Free Embrace (Evolve Series #2) by S.E. Hall

around him, my deceitful hands
running up his back.
    “And you don’t lie,” he breathes against me, “so
tell me what’s going on before I flip you over and spank that tight ass red.”
Is he trying to help or hurt his cause? ‘Cause I gotta say…my jury is still out
and my heart is actually sweating right now.
    “I went to—” Oh God , never stop doing that .
    He grinds against me, curving his body down and in
then back up, sending my mind to meltdown. “Go on,” he orders me in a deep
grumble.
    “I drove in big circles, then sat undercover in the
parking lot to think. Today was awful.”
    There . You win…you sexy, playing dirty God.
    He moves off me, dragging his fingertips down me as
he goes, and sits up beside me on the bed. “Come here,” he says faintly,
holding out his hand to pull me up. When I’m sitting up with him, he cups one
of my cheeks with his long, brilliant fingers, running his thumb along my
bottom lip. “Tell me what’s wrong, baby.” He drops a sweet kiss on the end of
my nose. “Talk to me.”
    “It’s nothing; all better now.” I attempt to climb
into his lap, wanting nothing more than for him to heal me, love me, make
everything better, but he laughs lightly and holds me back with his hands on my
shoulders.
    “No way, not until you talk. I want your all, Laney.
That means when something’s not right with you, then nothing’s right with me.”
He ducks his head and tilts it, forcing me to meet his deep brown gaze. “Tell
me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.”
    “I-I saw Evan,” I stammer lowly. “He’s coaching Whitley’s team. She picked out his new tattoo.”
    If he’d have just said it to me, I know exactly what
I’d say, so his response…I could have quoted it verbatim for him.
    “And you care why?”
    Yep, I’d say that’s about right, word for word. His
glower is angry, his eyes questioning. I don’t blame him a bit, but he asked.
In fact, he lusciously coerced me.
    This time I don’t let him stop me, I successfully
curl myself into his lap and bury my face in his neck. He smells so freaking
good and I can feel his displeased heartbeat against my chin.
    “I don’t know the right answer, and I don’t want to
make you mad,” I admit.
    The deep breath he lets out ruffles my hair. “There’s
no right or wrong answer, Laney. Just tell me exactly what you’re feeling, what
you’re thinking. I’m so sick of talking about him I could rage, but I know it’s
a whole new level of difficult since he’s here now. So let’s do this one more
time; let’s talk.” He kisses my forehead, gliding his hand along the back of my
hair, telling me it’s okay, that he wants to hear what’s inside me because he
wants to live there too.
    “I love you. You are my fire, my intensity, my must
have, my awakening,” I say sincerely. “You’re the lap I always want to cuddle
in, the lips I want to kiss, the mind I want to challenge, the laugh I want to
draw out. Okay?”
    The smile that lights up his face and the secure
calmness that takes over those deep brown eyes is breathtaking. “I know, baby.
I love you, too, so much. And later, I want you to moan all of that in my ear,
over and over, while I make love to your sweet body all night long. But right
now, I want to figure this shit out so we can move on.”
    Well who the hell can think when he says things like
that? I clench my thighs together, tightening my grip around his neck.
    “Fine,” I huff out, “I’m jealous that he’s doing
shit with her and he’s not even my friend anymore. It pisses me off that my
best friend inked up his fucking chest and I didn’t even know. But most of all,
I hate that one of the most wonderful people in the whole world hates me.” One
lone tear dares to drop out of my eye and I feel him startle when the moisture
hits his skin. “Usually I don’t care what people think of me, but someone like
Evan, well, you give a shit if he thinks badly of you. It means you really are
a