35. Emmett
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
EMMETT
S he’s pulling away from me.
It was obvious as soon as I rolled off her and pulled her into my arms while we caught our breath.
Maybe someone else would have missed the signs, as subtle as they were. But I’ve been following Waverly for years, and I know every single one of her tells.
She rolls away from me, tugging the sheet over herself to cover her naked body from my view, as if I haven’t just been staring at it for the last hour.
Her eyes look anywhere but at me. The wall. The bed. The toys across the room. And worst of all, the door. She’s waiting for her chance to run, and I’ll have to let her go.
Chasing her could cost me my membership at the club, and then how would I protect her? It would make it so easy for her to avoid me if I couldn’t get to her in her workplace and allow Kade a chance to swoop in and take her from me.
That may be the only positive of us being identical twins. She would probably think it was me pretending I had a twin to get close to her again.
“Waverly?” I say softly as I tug her back against my body. “Are you okay, love?”
“Yep.” She forces as much confidence into the word as she can muster, but there’s an edge of sadness she can’t hide from me.
“Want to try that again?” I rumble.
She’s silent for a moment, but she doesn’t reply. Instead, she pushes herself up and slips from the bed without a word. She finds her panties and bra without too much trouble, but her dress is under a pile of my clothes, meaning she has to spend a few moments looking for it. Her distraction gives me a chance to follow her across the room without her noticing.
I grasp her around the waist and tug her against me. “Don’t run, Little Temptress,” I whisper against the shell of her ear. “I know that’s what you do. I know you don’t think this can be anything more than one night, but it can. Let me prove it to you.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “This was fun, but I can’t have a relationship right now.”
She shoves against my arms, but I can’t find it in me to let her go. She feels too fucking right against me.
“Please, Waverly. Give us a shot. Please.”
“I can’t, Emmett. I can’t.” She ducks out of my hold and dips to pick up her dress before quickly tugging it over her head.
She moves so quickly that I don’t have a chance to do so much as pull on my pants before she has her handbag in hand, and she looks over her shoulder at me. Her eyes are full of regret and sadness, tears brimming at the edges as she swallows heavily around them. “I’ll see you around.”
And then she’s gone.
“Fuck!” I roar, my body trembling with anger with every second that she gets further away.
I knew this was a risk. Hell, it’s one I planned for. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t fucking hurt. Can’t she see how badly I want her? Doesn’t she recognize how far I would go to keep her safe?
No, because she doesn’t know what you’ve done for her. She doesn’t know the things you’ve done to keep her safe.
But she will.
Soon she’ll know there’s no escaping me.