Until You (Off-Limits, #1)

by Catharina Maura

“I’d absolutely love to work for you,” he tells me. “Do you have a business card? Maybe we can chat sometime next week.”

“Not you.” Brad blinks in confusion, while Noah bites back a smile. “I apologize for his abrasiveness,” Noah says, not sounding apologetic at all. “He means that his invitation only extends to Aria.”

“Because he doesn’t deserve you, and you should never let a man hold you back from chasing your dreams. Not Noah, not me, and certainly not Brad. Follow your dreams, Aria, and if he’s the one, he’ll follow you.”

“Noah, I’ll make him regret ever approaching her.”

She’s ridiculously smart, and she clearly has a heart of gold. There’s no way a woman like that isn’t beautiful. If she is who I think she is, then she’s downright breathtaking.

all I want to do is crawl back into bed. I want to be covered in blankets and grab a good book, so I can lose myself in some fictional story, a story that’ll allow me to experience moments of happiness that elude me in my own life.

All the while, all I can’t think of is how I want her flat on her back, my lips on hers and my cock buried deep inside her. I want my name on her lips. I want what I’ll never have.

“Brad was a fool to mess with you,” he tells me, his thumb stroking the edge of my lips. “A fucking fool. When I saw those tears in your eyes… there’s no way he was going to get away with what he did. No fucking way. No one hurts you and gets away with it. No one. Not on my fucking watch. I will never sit there and watch your heart break, Ari.”

I’m done for. The way she makes me feel… yeah. There’s no point in fooling myself any longer. I’m falling for my best friend’s little sister.

The only one I’ve been sleeping with is you.”

“Tell me you’re mine, Aria. Tell me that from this day forward, I get to call you mine.”

“I don’t think you do,” I tell her. “Because that question was really just a formality. You are mine, Aria. I’m fine with taking a bit more time to convince you, but that won’t change the facts. I’m fucking crazy about you, and I have been for months. Hell… I’m pretty sure I love you.”

“I’m yours, Gray.” I smile. “Good girl,” I murmur. “But that’s a two-way street, Gray,”

“I’m yours, Aria. I think I may well have been yours from the second you first smiled at me. When you welcomed me into your home and showed me what family looks like, what it feels like. Over the years you’ve stolen more of my heart, until eventually, I had none of it left because it was entirely in your hands.”

“I’m in love with you, Aria Grant. Head over heels. Butterflies and all that shit. I’ll wait a lifetime for you if you want me to. So tell me, baby… do you want to stop? We can stop right here if you want to.”

“You’re it for me, baby. I want a whole life with you. I want your clothes next to mine, your makeup in my bathroom. I want you to have your own side of the bed, and I want to wake up to you completely disregarding that and lying on top of me instead, driving me insane.”

“Take it,” she tells me. “I’m yours. Every broken, damaged piece of me. Take it all.”

But here’s the thing about that… just because he’s the love of my life doesn’t mean I’m his.