Page 70 of Forbidden Romeo
Those words sent a spike of heat straight through me. I pushed up to my elbows, capturing her mouth eagerly.
When we finally broke apart, gasping for air, I rested my forehead against hers. Her eyes were still closed, lips kiss-swollen and cheeks flushed. “You love me,” I repeated, then felt her nod. “But,” I added, “you’re still mad at me.”
Silently, she pulled back like I’d burned her.
She also didn’t deny it.
“You’re still mad at me. And I don’t want our first time together and your first time ever to be when you’re mad. We can’t have any regrets about our first time, okay?”
Katherine nodded slowly, her expression softening as she took in my words. "You're right," she said after a moment.
I let out a breath, relieved she understood. And truthfully, I didn’t know how much more fight I had left in me.
"So we'll wait?" I asked after a while, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
Katherine nodded, turning her head to press her lips to my palm. "We'll wait," she confirmed. “But not for too long, right? I think I’m the only virgin left at this school.”
I chuckled and pulled her close, breathing in the sweet floral scent of her hair. “I don’t think I can last too much longer, Katherine.”
“Well, no one is asking you to be a martyr,” Katherine teased, her fingers skimming over my bare chest.
“Trust me. You’ll thank me someday. You don’t want to end up like me. Hating the person who took your virginity. The person who was supposed to love you.”
Katherine’s mouth twisted into a frown and I hated seeing that pitied expression.
My godmother’s face flashed into my memory.
History had a vicious way of repeating itself.
But not this time. Not if I could help it.
CHAPTER 27
The thing about growing up in a bar is you watch people’s addictions and get to know the habits pretty quickly. Night after night, I watched one of our regulars come in and drink beer after beer after beer and leave barely buzzed. I watched a group of nurses come every Thirsty Thursday and have their happy hour get together… all the while not realizing that one of their coworkers was in our bar every day after her shift, usually drinking the equivalent to a bottle of wine. To the rest of her friend group, she was just a once-a-week warrior. To me? She was the saddest addict I’d ever seen.
Then there was our local dentist. One of our only patrons who didn’t come for the drinks so much as he came for the privacy. Dad’s pub wasn’t ever the hottest spot in town and if you were at a certain status in our little town of Indiana, you wouldn’t be caught dead in our bar.
Except for Dr. Marin.
And our pub was where he’d take his affairs. His addiction was far from a substance… but it was there, nonetheless.
And right now? I’m the addict.
And Holden is my drug of choice.
Now that I have him back, I cannot imagine life without him. I can’t see myself breathing without him near me. Even now, standing in the wings, fifteen minutes to places on our opening night, my thoughts are consumed with him.
My nerves are out of control and I pace in the wings, my hands twisting and turning in agitation. Jittery and desperate like an addict in withdrawal, I ache to bury my nose in his neck and inhale his spiced scent to calm me down. My eyes dart wildly around backstage, swinging to Holden’s closed dressing room door at the end of the hall, searching for any sign of him. My trembling lips betray my inner turmoil, quivering as I take quick breaths.
I hate feeling this way. I hate relying on him so heavily.
“For the love of God, Kate, are you okay?” I startle and spin around to find McCay there, irritation leaking into her expression.
“Sorry,” I say quickly.
As I suck in a sharp breath, the scent of sweat and hairspray fills the air, mixing with the faint aroma of flowers from the bouquet on the nearby table nearly makes me break out in a fit of coughs.
McCay studies me for a quick moment with narrowed eyes before turning over her shoulder to Maggie. “Give us a moment?” Maggie nods and scurries off.