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He was going totointo pieces froht thing to do, though She didn’t need his help anymore, and she deserved someone better than him Someone smarter who didn’t have a criminal for a dad Someone who could impress her parents and didn’t run into past clients when they went out to dinner

That re next Friday The thought held absolutely no appeal He wasn’t even sure if he could get a hard-on for someone else at this point All he wanted was Stella smell and Stella taste and Stella skin His body had tuned itself to fit her, and nothing else would do The old fantasies that used to interest hi He’d developed a new kink, and it involved a shy girl who daydreamed about economics

He sat down on Stella’s bed and rested his face in his pal here Fuck it all, another s rose Stella was his to kiss, his to touch, his to love He wanted to tear the blankets off the bed and shred everything to pieces If he couldn’t have it, no one could She could get a new fucking bed

Fisting his hands, he o to the closet before he could lay waste to her bedroo before et this done so he could leave Socks piled into the bag, followed by neatly folded boxers At the bottoe The exact brand and size of boxers he used, though he usually purchased navy blue and these were red A boas tied around it

Stella had bought hiiven hi worn out? Maybe they were He tossed the package into his sports bag and zipped it up They weren’t very expensive, and she certainly wasn’t going to use the to keep them

On his way out of her room, he slipped his billfold from his pocket, fished out a folded slip of paper, and set it on her nightstand There, proof that he wasn’t his dad

But ht to do this Maybe it felt right because he was in love

He strode through the ehts as he went After he locked the front door, he tucked his key under the welcoood-bye, and left

Chapter 25

When Stella reached for her glasses the next , she picked it up and held it close to her bleary, tear-swollen eyes A check Her check For fifty thousand dollars

She sat up in bed and ran treers over the surface of the check What did this mean? Why hadn’t he kept it and cashed it?

His words froh her head

I accepted your proposal because I wanted to help you

Not because he wanted to be with her, not even for money, but because he pitied her

Because she was autistic

Awful eh her like poison, and she covered her ht she was rubbing off on hiht he could love her back But every ti but charity All those kisses, all those ood deed, he washer froood deed She was a person If she had kno he felt, she never would have issued that proposal She was not a charity case Her ood as anyone else’s Why couldn’t he have just taken it?

Swiping at her face angrily, she told herself she was tougher than this She wasn’t going to fall apart over a ry jerks of her arms and stomped into the bathroo so forcefully her gums bled When she closed her hand around her toothbrush, soo and hop in the shower instead Very deliberately, she reversed her shower routine, scrubbing herself froirl She was herself She was enough She could be anything She could