Enemies With Benefits (Loveless Brothers, #1)

by Roxie Noir

I hop out and heave the door shut without responding, because anything I say will lead to us arguing in a truck, in a trailer park at almost one in the morning, and that’s how an episode of Cops starts.

“Question,” Daniel says, finally breaking the silence. We’re in his car, nearly home, and I’m in the passenger seat staring out the window as the trees fly past. “Yeah?” “Are we going to pretend I didn’t catch you making out with Violet back there?” “Yes,” I say.

I’m blindsided by a sudden, irresistible thought: I want to leave here and take her with me. I want us to leave Sprucevale behind. I want to bring her somewhere new, somewhere exciting where she’s never been. I want to take her breath away and make her giddy with happiness, just like this.

“It’s the feeling that everything around you is slightly wrong and you can’t fix it,” I say, still staring at her. “It’s a bone-deep desire to bury yourself in the familiar.” She turns and looks at me, her face unreadable. “It’s wanting what you already know and can’t have,” I finish.

I kiss her long and slow. I kiss her like we’re in love. She kisses back the same way, her hand soft against my face, her lips gentle.

“But I want to be someone you can always trust. I want to always have your back. I want to always be there, behind you, and I want to be so constant you never have to think about whether I’m yours or not. I just am. I’m there. I’m there and I always am and you never have to wonder whether I’d hurt you, and can you believe I rehearsed this?” he asks.

“You’re it, Violet. You’re all there is for me. It’s you or a life of austere hermitude. Let me be yours.”

That night, I just hold her. It feels important, somehow, just being there. Just being with her. Just being hers.

This is love. I’ve known it for a while but the understanding flashes through me again as I move inside her, as I feel her body underneath me and worship it with my own.

“But mostly, I wanted to remember the moment I realized I was in love with you.”