Chapter 43 Forty-two

• I wake up with Brandon’s arms around my waist, his leg between mine and our bodies pressed against each other. My muscles scream in protest when I try to push him off in an attempt to get out of the bed and a new wave of annoyance hits me when his arms tighten around my waist. He stirs, runs his fingers across my naked stomach before trailing a line down my hips. I freeze, waiting for his breathing to return to normal so I can try again.
• “El,” he murmurs when I finally pry his arms off me, his voice unusually low and his hand blindly searching for me. “Don’t leave me.”
• My body goes rigid, the butterflies in my belly flutter as my feet connect with the floor and I cast a tentative look at him. His closed eyelids, the wrinkles that appear on his forehead and the rising and falling of his chest call attention to me. I sigh, my decision to sneak out of the room crumbling like my resolve of last night. He always wins, I try to remind myself as my legs swing to the bed, I should not give him that chance again.