Replace Me (Kin #2)(19)
Author: Jennifer Foor

The coffee cup left her lips and her eyes widened. “I never asked you to punish yourself.”

“No, but I’m sure you wished worse for me.”

Lacey’s eyes started to tear up. “I may have said things, but I didn’t mean them. You hurt me so much, Shayne. I thought we had something special, but to you I was just a piece of ass.”

I moved closer to her and touched her foot. “You’re wrong, babe. I may not have admitted it, but you were so much more than that. I was stupid for takin’ you for granted. If I had a second chance, I do so much differently. I’d start by makin’ sure everyone knows that you belonged to me and I belonged to you, but it’s too late now. You’ve moved on and it’s clear to me that I lost my chance.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and when she began to sniffle, I knew she was breaking down even more. “All I ever wanted was for you to love me, Shayne.”

I had knots in my gut and could feel myself getting emotional when she said those words. They were words that I’d never said to a single girl and meant. “I do.”

Lacey wiped her tears away and looked down at her cup of coffee. “I want to believe that, Shayne. I swear I do. It’s just that I don’t think I’m ready to be able to trust you.”

I nodded and faked a half smile. “Yeah, I get it.”

Lacey put her legs down on the floor and reached for my hand. She traced my fingers with hers, while little sniffles escaped her. “But I don’t want to let you go, either.”

I could feel my heartbeat picking up. For once, I had hope. I intertwined our fingers and looked right at her. “What are you sayin’, Lace?”

She shrugged. “Can I meet you at your house later so we can talk?”

“No. My dad kicked me out last night. Apparently, havin’ a kid is against the rules, even if it ain’t really mine.”

“Where will you go?” Her concern was reassuring. I appreciated that she still worried about me.

“I reckon I need to look for a place. I was plannin’ on buyin’ a paper and callin’ some places today. It ain’t like I’m goin’ to show up for work. My dad needs a couple days to cool off before I get anywhere near him.”

“I bet.” She looked toward the kitchen and I knew she was thinking about Joey. That uncomfortable feeling was immediately noticeable in the pit of my stomach again. “Do you want some company when you’re looking?”

I raise my brow and looked at her, wondering what she was implying. “Won’t he be mad?”

She squinted and looked at the kitchen again. “I think it’s best if we don’t talk about relationships today. I’ll go with you as a friend.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get.” She had no idea how happy I was to be able to spend time with her. I didn’t care that I’d interrupted her and Joey. I didn’t even care that he was patiently waiting in the kitchen for me to leave. All I cared about was spending the day with Lacey, even if it was just on a friend’s pretense.

Lacey

My head was spinning when I thought about almost having sex with Joey. Had Shayne not come looking for me, I would have been in his bed, letting him have me.

How could I have been so stupid?

Shayne left promptly, with a smile on his face as he walked out the door. I didn’t want to give him false hope, but I couldn’t let go like I thought I could. As much as I wanted to be able to move on and no longer hurt, I found myself consumed with guilt, over Joey. He’d been right about the chemistry between us. It was there and also electrifying. When Joey touched me I could feel every emotion possible. My senses were heightened and I knew that if I let him take me to bed, it would be something I would never forget.

When he heard the door close, he walked back into the living room and stood there looking at me. “You’re leavin’ aren’t ya?”

“It’s not like that, Joey. Please don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

He walked into his bedroom without saying anything. Feeling like I needed to be fair to him, I followed. He was gathering clothes out of his dresser to change in to. “You don’t need to explain, Lace. I’m a big boy. I get it. Shayne wants another chance and you’re goin’ to give it to him.”

I walked up behind him and touched his arm. “It’s not like that, but I’m not going to lie to you. I still love him.”

He looked down into my eyes and smiled. “I told you, no explainin’ necessary.”

He was being standoffish and it led me to believe that he was upset I was leaving. It made me consider that maybe he was more interested in me than I’d thought. Why else would he have been so broken up about it? “You were right earlier, when you said the attraction was mutual. I feel it too. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit it, out loud.”

He pulled a clean shirt over his head. “What do you want me to say, Lace? You want me to beg you to stay? You want me to tell you all the reasons that you should end up in my bed tonight instead of his, because I’m not goin’ to do that.”

The more salty he acted, the more it made me want him. Shayne was waiting for me and all I could think about was feeling Joey’s kisses all over me again. Just imagining them made a rush of heat form between my legs.

Without regard for the repercussions, I pulled the shirt over my head and tossed it at his face. When he removed the article of clothing from his view, I backed up and bit down on my lip as I came to the edge of his bed. “How about you give me a reason to come back?”

I backed myself up onto his bed and watched him approaching me. He climbed up and removed his shirt before making it to where he could reach down and kiss me again. Right away, the tingling began and I knew that even though I was going to regret it, I needed to know what was happening between us.

Joey teased me with his tongue then pulled away. “Tell me, Lace. Say the words.”

I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. Since I’d never put myself in this type of situation, it was hard to be able to admit that I wanted what was about to happen. Yet, imagining walking out of his bedroom wasn’t an option. This man had me so worked up that I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t see where it led. The passion between us was so clear and all I wanted was to feel what it was like for us to come together.

“I want you to f**k me. No. I need you to.”

He smiled and drug his bottom lip over one of my br**sts. “You say one thing, but you mean somethin’ entirely different.” He lifted my hand and placed tiny kisses over the back of my fingers. “I’ll be gentle with you; making sure I kiss every inch of your skin. After that I’m goin’ to make you cum and when you scream out my name, it will be because you don’t want me to stop touchin’ you.”