The deep promise in his words sent a shiver down my spine.

I stopped trying to get away when his fingers locked around my wrist. The warmth of his hands lit my body up, even on a hot summer morning. Every cell called out for him. I’d known I’d hurt him, had seen it that night, but when I had touched my lips to his and apologized, the raw pain in his eyes had been enough to take my breath away. Somehow I’d let myself believe his anger was more out of embarrassment and resentment, not rooted in those same emotions I’d seen in his eyes when he’d told me he’d forgive me if I told him my nonexistent cheating had been a mistake.

But it was still there, so close to the surface I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it before. Maybe I’d ignored it on purpose, not wanting to believe I could inflict that much pain on someone I loved so much.

I glanced back over my shoulder. He sat up straighter, not letting me go. Even after everything we’d done, there was still desire in his eyes.

The soreness between my legs didn’t stop the aching from coursing through my skin.

“You can’t run away from this.” He settled against my back. Heavy and muscled, his arms wrapped around me, tugging me to his chest.

I dropped my head. The answers he wanted were ones I couldn’t give him.

“I’m not running.”

“Yes, you are. Look at me, Avery.”

I kept my eyes fixed on the beige carpet under the foot I’d managed to get off the bed. I hadn’t had a choice back then. His parents’ blistering words hung in the back of my mind. “You don’t understand what our son needs, and one day he’ll realize it too.” And the deal they’d offered me was one I couldn’t turn down. Guilt gnawed at my stomach.

Capturing my chin between his fingers, Emmett turned my head so I was forced to meet his gaze.

“I’m not letting you run away.”

I tipped my chin up. His breath fanned across my face, across my lips. I wanted to taste him, feel him on me like I’d taken for granted before. Once wasn’t enough. His smell was so ingrained in me it felt like coming home, the urge so powerful it brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to believe him, but I knew the stakes for us both. There were so many things I couldn’t tell him. The universe had given us a cruel path forward that could only lead to heartbreak, and I’d only sped things up before he realized just how little we had in common, how much of what he thought about me was a facade I’d put up to hide behind.

“We shouldn’t have done this.”

His head jerked back. “We never should have stopped. I’m not going to stop now.” His hoarse whisper broke the thin line between us, snapped it in half, and then his lips were on mine. The fiery passion that had been hidden away, brewing for so long, now crested over in the waves of our desire.

My hands pressed against his solid chest and his went around the back of my neck, holding on to me like he was afraid I might evaporate into thin air. I held on to him because I feared the same thing. Maybe I’d hit my head and wasn’t actually back in his arms, feeling and tasting him.

If it was a dream, I was going all in for the time being, something we’d both been denied, something he needed.

One of my hands dipped down low, palming his solid erection. He groaned against my lips, dropping a hand from my neck. His fingers trailed along my back and up my spine as he pressed his body closer, pulling me tighter against him with my arm trapped between us.

“If I have to do this all day and night, I’ll make sure you don’t ever think this is a mistake.”

Our bodies slammed together, writhing and trembling in a sweaty, gasping heap. I drifted to sleep with my head against his chest like I’d done many times before, too many times to count. His heartbeat was a lullaby etched on my heart.

He’d been so overwhelmed by my confession he hadn’t asked the questions I’d run from for so long. The questions would come eventually, though, and I didn’t know if I could answer them because the answers might hurt him even more than I had already.

Percy sputtered up to the front steps of Emmett’s house. I climbed out of the car and unlocked the heavy frosted glass door with the key he’d given me a long time ago. This was why I hated staying over—I always forgot something. Emmett was at an away game and I needed my physics homework. I’d already been late with so many assignments, another would mean I’d fail the grading period, which would mean no graduation, and I couldn’t let that happen.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I rushed up to Emmett’s bedroom. My notebook and textbook peeked out from under the bed. Indecision warred in me once I grabbed the books—go home to finish my work or just stay there. I didn’t like being in the house without him; it was so big and empty, though not of possessions. There were plenty of those—paintings, custom furniture, sculptures, and who knows what else tucked away—but that didn’t mean the house looked like anything other than a museum. The only room with any signs of life was his bedroom.

Still, my dad was home and Alyson wasn’t, and that answered the question for me. Dropping my backpack on the floor, I sat at his desk and worked through the problem sets I hadn’t finished. It was so quiet, it made it easy to quickly finish the last of them. Tucking my things into my backpack, I zipped it shut and glanced around Emmett’s room. It had held so many special memories, so much time. I ran my hands over the bedspread. What would happen when he went away to college? Maybe the next time he jokingly asked me to marry him, I would just say yes.

He wasn’t serious. Even though he said he was, how could he be? We were still so young, and there were so many things about myself I never let him see.

My stomach grumbled. If Emmett hadn’t already demolished the entire tray, I knew there should be a container of chocolate chip cookies downstairs. Slinging my backpack onto my shoulder, I went in search of some baked goodness.

“Yes!” I spotted the container and ripped off the lid. Stacking three in my palm, I stuck another one in my mouth, taking a big bite. Even though they were my own concoction, I had to say they were damn good cookies.

Holding the treat between my teeth, I reached for the front doorknob but it turned before I could touch it. A large shadowed figure loomed on the other side of the glass door. Had Emmett’s game been canceled?

I stepped back and the door opened. My throat tightened.

The shrewd and icy cold gazes of two people I’d avoided at all costs zeroed in on me. I took the cookie out of my mouth, choking down what was already in my mouth.

“Mr. and Mrs. Cunning, what are you doing here?” My stomach coiled into a tight knot that was so much worse than the hunger.

His mom arched her eyebrow even higher. “I think that should be our question to you.”

His dad closed the door behind them. My avenue of escape was blocked.

“I left one of my textbooks here. I came back to get it.”

“Where is Emmett?”

My eyebrows furrowed. “He’s in Pittsburg.”

They looked at me, even more confused than I was.

“For his game? The semi-finals for the state championship…” I wished I could have gone, but I had to work. Why the hell weren’t they there, though? Unfortunately, it was a refrain I defaulted to often when I saw how much their absence got to Emmett, how much it hurt him. He tried to hide it, but I saw the truth.

“Right.” His mom dropped her bag on the table beside the door.

“It was nice seeing you both, but I should get going.”

I took a deep breath and climbed the two steps just inside the front door.

“You do know you’re not going to get your hands on this family’s money, right?”

My shoulders straightened and I spun on my heel.

“Excuse me?” My heart pounded. I should have bolted the second I had the chance.

“I know you think you’ve sunk your claws into a real meal ticket with Emmett, but this is nothing more than a high school dalliance for him, his other-side-of-the-tracks fantasy.”

“What?”

“I said, you’re not getting your grubby little hands on any Cunning money.”

“What makes you think I have any intentions of taking anything from Emmett? Why do you even care? It’s not like you’re ever here. You didn’t even know he had a game.” I fisted my hands at my sides. My dad was fucked up, but at least he had the excuse of being a junkie, not just a terrible human being. When he wasn’t drunk or using, he could actually pull off the slightest hint of the caring father routine—sometimes.

“We keep track of the important things in his life well enough,” his dad retorted dismissively.

“All I want is for Emmett to be happy. Shouldn’t that be what you want for him?”

“He has always resisted reality, and the reality is who he is and what he has will always attract those who wish to take advantage of him,” Mrs. Cunning sneered.

I stormed back down the steps, ready to go toe to toe with her. Her eyes got as wide as they could given the plastic surgery she’d had.

“I have never taken advantage of him, have never asked for a thing, and maybe if you knew your son a little better you’d know he’d never let anyone do that to him.”

“What do you call that around your neck?”

My hand shot to the key pendant hanging from the thin chain. I’d been washing dishes at the sink a few weeks ago when he’d come up behind me and slipped it around my neck. Clasping it, he’d run his fingers along the chain and peppered my back with kisses. I’d tried to give it back, but he can be persuasive when he wants to be.

“Do you know how much that little piece cost?”

I snapped my jaw shut tight and wrapped my hand tighter around the key dotted with what I’d hoped were cubic zirconia but knew weren’t.

“Let’s just say it’s probably half a year’s salary for a janitor.” Her cold stare sent a shiver down my spine. So different from Emmett. If I’d found out he was adopted, I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised.

“I didn’t ask for this. I’ve never asked for anything from him.”

“No? I bet you’re just waiting for the right moment, lying in wait to try to steal from this family.” Mr. Cunning came to stand beside her.

“I’ve never stolen anything in my life.” I hated how their hard gazes made me feel—like I wasn’t good enough, like I’d never measure up.

Her eyes darted down to my hand.

“I made these. I made them here with Emmett.” The chocolate chips melted against my palm, dirtying my hands.

“I’d hate for your father’s position to be threatened because his daughter insisted on grasping at those above her station.”

My blood boiled. Who actually said things like that? We weren’t in some Victorian-era TV show. Even so, the threat landed solidly, sending the air whooshing out of my lungs.

“We take it you’ll be able to see yourself out.” His dad’s voice snapped me out of my stunned silence.

They were threatening my dad’s job, the one we needed to keep Alyson in school. My cookies crumbled in my hand and fell to the gravel outside the house as I walked away on numb legs, not even closing the front door behind me.

I sat behind the wheel and wiped my hands on my jeans. Tears I hadn’t let gather inside built up. I drove down their tree-lined driveway, the shade that covered it feeling like impending doom gathering overhead. Pulling off to the side of the road, I punched my steering wheel, and Percy let out a small yelp. With my head resting against the wheel, the tears fell.

What was I supposed to do?

I ran my fingers along his chest, his breathing steady under me. His parents’ threat against my dad and Alyson didn’t hold any water anymore, but what happened if Emmett’s parents found out I was back with him? He was finally getting close to them, and telling him that part of why I’d walked away would make him choose, would force him to make a decision that would taint anything we tried to start. It could also lead him to leave me behind in the dust, and really there was no doubt in my mind it would. Taking the happiness at spending time with his parents away from him seemed cruel after him wanting that relationship for so long. And how did I explain the money to him? The deal with his parents struck for my cooperation? That was a betrayal he’d never forgive. Where did that leave us? Was there an ‘us’? What happened when the summer was over?