All. Night. Long.
His heart swelled, and he could feel the moisture seeping from his dick. The greedy bastard was primed and ready, and if she felt half as good around his cock as she did clenching onto his fingers…
He stepped back into Scarlett’s room. A heart he didn’t even know he had swelled when he saw that she was in the exact same position in which he’d left her. Just as he’d asked.
Good girl.
Olly opened the box and tore off one of the small foil squares. The mattress dipped beneath the weight of his knee as he started to join her. He tossed the box and the packaged condom onto the bedding beside him, wanting to make absolutely sure she was ready for him.
Scarlett opened her eyes. She smiled up at him. Her hand reached for his, and then…
A phone began to ring.
“Crap!” The woman beside him pushed herself up into a sitting position. “That’s my dad.”
It was as if she’d taken a giant bucket of ice water and dumped it over his head.
“Your dad?”
Scarlett nodded, tucking some hair behind one ear. “We talk a few times a week. He’s probably just calling for an update on Rose. But I can call him ba?—”
“No.” Olly scooted off the bed. “You should talk to your dad.”
“Really, it’s not that big of a deal.”
He swallowed down the knot of regret and grief. Grabbing the condoms from the bed, he said, “It’s your dad, Red. Trust me. You should talk to him every chance you get.”
“But—”
“’s okay. It’s late, and you have an audition tomorrow, remember? Plus we still need to take you shopping for something to wear, so…” His tongue swiped against the seam of his lips. “You really should get some rest.”
“Olly…”
“Answer the phone, Scar. Just maybe leave out the part about the strip club for now.”
“Would you just wait a second? I’ll only be like five minutes, tops.”
“Answer the phone, Scar.” Olly ran the back of his knuckles along her cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Knowing he needed to leave right then or risk changing his mind, he turned away and went back to his room. He shut the connecting door behind him and then…he locked it.
Not because he didn’t want Scarlett. But because he did.
I’m no good for her.
The thought played like a mantra in his head as he chucked the box of unused condoms back into his gaping duffle. Yanking the zipper closed, he grabbed the nylon handles and tossed the bag back onto the floor near the bedside table.
What the hell had he been thinking, trying to bed a woman like that? She wasn’t for him. And he sure as hell wasn’t for her.
Scarlett was everything good in the world. She had a father she spoke to multiple times each week. A childhood home she could still visit anytime she wanted. An education above a high school level. She was a woman who spent her days educating tomorrow’s future.
And I’m…
Olly knew exactly who he was—and who he wasn’t. He simply forgot his place for a moment, that was all. But hearing that phone ring just now…knowing it was Scarlett’s father calling to check in…it was the reminder he’d desperately needed.
Not for his sake, but for hers. Because a woman like that deserved to have the world served to her on a silver fucking platter. And, as it turns out, he was fresh out of those.
10