a sharp breath and straightened, then let out a broken little wheeze.“Thank God.”

A soft laugh escaped me, shaky around the edges.I slid my fingers into his hair and brushed it back from his forehead, lingering there longer than necessary, wanting to smooth away wounds I hadn’t been there to protect him from.

His brow furrowed beneath my touch.“Gia…” His voice quieted.“Do you want to leave or go inside?”

The question punched straight through me.“I want to be here.”My throat tightened.“I’m just…scared.”

His entire expression changed instantly.“I’d never hurt you.Never.Never like—” He stopped himself.“Not ever.”

“Not that.Never that.”I swallowed against the knot in my throat.“You fight, yeah.But I’ve never been afraid of you that way.”My fingers curled lightly against his neck.“That’s not what scares me.”

He kissed me once, soft this time, like he was afraid to push too hard.“What is it?”

“I’m scared I won’t be enough for you.”My chest tightened so hard it hurt.“That when you touch me, some part of you will remember women who knew what they were doing.Or women who were prettier…better.”

I hated giving voice to my insecurity.Yet, it felt good to drag it into the open.I’d never shared it with Justin.Somehow, he’d seen my weakness and by the end knew exactly how to weaponize it.

His hands came up, framing my face.“Who made you to think so little of yourself?”

I looked down.“Justin, my ex, always said I was missing something.That I wasn’t…” My voice failed me.

His fingers tipped my chin up, gentle but unyielding, making me meet his eyes.They burned bright with emotion.

“You’reenoughfor me.”His voice came rough.“More than enough.”

The words hit somewhere deep and bruised, a place that had been starving so long it didn’t know how to believe it was finally being fed.

I leaned in and kissed him, one hand sneaking up under his t-shirt to run along the hot skin of his back.“Take me inside.”

I expected clothes to start flying the second we got through the door.Part of me was relieved when they didn’t.Part of me was disappointed.Beneath both sat something uglier—fear.

I wasn’t ashamed of my body.But I also wasn’t sixteen anymore.Life had left its fingerprints on me.There were scars no one saw and softer places where youth had once been taut and effortless.I felt exposed in a way that had nothing to do with nakedness.

Timothy caught my hand and led me into his bedroom.The door had barely shut and locked before he tipped my chin up.“Nope,” he murmured gently.“You’re not disappearing into your head on me.”

He drew me closer until my breasts touched his chest, and I was aware that only thin layers of fabric separated us.The solid reality of his arms around my body grounded me.

I let my hands wander over him because touching him was easier than being touched by what I felt.I traced the hard planes of muscle beneath his shirt, brushed my fingertips over his tight nipples, and smiled softly when his breath caught sharp in his chest.

“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered.My fingers kept moving, memorizing him.“Maybe even more than I remember.”

His expression broke my heart a little.“It’s only a shell,” he said quietly, breaths uneven.