Once we were seated with two steaming mugs of coffee before us, Allie looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something. Only I had no idea what to say.
Admit that I cared for him? Where would that get me? Maybe it was better to let her think it was a moment of weakness, purely physical between us. Hell, maybe it had been. The truth was, I had no idea what was going on inside Cannon’s head right now. I only knew that he hadn’t tried to come after me, hadn’t told Allie to get out and mind her own business.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am,” I said, apologizing again.
Allie shifted in her seat, crossing her legs as she studied me. “How long exactly have you been sleeping with my brother?”
“It started a little while ago. We’re friends, and then with us living together, it evolved into something more.”
“More as in . . . you care for him? You want him to make sacrifices and stay behind now?”
I shook my head. “I care about him, yes, but I would never make demands of him like that.”
Allie let out a deep exhale, her grip tightening around her mug. “I have no idea what to say, Paige. I never imagined a scenario where you were hooking up with my little brother behind my back.”
Embarrassment washed over me like a tidal wave. Unsure how to respond, I took a sip of hot coffee, burning the tip of my tongue. I was pretty sure that was karma.
I set down the mug in front of me. “What happens now?”
Allie’s gaze drifted out the window of the coffee shop to where pedestrians and college kids were navigating our still-sleepy city. “Honestly? I’m not sure, Paige. Seeing you two in bed together isn’t just something I can erase.”
I nodded. This wasn’t like the time I spilled marinara on her favorite white silk blouse. That was fixed with a visit to the dry cleaner’s, and then we were good again. I had a feeling this would take a little while. I’d broken her trust. I couldn’t just snap my fingers and make it all better.
“I need some time,” she said. “And I still need to talk to Cannon. Find out what the fuck the little dipshit was thinking.”
That made two of us.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Paige
Tears welled in my eyes, and I sank onto the couch as my legs gave out. Cannon had taken physical comfort from me in a time of stress. I’d wanted to prove his theory wrong and rack up a few orgasms in the process. We had both used each other. And now it was over.
But he’d crossed the line when he told me he loved me, made me believe he wanted to be with me. I was a quick lay, and that was all it was. Then why say all those things he could never take back? Why tell me he loved me? Those words on his lips had been the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard, everything I’d ever dreamed about, yet never hoped for.
My heart hurt. My body was sore from his rough, punishing thrusts. It was like there was no escaping, no forgetting even the smallest of details about last night. Except he’d forgotten the entire thing. He’d been drunk, I knew that, but I never imagined he’d forget such a crucial detail.
Losing Cannon before I ever really had him was the most painful thing in my small world.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Cannon
It had been a mere twenty-four hours since Allie had caught me with Paige.
That night had been perfect. After a grueling couple of days, I’d gone to Paige needing her sweet comfort. And it had felt so right, so amazing, that I couldn’t hold my feelings inside any longer. I’d told her I loved her.
It wasn’t something I had planned on telling her—fuck, it wasn’t even something I’d planned on admitting to myself—yet there it was. And she’d merely clung to me, enjoying the pleasure I delivered, but not once voicing her own feelings. But what had I expected? This was never supposed to be about love. She’d ridden out the pleasure, milking me, loving me with her body but never with her words.
Christ, taking her bareback was an experience I’d ever forget. The way she’d sighed and softly moaned my name when I entered her, the tight grip of her body strangling my cock, the way her restless hips had thrust toward mine every time I slid back . . . she was perfection. And then Allie found us together and everything had turned to shit.
Allie was beyond pissed, and maybe I should have felt guilty about that, but Paige and I were grown-ups. We knew the score when we started this. Shit, Paige was practically the one who’d seduced me. Told me there was no way she’d fall in love with me.
I guess she was right.
The truth was I’d wanted her since I laid eyes on her when she answered the door that first day. I would never have acted on it, though, if she hadn’t suggested we hook up. And if we’d never gone there, if I’d never gotten to hold her in the dark, never entered her tight, warm body, I wouldn’t be so utterly messed up right now. She’d wrecked me.
It was easy to tell myself I was staying with my mom because she needed me, but the truth was my decision was motivated by the need to give Paige some space.