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I smiled, then shifted a little.

His body tensed beneath me and he slowly lowered my hand back down.

“Why’d you stop?” I looked up at him to see him pinching the bridge of his nose. Then he smiled, and so did I.

Lifting myself I straddled him and held the blanket to my naked chest. “It’s Thursday.”

With confusion, he held my waist.

“I think we’ve missed one too many therapy sessions.” I elaborated and he smiled, gripping the sheets and tugging them down.

I faked a gasp, using my hands to cover my bare chest and he reached up to grip my wrists.

“Quit torturing me, yeah?” He said, eyes soft with a plea and I smiled, letting him pull my hands down to reveal my naked chest.

He reached up, cupping my breasts and I released a shaky breath.

“We don’t need any more therapy sessions,” he murmured, eyes glued to my chest as he palmed and kneaded my breasts. “I’ll do anything you want.”

My back arched slightly, and my clit brushed his hard print. “Yeah?” I breathed and he nodded, tugging and pinching my nipples between his fingers.

“Anything?” I whispered, slowly rocking my hips back and forth against his hardening erection.

He blinked lazily, his lips parting as he squeezed my breasts, pulling a whimper from my throat.

I leaned forward on my hands, feeling the ridges of his tense abs beneath my palms.

I stared down at him, and his tongue swiped across his bottom lip before he lowered his hands to my ass.

My smile wavered. “Will you forgive me?”

His movements stopped, the light in his eyes obliterated as they snapped up to me.

Cold air swept between us and the stone wall he’d built was back up, keeping me out.

His hands found my waist as he sat up and I shifted back and off him.

He threw his legs over the edge of the bed, hands gripping the edge on either side. He cast me a look over his shoulder. “You’re right. We have missed too many sessions.”

Then, he pulled on his boxers and roughly scratched the back of his head, heading into the bathroom.

The door shut and I pulled the sheets over me, lying down on my back as I forced my eyes shut. I shouldn’t have said that… I—

My eyes shot open.

I climbed off the bed and slipped on his t-shirt as I marched toward the bathroom door and yanked it open.

“No!” I snapped, stepping inside to see him turn to face me. “No you—” I choked out, fury buzzing in my veins. “You don’t get to treat me like this.” I pointed a stern finger to his chest. “Yes, I fucked up, I— I know that, Antonio, I swear I do. But I didn’t have a choice—”

“Yes you did!” He snapped. “Do you want to know why?” Step. “Because you had me. I’d have given you anything, Nirah. I would have laid every goddamn choice at your feet. There’s no law I wouldn’t break. No line I wouldn’t cross. No consequence powerful enough to stop me from giving you exactly what you wanted and more.”

Regret pulsed through me, the sincerity in his voice weighing on my chest.

Slowly shaking my head I opened my mouth to speak but words couldn’t form, much less be vocalized.

A shattering darkness fell over him. “You had me… and you didn’t choose me.”

“I wanted to.” The last word caught in my throat. “But when I look at you, I just… I’m trying,” I stammered.