“Yes, please,” she said, so I kissed her. My lips crushed against hers, my tongue parting her seam to delve in and taste the champagne on her tongue. She moaned but didn’t stop the movement of her tongue as her hands found my arms and her nails dug in, so hard that I felt them through my shirt, the tuxedo jacket having been discarded the minute I got in the car.

  My hands moved from the door but only to hoist her up, bringing her dress up above her waist as I wrapped her legs around my body, our lips not breaking apart.

  I turned to walk us to her bedroom, taking my lips off hers long enough to kiss along her jaw and up her neck, causing a shiver as I whispered in her ear, “Tell me to stop, and I will. If not, I’m taking you to bed.”

  She didn’t respond. “Good girl,” I told her as I walked us to her room, flicking the light switch on the way in.

  I set her down on the bed, but I grabbed the edges of her dress, still bunched around her waist, and pulled it up before I stepped back. She had a flesh-colored lace bra and panty set that blended in with her skin, giving the illusion she was naked. It worked for her dress, but it wasn’t enough for me. She wasn’t naked yet, and I needed her to be.

  I took off my shirt, tossing it to the floor before I shrugged out of the rest of my clothes, standing before her in nothing. I saw the lustful look in her eyes as I stood there for a moment, letting her soak me in, letting her hungry eyes devour my body. Damn if the way she ate me up with her gaze didn’t turn me on even more.

  “Last chance, princess. I said I wouldn’t walk out that door once I was in, but I will if you tell me. It’ll be fucking hard, but I will.”

  “Pun intended?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. I couldn’t help but laugh. That was so like us to tease even at a time like this. “I want this,” she said after I’d stopped laughing. She stared into my eyes, making me believe her words when she said, “I want you.”

  “You have me,” I told her as I came closer to her and unhooked her bra, tossing it to the floor before taking my fill of her breasts. Full, round, perky…perfect. I bent down, my hands going to the sides of her panties as I eased them down. She lifted her butt just enough to let me pull them off. And then I stared, and I stared some more at her bare pink pussy.

  “You’re fucking beautiful,” I told her as I tore my gaze away long enough to look into her face. “Inside and out,” I added. She blushed all over. “Lie back so I can make good on my promise.”

  She complied, and my lips found her inner thigh, nipping and kissing, using my tongue to make a trail up to her core. She shivered under me, little noises escaping her mouth until my tongue touched her clit. Then she gasped. And it was music to my ears.

  I dove in, licking, sucking like a starved man before one finger, then two made their way inside her, in, out, in sync with my mouth until she screamed out. It wasn’t my name…yet…but her reaction was enough to make me forget that little bit of my promise.

  I took a moment to grab a condom and slide it on before I climbed onto the bed. Kissing her with her juices still on my tongue, I let her taste the pleasure I’d just experienced. She was hot. It was hot.

  She kissed me back with fervor, wanting more, craving more, so I gave it to her. I plunged in—quick, hard, and desperate for more. This time, she cried out my name against my lips.

  “Please,” she begged as I settled fully inside her, stopping to let her adjust to the sudden invasion. “Please,” she repeated, so I started to move. With each thrust, she met me, moving her body to meet mine, making each movement harder, stronger than it was. She arched her back, taking her lips from mine but pushing those beautiful breasts closer. I grabbed a nipple between my lips, nibbling and sucking as our bodies moved together. She whimpered as I felt her walls start to convulse, her body trembling beneath me.

  “Let go,” I told her. “Let go,” I repeated, and she did. She came…so tight, so wet, so warm that I followed right after.

  I collapsed half on top of her, half to the side, feeling her heavy breaths against my chest.

  “Fuck,” I said out loud.

  “You too, huh?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah,” I said as I moved a little more off her so I could turn to the side and stare at her. “Just give me a few minutes.”

  “You don’t have to leave yet,” she said shyly.

  “Oh, princess,” I said with a smug smile. “I didn’t mean a few minutes to leave. I meant a few minutes before round two.”

  “Oh,” she said, her lips forming a perfect “o,” making my dick twitch with need. I wanted her lips wrapped around me, but that would come later. Tonight was all about making it up to her. And I had a lot of making up to do.

  “Yeah, Eliza. Oh.”

  Eliza

  I WOKE UP with a smile on my face after having had the most glorious dream. It involved Finn and me or, rather, us together. He’d shown up at the ball like my own personal white knight, erasing our past, changing it into the one I’d wished for instead. And all that was before we fell into bed together, and he turned my world upside down.

  I wasn’t a virgin, but I might as well have been. No one else compared to him. He’d not only erased our past but he also erased my past with any other guy before him.

  I almost didn’t want to wake up and face reality. I wanted to stay in my little dream world for just a bit longer. I tried to stretch, my eyes still closed, hanging onto the last remnants of my dream when they hit something…something warm, something hard, something very much human.

  My eyes immediately flew open, and I gasped.

  “Holy shit, it wasn’t a dream,” I said out loud instinctively.

  “I must have done something right if you think last night was a dream,” Finn said groggily, his eyes slowly opening with a smile mirroring the one I’d had just moments before. “A good dream obviously,” he added as he turned to face me.

  I grabbed the sheet and pulled it higher, covering my body all the way to my neck as if that would somehow protect me. Or more importantly, as if that changed what had happened or that it was covering something he hadn’t seen already, something he hadn’t just owned—all night, I should add. Five times…that was how many times we had sex. Five, I repeat. Not orgasms, I should point out. I had plenty more than five of those.

  “Holy shit,” I repeated out loud as the realization truly and finally sank in that I’d had a magical night with Finn, followed by earth-shattering sex. And my fantasy come to life was still here.

  Oh God, oh God…what did I do?

  “If you need a reminder, I’ll happily oblige,” Finn said. “I take it you didn’t mean to say that out loud?” he asked as I stared at him, dumbfounded he could read my thoughts on top of everything already happening.

  “Oh my God, oh my God…this can’t be happening. You…me…we’re not…this…we can’t be together,” I told him, stumbling over my words.

  I’d wanted this last night more than anything, but I was in a delirious state. No, scratch that. I was naive enough to think that one night with Finn would get him out of my system. I fucking woke up thinking he was the best dream I’d had, not wanting to wake up because of said dream. That was the exact opposite of getting him out of my system.

  That, my dear friends, was called stupidity. I was stupid enough to think I’d be fine after one night. He’d ruined me again…but in a vastly different way this time. Before, he’d broken my spirit. Now, he broke my vagina…oh God, I couldn’t even think properly. He’d broken my walls, making me not want anyone but him.

  Shit…my crush on Finn was back in full force…if it ever truly went away.

  I thought I’d only want what I couldn’t have. Now I could…and I still wanted him. This was bad, very bad. Very, very, very bad.

  I was full-on panicking.

  “We can,” Finn responded.

  “You don’t understand,” I replied.

  “I do, Lizzy. I do. And it’s okay, I promise.”

  “No, it’s not okay…Lizzy,” I said, my mind realizing what he’d called me. “You called me Lizzy. Only my family and close friends call me that,” I stated with an eerily calm voice, my outward panic subsiding while my inner panic rose higher with each second.

  “I’d say we’re closer now than friends,” he said teasingly. He was trying to mitigate the fallout, but something about the way he stared at me, the way he tried to gauge my reaction…no…no fucking way.

  “You remember,” I stated. It wasn’t a question. He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. His silence said it all. “How long?” I asked, my voice still even.

  “I never forgot,” he told me.

  “How long!?” I screamed my question, my panic trumped by rage.

  “I never forgot that night,” he said quietly. “But I didn’t know it was you. You’ve changed, Eliza. And you’re using a different nickname. Your last name is common. And come on, what are the chances we’d be in this situation…I didn’t put two and two together.”

  “How fucking long, Finn? How long have you known that it was me you humiliated, berated, used to play a cruel joke just to get a quick laugh with an innocent girl. How long?” My words were daggers, each one slicing him. I could tell by his pained expression, but I didn’t care. He deserved that and more. He was still playing with me. He’d known who I was and didn’t tell me.

  “I overheard you telling your mom,” he admitted. “I’m so sorry, Eliza. I’m so very sorry,” he said, trying to grab my hands, but he wasn’t in the right position to overpower me, so I snatched them away. He sat up, hurt on his face. Good. “I was a dumb shit back then,” he told me.

  “And now?” I asked, my words full of sarcasm and fire. Once a dumb shit, always a dumb shit. And shame on me for falling for his tricks once more.

  “I’m still a dumb shit, but not like that. Never like that.”

  “I wasn’t good enough for you then. Why? Because I didn’t look like this,” I told him, my words mocking what had just transpired between us. “You’re only saying sorry now because you like the way I look. Because the world says I’m pretty now. Where were you then? When I hadn’t grown into this woman yet? Where were you then when I was just getting comfortable in my skin? Where were you then to build me up instead of pushing me down? You were laughing at me. You were tearing apart my fragile self-confidence and destroying my emotions. You’re the reason I’m where I’m at,” I spat at him. “I never thought I was ugly until you came into my life. Every day now…every single fucking day…I need validation, Finn. I need to know I’m not someone to laugh at. You did that to me. You. You, Finn. And now you want to make amends magically? Why? Because suddenly you like the way I look?”

  “No!” he shouted, cutting me off. “You’re beautiful, Eliza, no one is denying that. And I won’t either. It’s true, you’re beautiful. But that’s a bonus. Just a bonus. It’s not what defines you. In fact, it’s not what makes you beautiful.”

  “Sure,” I scoffed.

  “You’re special, Eliza. There is something truly wonderful about you. You’re good and pure. You help people simply because you can and without acknowledgment. You’re driven and passionate. You’re loyal, and people are loyal to you. That says something about your character. You’re funny as hell, even if you don’t realize it when we’re bantering. No, especially when we’re bantering. You care about everyone. You’re not dazed, you’re not lazy or a diva, or whatever the hell else you could have become once you became a famous model. You’re smart and a good businesswoman. You know your worth, and I finally know it too. I’m so sorry it took me so long to get here, but here I am. And I know I’m not worthy of you, not after the shit I pulled, but I swear, Eliza, I’m not that guy anymore. And I swear, it has nothing to do with your looks. It’s how you make me feel. And I’ve never felt like this before. Give me a chance.”

  I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how. Deep down, I wanted to believe him. He spun pretty words, and I wanted to be sewn with them. But a certain thread was perpetually loose, and that was our past. You know that whole “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”? We were already at the shame on me part, so what would happen a third time? I wasn’t prepared to find out.

  “You don’t believe me,” he stated.

  “No,” I answered truthfully.

  “Give me a chance, please, Eliza, to prove it to you.”

  “I don’t think I could handle it when you destroy me again,” I admitted.

  “I won’t,” he said, his words both a promise and a plea. “I’m not that guy anymore,” he told me once more.

  “People don’t change,” I muttered.

  “I did,” he assured me.

  “Why?”

  “Because I lost my parents.” His somber words were filled with an underlying anguish.

  I gasped. Whatever hatred I had toward Finn, whatever disbelief I had for his words…they didn’t matter then. “I’m so sorry,” I told him. No one deserved that.

  He nodded. “I’d been told from an early age that I was a star. I happened to be good at lacrosse. It didn’t get me anywhere in the end, but if you’re fed enough that your shit doesn’t stink, you believe it. I was power-hungry even then. If you weren’t popular or didn’t benefit me in some way, I didn’t even bother looking your way. I’m so sorry, Eliza, but you weren’t either of those things. I didn’t look at you twice. It was by chance that James found your notebook. He told me to play along, and I did. Why the hell not, right? Because it would be funny. After all, I didn’t know you, so I didn’t care about hurting you. You were just a random person. You could have been anyone to me then. I just truly didn’t care. You weren’t the first person I hurt, and you weren’t the last.” He took a breath before continuing. “I was that same little shit until college. It was the first semester, and I was still up to no good when I got the call. Car accident. Died on impact. At least they didn’t suffer,” he added mirthlessly. “They were my parents and loved me no matter what, but I knew they weren’t happy with my shenanigans and the way I treated people. Losing them…it was my wake-up call.”

  He choked on his words, taking another moment to catch his breath. I felt a tear slide down my cheek. It was taking everything in him not to break, not to relive the pain of losing them. I could tell he didn’t mention them often for a reason. Because it hurt too much. Yet…here he was, telling me.

  “I hadn’t had the chance to truly make them proud when they could see it,” he told me. His disappointment was so palpable that I could practically feel it as if it were my own. “The least I could do was show them who I really was without all the bullshit getting to my head. My grief forced that layer of bullshit to fall away. And with that came clarity. I saw who I’d been, and I didn’t like it. That wasn’t who I was…that wasn’t who I was supposed to be, so I let it all go. And here I am, Eliza, stripped bare and showing you my vulnerability in the hopes you believe me.”

  I did. With his admission, I did. Not because of the admission, but because of how he felt talking about his parents. The emotions behind his words were sincere. They were raw and real. If I didn’t believe anything else, I believed he wanted to make them proud. Even if that were the only reason he’d changed…well…the fact remained that I believed he did…at least for them.

  “I believe you,” I told him after I collected my thoughts. “I believe you. And I believe your parents are proud,” I added.

  He scrubbed his hand over his face as though my words were doing something to him, breaking something inside him. He was desperate not to cry in front of me, or maybe just not to cry at all.

  “Are you saying you’re giving us a chance?” he asked after he’d taken a minute to get his emotions in check.

  “Yeah, Finn. I am. Just…don’t make me regret it.”

  “You won’t.”

  Finn

  ELIZA WAS GIVING us a chance—me a chance.

  And I wasn’t going to take it for granted. Forget the fact that I wanted to give her everything that I had, but I owed it to her too. She deserved a guy who would treat her like the princess she was. I guess her nickname fit her quite well after all. She deserved a Finn who would make her smile instead of cry. She deserved a guy who would know just how special she was. She deserved a guy who would show her that every single day until she believed it herself and then wouldn’t stop even after that.

  That was me. I was that guy. This version of myself, not that asshole I was back in high school.

  My first order of business was to make our first date memorable.

  Yes, we saw each other almost every day, and a good chunk of it was just the two of us. Yes, I’d escorted her to the dance. And yes, we’d already ended up in bed together. But we weren’t us yet. We’d done things a little ass backward, and it was time to rectify that.

  “Be ready at seven,” I told her after I left her house.

  “I, uh, what?” she asked.

  We’d stayed in bed a little longer…you know…just talking…yeah, right…we did more than that. A hell of a lot more. We also talked, but that came while we ate breakfast.

  I would have stayed all day if I could, but I needed to put things in motion because I was taking her out. None of this we’re already together bullshit, but a real date. And it had to be a good one.

  I had started thinking about it the minute she’d told me she was giving me a chance. But it wasn’t until halfway through breakfast that it finally came to me.

  We showered together after, got a little dirty while showering, and then I told her I had to go or else I’d stay all day.

  “I don’t really see a problem with that,” she said.

  “Neither do I,” I admitted. “But I have to go.” Then I told her to be ready at seven.

  When she looked at me dumbfounded and asked what, I smiled. “I’m not leaving because I want to,” I told her. “I’m leaving because I know you need time to get ready, and I need to handle some things before our first date.”

  “Date?” she squealed.

  “Yeah, princess. It’s when a guy takes the girl he likes out, treats her nicely, and then maybe gets lucky at the end of the night,” I teased.

 

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