I know without a doubt he’s lying to me.

I open my mouth to call him out on it, but it’s suddenly filled with his tongue as he crashes his mouth down on mine. His hands remain around my throat, thumbs under my chin to hold me in place. He plunges deeply into me, carnally invading my mouth, even as one thumb snakes up and strokes me along my jawline. The frantic nature of his kiss, along with the tender stroking of my skin, causes my head to spin and lust to course through me.

It’s coursing through Alex too, because I feel him grow hard against me.

He’s distracting me—I know it. He doesn’t want to talk about the reasons he bolted out of bed. I decide not to pursue it because I’m immensely grateful he didn’t bolt out of my house. He’s back…in my bedroom, in my arms, and he still very much wants me.

Well, he wants my body.

Alex is so skillful in the way he kisses me—and my body is so reactive—I let him have me.

I let him distract me, and I choose not to worry about all of the ways that Alex still is not opening up to me.

***

As we lie in each other’s arms, I immerse myself in the feeling of security Alex is making me feel at this moment. Our bodies have quieted from our last round of sex, which showcased a very in-control Alex who was intent on making me remember the glory of frenzied lust.

He growled the dirtiest things in my ear while he pounded into me. He kissed me roughly, biting and sucking at my tender skin. After an orgasm that almost lifted my entire body off the mattress, even with Alex’s heavy weight on me, I almost cried out in relief when he pulled me into his arms and held me close.

He didn’t run, and maybe I was just imagining the cold shoulder from earlier in the evening.

I was getting drowsy but I didn’t want to fall asleep. We may have caught up on the sex we had missed out on, but I wanted to talk to Alex.

“Thanksgiving is coming up,” I tell him as my finger traces circles around one of his ni**les. My head is resting in the cradling valley between his shoulder and chest, with an arm holding me tight.

“And this means what to a Canadian?” he teases.

“Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving,” I tell him firmly.

“Yeah, but not in November,” he argues.

“Did you celebrate it this year?”

“Nope,” he says. “Not my kind of holiday.”

“And why is that?”

Shrugging his shoulders, he says, “It’s a family holiday and I’m not close with my family.”

“Well, Thanksgiving isn’t just about family. It’s also about spending time with friends. So, you are coming to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my family next week.”

“I can’t,” he says with what I’m grateful to note is actually a bit of sadness. “We have a game on Thanksgiving Day.”

“I know. Jim-Dad noticed that when my mom suggested you come and she said we’ll just do Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday.”

“No way,” Alex says suddenly. “You are not moving a family holiday to accommodate my schedule.”

“Shut up,” I tell him firmly. “It’s a done deal and if you want to argue about it, you need to call my mom and argue with her.”

I literally can hear Alex snap his lips shut, on the verge of arguing with me, but I also feel his muscles relax even farther into our post-coital bliss.

“Fine,” he grouses, but when I tilt my head up to look at him, I see the smile on his face. “You think we can invite Garrett too?

“Absolutely, although I think having Alex Crossman and Garrett Samuelson in his home is likely to cause Glenn to stroke out.”

Chuckling, Alex rolls toward me, dislodging my perch on his body. He brings his free arm around my waist and pulls me into the warmth of his body. Our faces just inches apart, he tells me softly, “I lucked out when I met you, Sutton.”

I close my eyes briefly, just so I can memorize the look on his face right now and the reverence in his voice. It seems to dispel most of the doubts I was feeling earlier, but I’m still cautious that there is a part of Alex that is locked away tight. I know I didn’t imagine the fear on his face earlier, following what was an intensely intimate moment between us.

For now, though…I’ll take these words and I’ll live off them.

Chapter 21

Alex

“I think I might barf,” Jim Murdock says with a groan as he slides his chair back from the dining room table and stretches his legs out. “Is it bad manners to unbutton my pants in front of our guests?”

“It’s bad manners to unbutton your pants at the table, regardless if guests are here or not,” Penny Murdock says sternly, even though she has mischief dancing in her eyes.

I feel like I’m going to barf too, I ate so much food, but damn, Sutton’s mom can f**king cook. I couldn’t stop eating, and as Garrett groans across the table from me, I can see he’s as miserable as I am.

“Well, the food was amazing, Penny,” I tell her as I push my own chair back and stretch out just a bit. “I ate way too much.”

“I was just trying to keep up with this little garbage-gut beside me,” Garrett says as he nudges Glenn with his elbow.

The kid gives Garrett a starry-eyed look and blushes scarlet. “No way. You’re like ten times bigger than me and ate way more than I ever could.”

“You are cold trippin’, kid,” Garrett says with mock anger. “You ate like five plates of food. I only had two.”