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  “You won’t,” he promised as her fingers dug into his skin, and a certain kind of peace fell over him as a sigh left his lips.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she reminded him, and he looked over his shoulder at her.

  “I promise you won’t get slut on you,” he said sternly and she rolled her eyes.

  “Whatever. Stop talking to me, please,” she said with a sigh before getting to work on his leg.

  Watching as she moved her hands along his thigh, down by his knee and then his hamstring, he admired her beauty and the little wrinkle her nose was in. She was frustrated with him, a normal occurrence. Her shoulders were taut, the veins in her skin visible as she moved her hands along his leg. She was so strong, so gorgeous and…not his.

  “So tell me about your boyfriend,” he said, using the word loosely. He could tell she was trying way too hard with the douche. He knew what she looked like when she was in love. He’d stared into those love-filled eyes for months, trying to ignore them, and then ultimately pushing them away.

  She glanced up at him and glared. “No.”

  “What? Scared I’ll get my feelings hurt?”

  “You don’t have feelings, Jordie. You’re allergic to them,” she said simply, her hand digging deeper into his skin.

  He smiled, covering the grimace that was surfacing. She did her job great, but she had always been a little rough. “That’s not true. I have feelings for you.”

  She paused and looked up at him. “Wanting to fuck me may be a feeling but not the feelings I want.”

  He held her gaze. “Oh, you want them all right, you just don’t like that you do.”

  “You know nothing about me,” she sneered, tearing her gaze from his. “And you know nothing about my relationship with Liam. He’s a good guy, I like him.”

  “Maybe, but you don’t feel an ounce of what you feel when you’re with me.”

  She looked back up at him. “That’s a bold, cocky statement.”

  “I’m nothing but bold and cocky.”

  “And a heartbreaker, a liar, and a deceitful pig,” she informed him and he smiled, not letting any of that bother him. That was old Jordie. New Jordie was none of those things…. Well, maybe a pig because he sure did have a hard-on just from the feel of her hands.

  “I always thought you loved the pig in me?” he teased and she glared.

  “I did, but the other two, plus the rejection, are a little hard to forget,” she said coldly. “Liam is none of those things. He is sweet.”

  “And a fucking pansy. He won’t ever fuck you like I can.”

  She didn’t even flinch, she only held his gaze. “Probably not, but at least he won’t break my heart,” she said quickly, her eyes diverting down to the leg she was working on. “And in case you didn’t know this, I’m not looking for a fuck. That boat has sailed. I’m looking for forever.”

  So was he, but he wouldn’t say that when she was with someone else. Instead, he laughed before saying, “And you think that asshole is forever?”

  “He could be,” she snapped back, and that only made Jordie laugh harder.

  “Sugar thighs, if he is your forever, then I don’t know you at all,” he said and she looked back at him. Her eyes were full of so much sorrow and pain that it took his breath away.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Because if you knew me, you’d know I thought you were my forever. But you smashed that dream quick, huh?”

  That hit him square in the chest, leaving him breathless as she held his gaze. Slowly he sat up, turning out of her hands, unable to keep it in any longer. He had to tell her that she was his forever. Yeah, he’d wanted to wait until doucheface was out of the picture, but she had to know that he felt the same. That he did know, he’d just tried to fight it.

  He had to tell her now.

  “Kace—”

  “Hey, babe, you almost done?”

  Jordie held her gaze despite the interruption of Liam. He begged her with his eyes to tell Liam to go somewhere, but when he saw the tears gather in her eyes, he had to look away. Call him a coward, but when that girl cried, Jordie felt smaller than a flea.

  “Yeah, fine, Jordie was just leaving,” she said, looking toward the wall. “Let me clean up and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “All right, baby,” he said, then looked to Jordie. “She has great hands, right?”

  Jordie swallowed his explicit retort and glared as he hopped off the table, grabbing his shorts in the process.

  Looking back up at him, he said, “Fuck off, Kelly.”

  Well, he tried to swallow it.

  “Jordie!” Kacey scolded, but he ignored her as Liam sputtered, looking like a complete doofus.

  Jordie then turned to Kacey, grasping her shoulder as her eyes met his, still full of tears. Holding her gaze, he said, “I do know you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to say that.”

  Her eyes widened as she shook off his hand, her eyes turning to slits, but the sadness in them still blinded him.

  Instantly, he felt incomplete.

  She was what he needed to feel complete, but she had a barrier the size of the Great Wall around her heart and he was the one who helped build it.

  But what goes up, must come down.

  And Jordie was going to bust right through that fucking wall and get his girl.

  As Jordie walked out, his shorts in his hands and his shoulders back and taut, Kacey wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry. Alas, her boyfriend was standing in the doorway, hopelessly confused. She knew she needed to say something, anything. But not only could she not move for the simple fact she was worried she’d chase after Jordie, but she couldn’t get his words out of her head.

  I do know you, and I’m sorry it took me so long to say that.

  But really, why did Jordie have to say things like that? It made her hope that he was being true. That he really meant it. But if he did, then why did he throw her to the side the way he did? Why was he messing with her? Fucking with her head!

  But really, why did she fucking care!

  She had Liam. And he was…

  Ugh.

  “Um, Kacey, what is going on?”

  Drawing in a deep breath through her nose, she just wanted a moment. Just one. To breathe and figure out her next move. A part of her wanted to demand to know what Jordie was saying, the other part of her was scared to know. She knew Jordie, knew what he wanted from the opposite sex, so what the hell was he saying? She just wanted to know, but at the same time, she didn’t. Letting Jordie in again would be a huge mistake. One she couldn’t afford to make.

  She needed to just ignore him. Completely shut him out the way he did her. She had a good man who wanted her. She needed to stick with that because Liam wasn’t capable of what Jordie was. He also didn’t make her feel what Jordie did, but that was beside the point. She needed to stay clear of Jordie and try hard to fall for Liam. Her mother would love him, so would her father, she just knew it. She just had to let him in. Stop holding him at arm’s length and enjoy a man who actually wanted her and the things she did. It was so hard to find a man nowadays, and she was getting older. She couldn’t let him go. Not yet. Love grew, it did. And it would for her.

  Turning to do damage control, she could not only to see that his face was twisted in confusion but also that he had brought her a bouquet of wild flowers.

  Ugh, she didn’t want any more flowers.

  Shit, that made her a bitch.

  Fuck, she was trying to stop cussing.

  Shit!

  Shaking away her thoughts, she placed a smile on her face. “Oh! My fave,” she said, coming toward him and taking the flowers. Smelling them, she grinned up at him and then kissed his lips softly. “Thank you.”

  She turned, taking them to her desk, where four other bouquets were there to brighten her day. But when her eyes fell to the Snickers that looked out of place, it was what brightened her day. Jordie knew that she loved food. That it was the way to her heart. She a