No one in my life had ever done that. Not even my sister. I was positive at that moment, when my sweet quiet Blythe was loudly telling a room of people who knew better that I was a nice guy who was treated unfairly, that I would follow her off the edge of a cliff if she asked me to.

I pulled into her parking spot under the apartments and quickly got out of the car and went around to get her. She had already started to get out, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me. Then I locked the car before tucking her keys into my pocket.

“Come on,” I said gently, and threaded my hand through hers. She wasn’t as stiff as before, but she wasn’t warming up to me either. She let me hold her hand, but she kept her distance.

When we got to her door, I pulled out her keys and unlocked it, then I went inside, taking her with me. I went directly to the sofa and sat down while bringing her with me and tucking her into my lap. I wrapped both of my arms around her. I bent my head and rested it in the curve of her neck and throat, and inhaled her sweet scent.

I was completely obsessed with her. Addicted wasn’t a strong enough word. She had surpassed my addictive tendencies, and I was full-blown obsessed. There was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. All she had to do was ask. I would give anything up just to get to hold her like this again.

“Krit,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Yeah?” I wasn’t ready to stop smelling her yet. My lips were pressed against her soft skin, and I liked having them there.

“You have to go. You have to sing tonight,” she reminded me.

I had forgotten. I had never forgotten about a gig before, but tonight it was the last thing on my mind. There wasn’t any room for anything other than Blythe. Sighing, I leaned back, and with one hand dug my phone out of my pocket. With the other hand, I held onto her for fear she’d get up and leave me.

I pressed Green’s number.

“Tell Daisy May I said happy birthday,” Green said into the phone. “And now get your ass here.”

“I’m not coming tonight,” I told him, lifting my eyes to lock on Blythe’s.

“What? What do you mean you can’t come tonight?”

“I have something more important. Someone more important that I need right now,” I told him.

He didn’t respond, and I knew at that moment, he realized what and who I was talking about.

“Well, shit,” he grumbled. “Okay. I’ll see if they are good with me covering tonight. You go deal with—” He paused a moment. “You know what you’re doing, right? Don’t break her.”

Her big confused eyes were watching me closely. “It’s me that you should be worried about. I’d jump off a cliff, you know?”

He let out a low whistle. “Damn. Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

I ended the call and dropped the phone. Then I slipped my hand up to cup Blythe’s face. “I need you to understand something,” I told her. “From the moment you walked into my life, you have never ruined anything. You light up the things you touch. You’re gonna trust me enough to tell me why you seem to have this completely warped view of yourself. But I’ll earn that trust first.”

She leaned into my hand, and for the first time some of the tension in her body eased. “I think you’re very confused about me. I don’t know why you don’t see me correctly,” she said softly.

I hated that. I hated that she thought I saw something no one else did. My sister fell in love with her today. It was all over Trisha’s face when I walked into that kitchen. She was ready to take a side, and it wasn’t gonna be mine. And Trisha always took my side. Today she’d found someone else she was willing to turn on me for. And instead of making me mad, it made me want to laugh. It wasn’t just me Blythe charmed—it was everyone. But she didn’t f**king see it. Amanda Hardy had come close to taking a bat to me. She’d won her over in even less time.

“I’m gonna spend my life convincing you of how wrong you are,” I told her.

Blythe bit her lip and ducked her head. Dark locks fell over her face, blocking me from her eyes, and I couldn’t have that. I tucked the hair back behind her ear. I wasn’t worthy of her, but I needed her. I couldn’t keep this up. I wanted to be around her all the time. I didn’t want to have to make up excuses to see her.

“This thing with you and Linc . . . ?” I started to ask, then stopped myself. What would I do if she said they were serious? Respect that? Hell no. Linc might be right for her, but did he need her to breathe?

She shrugged. “He’s a friend. We went on two dates,” she replied.

That was enough. I didn’t want her thinking about it too much. She might realize Linc was the better option. I slid my hands into her hair and pulled her head to me. Then I cupped her face in my hands again. My heart started slamming against my ribs as her breath drifted over my skin. She was so close. So damn precious.

Tilting my head, I pressed my lips to hers, and the sharp intake of breath then immediate response from her body as her hands flew up to grab my shoulders and squeeze made me light-headed.

She tasted like warm summer sunshine and crisp apples. All the goodness I’d seen from a distance but never experienced was there with the gentle flick of her tongue against mine. I wanted to soak in this moment and devour her all at one time. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tightly to me until her chest pressed against mine and her erratic heartbeat matched my own.

I couldn’t get enough of her. I tore my mouth from hers, and a groan of protest escaped her lips as I trailed kisses down her neck. I tasted her with my tongue and ran my hands down her sides and back up again, trying so hard to keep them safe. She was innocent. If I let myself go, I would scare her, and that was the last thing I wanted. Winning her trust was everything. I wanted to be worthy of something. If I could be worthy of her trust, maybe that would make this okay.

Chapter Twelve

BLYTHE

My body was on fire. There was no other explanation. Everything was sensitive. And I mean everything. Parts of me were throbbing that I hadn’t had throb before. My br**sts felt so full and achy, I wanted to scream for Krit to help me. Each time his hands slid up my sides and his thumb came so close to brushing the side of my boobs, I stopped breathing.

That mixed with the feeling of his tongue flicking out and running over parts of my neck and collarbone was enough to cause heart failure. He was experienced. He would know if this was dangerous, right? Because I wasn’t sure I could handle much more. I needed something, but I didn’t know what or if it was normal. As good as it felt, it scared me.

The metal bar that pierced his tongue touched just under my chin as he made his way back up to my mouth. A whimper filled the room, and it took me a moment to realize that it was coming from me. I didn’t know I could make noises like those. If I wasn’t battling so hard to keep oxygen flowing in and out of my lungs, I might have been embarrassed by my reaction to his kisses. I wanted him to stop and let me breathe but then I was terrified he wouldn’t do this again.

“Sweetheart,” he said in a hoarse whisper as he nuzzled my neck and licked me again. He was being tender and gentle. I trusted him. My mind was screaming at me that I shouldn’t trust him but my heart wanted to. It wanted to so badly.

I tried to form words to tell him to slow down and give me a moment but I just pressed closer to him. His heat was the only thing my body seemed to want right now. His hand slid back up my side and this time his thumb was so close to the side of my boobs. I was wearing a bra but it wasn’t thick. I already dealt with big enough boobs I didn’t want to make them look any bigger with padded bras. So the thin fabric of my sundress and the satin of my bra wasn’t much barrier from the gentle touch of his thumb. He was almost there.

“What do you want, Blythe,” he said as he pulled my earlobe into his mouth and sucked on it causing me to tremble.

I could tell him now to stop and slow down. I could use this moment to remember why this was a bad idea. I had never done anything like this. But I didn’t. Because more than anything else I wanted his thumb to stop teasing me. I wanted his hands on my br**sts. My ni**les were aching so bad and if he didn’t grab them I was going to have to.

He ran his nose along the line from my ear to my chin, then pressed a kiss to my lips. “Tell me, sweetheart. What do you need?”

“Touch me,” I begged, too incredibly past the point of need to be humiliated.

His hands moved, and his thumb was gone, causing me to cry out in frustration. Then the zipper at the back of my dress slowly slid down, and I stopped breathing, unsure if this was what I wanted. Having his hands on me was one thing, but seeing me was another. What if he didn’t like how I looked?

I couldn’t stand the idea of him walking away and leaving me there after I had been given a taste of this. Of him. The straps of my dress fell away and slid down my arms. I kept my eyes closed tightly and tried to inhale and exhale.

“Jesus,” he said in a reverent tone that didn’t sound like he was praying at all.

I opened my eyes to see his hands cover each of my br**sts. I let out a strangled sound, and he inhaled sharply as his eyes swung up to meet mine. I needed more than that. The heat from his palm was teasing me. The achiness grew, and I felt as if my boobs had swollen under his touch.

“Always so perfect,” he muttered as he lowered his head, his eyes still locked on mine. He pressed a kiss to the top of each mound. Then finally his hands moved, gently squeezing, and then his thumbs pressed against each nipple. I let out a scream and arched into him again.

Krit’s eyes flashed brightly as if something inside of him had suddenly lit on fire. “Fuck, love,” he said right before he touched me again.

“Please,” I begged this time, then I cried out. I wasn’t sure what I was begging for, but I was desperate for it.

His hands left me, and I was ready to snatch them and put them right back, when my bra fell open and Krit was pushing it down my arms. Then it was gone.

I was bare. For the first time in my life, someone was seeing me naked. The terror that should be there wasn’t. Not with Krit. It felt right. His hands came up to cup each breast. He squeezed and inhaled sharply again as he fondled them. I began to squirm and plead. This wasn’t me at all. I couldn’t believe how I was acting.

Instead of freaking him out, my actions seemed to excite him. He began to get more aggressive as he pinched each nipple and tugged on them. He sent me into a frenzy of panting, and I had to grab his arms to keep from falling. A strange haze was coming over me, and I was scared of it and clambering closer to it all at one time. More was all I could think about.

When a wet heat pulled a nipple in, my eyes snapped open and I cried out Krit’s name. His lips were wrapped around my nipple while his eyes were locked on my face. Then he began to suck, and I lost any train of thought I had been pitifully holding onto. With each tug of his mouth, I could feel the bar in his tongue rub against my sensitive flesh. I grabbed at him as everything began to spiral out of control around me. I was going under, but the pleasure coursing through me made me not care where it was I was falling. Grabbing handfuls of Krit’s hair, I began crying out his name and holding him to me. I couldn’t bare the idea that he might stop this. Nothing had ever been this amazing.

The flame that was consuming me burst wide open and swallowed me as I trembled and lost all conscious thought other than the blissful wonder that had taken over my body.

Slowly, the wonderment began to fade as I sank back to Earth. My head was tucked against Krit’s chest, and one of his hands was wrapped tightly around me while the other one caressed my back in lazy strokes. I didn’t move. I liked the way it felt being held like this.

I would have to face him soon enough. Right now I wanted everything he was willing to give before he got up and walked out of there. I knew without a doubt this was not a “friend” thing. It wasn’t okay for friends to do what we had done. Yet I had begged him to touch me. I had pushed him to do what he’d done.