The Perfect Mistake (The Connovan Chronicles #2)

by Olivia Hayle

“What’s your hidden talent, then?”

Why don’t you let me show you?

He doesn’t answer me. He turns his hand over instead, his long fingers wrapping around mine. Electricity shoots through me as we touch, and I can’t look away from our intertwined hands.

His hand slides to my neck, and it stops there. Curving around to my nape. He pulls back and rests his head against the back of the couch. He’s breathing fast, and his eyes are nearly black. “No,” he mutters. “No, we’re not doing this.”

“I care more than I should.”

“Tired? I’m not that old, and even if I were, this pussy would raise me from the dead.

oh.

“Sweetheart, every filthy thing there is. I want to make you come against my tongue again. I want to spend a night seeing how many condoms we can go through. I want you naked, pleasure-drunk, and tired in my bed.” He kisses me again, and it’s slow and deep. “But most of all, I want to learn every single way to give you an orgasm, so I can do it over and over again.”

“I shouldn’t be doing this. But fuck it, I can’t seem to stay away.”

I want to ruin her for all future men. I want to be the one she thinks about when she touches herself, while she fucks her boring future husband, and when she tells her girlfriends about the hottest fling of her life.

“I wanted you, too,” she murmurs, leaning her head back against my shoulder. “For months, before this.”

I close my eyes against the softly spoken admission. My plan was to ruin her for all future partners, to be the best sex she’s ever had, even if I can’t be the man for her. I never anticipated that she’d ruin me too.

I got the feeling that you were carrying a lot inside. Holding it all in.”

“I think you do, too,” he says.

“Maybe that’s why I recognized it in you.”

Things don’t have to end up the way you planned for them to be wonderful.

“The good man who’s caring and protective?” She digs her teeth into her lower lip, and there’s a shy glint in her eyes. “I was talking about you. You are that good man.”

“That’s so much worse.”

Sweetheart, I’m not that man. I’m barely enough the way I am now, torn in every direction.”

“Don’t wear another man’s jacket again.”

“Then let me wear yours in public,” I whisper back.

“You know why I can’t...

“I don’t. If you want me… mak...

“It’s not just sex,” he says. “And so help me, I don’t want it to be. I do want to make you mine.”

“Then do it,” I say, reaching for his belt buckle. “I don’t care if the odds are against us. I just want you.”

“But I’ve also never felt like this before, and that’s why I can’t walk away. God help me, I want us. But wanting doesn’t mean I’m going to be perfect at this. At us. And I can’t bear it if I’m less than what you deserve.”

You’ve become my happiness, Isabel.”

You feel like a part of me, one I never knew I needed. An infinitely better part, and I can’t lose you. The idea of never hearing you laugh again or seeing you smile or feeling…” I shake my head, trying and failing to clear it. The anger is still palpable. “I can’t handle it.”

I press the button and watch as the screen flicks to life. There’s only one book in the library. It doesn’t have a cover, and when I select it, a page full of text appears. My eyes immediately find the highlighted part at the center. It’s only three words. I love you.

“You are the most beautiful, unexpected, kindest woman I’ve ever met, and I’m so glad you danced into my life. If you’re going to ruin me, then, Isa, I’ll let you. There’s no one else I want to hurt for.”

“You’ve brought magic back into my life.

“I’ve never felt this way with anyone before. It’s like you’ve embedded yourself inside of me, under my skin, and diffused in my blood. You’re essential.”

“I want to give you everything.”

“I don’t need everything. I just need you.”

“You have me. But I’ll give you all the ...

“I didn’t know how good it could feel to say that to someone again. To mean it with every cell in my body.”