She pauses, and my lips tighten. I never realized how much we have in common.
“I’m not bitter—not anymore. I was for a really long time. When I found out Eleanor wasn’t really my mother, I was crushed, and no one was there for me besides the woman who had played my mother all these years. My dad—the o
nly person who ever chose me over Rain—cut me out of his life for finding out the truth. He was too cowardly to face the disappointment in my eyes, and too stubborn to realize that I would love him anyway. I thought after people found out that they would possibly look at me the way they looked at Rain, maybe realize I wasn’t the spoiled girl with the perfect life, and then they could see me. But no one did.”
Dane had mentioned this, but at the time, I was too busy pining for the other Noles sister to fully listen or even care. Now, it’s like my world has reversed its rotation. Rain Noles is no longer the center of my universe.
Tria takes a deep breath, and I lie there unmoving. After a spell of silence, I finally decide I should say something.
“I’m sorry, Tria. I know it’s not worth a damn thing, but I rarely apologize. I mean it sincerely. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes glisten as they look up to meet mine again, and she gives me a sad smile before looking back down.
“I’m not trying to make you feel bad, nor am I trying to make you apologize. I’m trying to make you understand that this thing between us has to stop if you have any feelings for Rain that extend beyond friendship.”
I start to speak, to ensure her that those feelings were slain by her hands, but she holds her hand up and speaks again.
“Rain and I are the same age, separated by only a few months. We have one thing tying us to blood, and that’s the cowardly father we share. We have a woman who loves us both like her true daughters, and that’s kept us afloat. I’m finally building a relationship with my sister, Kode. It’s important that I have this. It’s important that Mom has this. So I can’t play second place again. This thing between us is meaning more to me than I should admit. If you still want Rain as more than a friend—even a little bit—then end it now, because it’ll hurt, and I’ll get bitter again. I’m finally moving past it, so don’t make me feel as though she once again has everything I want.”
The words keep playing over in my head, sounding so much like the way I’ve felt for years, only for different reasons. But she just admitted that I mean something to her, which is shocking. She hated me not too long ago.
I sit up, push her to her back, and put my body over hers to stare down into her eyes. She swallows hard, probably worried about what I’m going to say, so I end the suspense.
“Nothing—that’s what I feel for Rain. Well, as I said, I still love her, but purely in the platonic sense of the word. Pretty sure I like you a little bit, too, and I’d prefer it if this—you and me—could keep moving forward the way we are.”
Her hand moves to my bare side, slowly sliding down my body in a way that has me trying not to be a jerk and just start something with her right now before we’re done talking.
“We’re moving forward?” she asks with a sweet smile.
I lean down to kiss her, groaning when my erect cock brushes against her soft skin. When her legs spread wider in invitation, I barely refrain from doing something stupid.
“Yeah. Forward.” Gazing into her hopeful hazel eyes, I brush my thumb over her very enticing lips. “I’ve spent my life getting overlooked for Dane. I wouldn’t do that to you—not now. Rain loved him. She couldn’t ever see me. Believe me when I say those ties have been burned.
“Dane has always been the wonder for the world to see—the boy who came from the streets but managed to morph into the perfect specimen. It’s hard to compete with. And you know how Dane is—too damn perfect. So I get it, Tria. What I felt for Rain is gone. Completely.”
It’s a freeing confession that has me breathing easily. I feel like I’ve been tied to Rain for way too long. I did it to myself. She never once led me to believe we were ever going to be more, but I clung to her for all the wrong reasons. Now I’m staring down at the girl I really missed out on.
“As long as you’re sure, Kode. I mean completely positive.”
“No doubt whatsoever,” I murmur softly, brushing her lips again with mine. “I’m not looking at Rain, Tria. I see you. Sorry it took me so long to do that, but I see you now.”
She kisses me hard, and briefly I consider fucking her now without breaking contact, but my condoms are in the drawer. I return the kiss with as much fervor and hunger, trembling when it becomes painful not to be inside her.
Forced to break away to grab protection, I quickly scramble to grab a foil pack, stretching across the bed and fumbling blindly so that I don’t have to move completely. Just as I get one out and start rolling it on, Tria speaks words so softly that I don’t think I was meant to hear them.
“I’ve always seen you.”
For a second, I wonder if I heard her wrong, because I’m pretty sure she has always hated me. But I don’t question it. Even if it’s not true, it feels good to hear, and I move back to her lips to pay gratitude while thrusting into her soaking wet sheathe.
Chapter 13
KODE
It’s odd. I haven’t lived with anyone since I moved out of my parents’ house at eighteen. But strangely enough, seeing all of Tria’s things comingling with mine for the past two weeks hasn’t freaked me out. It’s actually a little nice to see her stuff lounging comfortably within my house.
I’ve gotten used to the bathroom counter being covered in girly stuff. And I’ve grown used to seeing bras in very odd places—such as a doorknob or on the towel rack. We’ve developed a system quickly. And damn she can cook. Well, she can cook some things.
The only thing that is pissing me off is not being able to go out in public. I’ll be glad when the damn wedding is over and Tria and I can come out and announce we’re together. But next weekend we’ll be in New York, and I can finally take her out on an actual date. It sucks that I had to push the trip back, but I needed to handle a few deals here this weekend.