She responded simply by grasping onto me tighter, bucking her hips and guiding my body. I wanted so badly for her to return those three words back to me. Instead, she remained silent until I felt wetness on my shoulders.

She was crying.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

My heart was beating faster. Had I been delusional in thinking that she was handling everything okay? Was it all unraveling?

When I slowed my movements, she muttered, “Don’t stop, Graham. Please don’t stop.”

Frustrated, I picked up the pace, fucking her harder than I meant to. She screamed out in pleasure as her muscles pulsated around my cock. I came so hard, emptying inside of her.

Our chests rose and fell as we panted on top of one another.

She looked into my eyes for the longest time and seemed to be struggling with her words. What she finally said nearly undid me.

“Your name may not be tattooed over my heart, but it will always be etched into my soul. I’ve spent over two decades thinking I was incapable of being loved. Thank you for proving me wrong. You’ve changed my life.”

Even though it didn’t contain the three words I hoped to hear, in many ways, it meant even more.

We made love three more times that night, each time more intense than the last. While Soraya finally fell asleep in my arms, a foreboding feeling kept me awake.

***

OVER THE NEXT WEEK, it started to become clear that I’d had good reason to be worried. Soraya gave me a different story every night as to why she couldn’t see me.

Her sister needed help moving.

Her mother wanted to go shopping.

She had plans with Tig and Delia.

Dread multiplied each day as I thought back to our last encounter, which while sensual and passionate had elements of bizarre behavior on Soraya’s part.

As much as her words about my changing her life touched me, I couldn’t help obsessing over the fact that not once had she used the word love. With each passing hour, that omission seemed to have growing significance.

Maybe she didn’t love me.

Either way, something was wrong, and I needed to get to the bottom of it. I tried hard to give her the space she apparently wanted. I focused on Chloe to take my mind off of the fact that Soraya was distancing herself from me.

By week’s end, though, she’d left me with no choice but to wait in front of her apartment until she showed up. Supposedly, she was with Tig and Delia again. But that sure as fuck was not who she came strolling down the street with hand in hand at nine o’clock at night.

CHAPTER 28

SORAYA

IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST.

Marco and I had just left Tig’s shop. Since Graham and I hadn’t seen each other in a few days, I had a suspicion that he might show up unannounced one night this week. I just had no idea which night it would be. Our plan for tonight was the same as last night. We’d sit around, watch movies, and wait to see if Graham surprised me with a visit. If he did, I would let Graham see Marco inside my apartment and tell him that I was sorry, I’d met someone, and that I didn’t mean to hurt him.

It wouldn’t be that hard to believe. Sitting next to Marco on the subway, even I had to admit that we looked more like a couple than Graham and I ever did. With his olive skin, spiked dark hair, Italian horn around his neck, and bulging biceps, he was more like Pauly D. from Jersey Shore than a man who commanded a boardroom. In all honesty, before Graham, he was my type. Although not Marco, specifically. We’d known each other way too long for that.

Marco was Tig’s cousin; we’d all been friends since we were kids. Even though I hadn’t seen him in a few years, I knew he would do me the favor of pretending to be my boyfriend. When Tig called him down to the shop on Monday, he’d agreed to do it even before I’d explained the circumstances.

“You okay, dollface?” Marco squeezed my knee.

“Just nervous.”

“You want to go over what you want me to say if he shows, again?”

“No.” I forced a smile. “We have the plan down.”

So I thought.

But what I didn’t plan for was Graham standing outside of my building before I even got there. He was leaning against his car, looking down, texting on his phone. Luckily, I saw him before he saw me. Jumping into panic mode, knowing what was about to happen, I quickly grabbed Marco’s hand. When Graham looked up and saw me, I actually watched the moment I broke his heart play out on his face. Even from halfway down the block, his eyes lit up for a split second when he caught sight of me. That light was quickly extinguished when he saw the tall, dark, tatted hipster I was holding hands with.