Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

Just let go, Jules.
After one last beat of hesitation, my lips parted in tentative invitation.
Relief exploded across Josh’s face before he took it, his mouth moving
over mine in a deep, almost desperate kiss that made my toes curl. I melted
against him, savoring the taste and feel of him again.
My chest loosened, and every nerve ending sparked with awareness.
Some kisses you felt in your bones. This one I felt in my soul.
“Twelve days, eight hours, and nine minutes. I spent every second
thinking of you.” Josh’s lips brushed against mine as he spoke. “I thought I
knew what I wanted before. Becoming a doctor, chasing the next high. Being
the most popular, most liked person in the room. I thought those things would
make me happy, and they did. Temporarily. But you…” He rested his
forehead against mine. “You’re the only thing that could make me happy
forever.”
I choked out a half laugh, half sob. “Careful, Chen. Keep saying things
like that, and I might never let you go,” I said, mirroring his words from our
first date.
That beautiful dimple of his appeared in all its glory. “I’m counting on
it.” He curled his hand around the back of my neck and pressed another,
softer kiss to my lips. “In case it’s not clear, I fucking love you, Jules
Ambrose, even when you drive me crazy. Especially when you drive me
crazy.”
“That’s because you’re a masochist.” I couldn’t contain my smile. “It’s
okay. I love you anyway.”
It was my first time saying those words to a guy, but they didn’t feel
strange. They felt like they’d always been there, just waiting for the right
time and right person before they revealed themselves.
Josh’s hand stilled. “Say that again.”
“I love you,” I breathed, body thrumming, heart so full it could burst at
any second.
A small grin blossomed on his face. “Damn right. I’m pretty fucking
lovable, unless I’m being an ass…which I was for the week after you told me
about the painting.” He glanced at the group of teenagers staring at us, and I
realized we were starting to attract attention from passersby. “But maybe we
should continue this somewhere more private.”
My apartment was only two blocks away. Stella wasn’t home, and we

---

barely made it into my bedroom before Josh kissed me again and sank to his
knees before me.
“Twelve days, twelve orgasms.” He pushed up my skirt, his breath warm
against the sensitive skin of my thighs. “That seems fair, don’t you think?”
A small fire kindled in my lower belly. “What—”
My question died an ignoble death when he pushed my panties aside and
ran his tongue over my clit.
Oh God.
I fisted Josh’s hair as he licked and sucked until my orgasm ricocheted
through me. I didn’t get a chance to come down from my high before he
delved in again, and soon, I was little more than a gasping, boneless mess. If
it weren’t for his strong hands bracing my hips and holding me up, I
would’ve already collapsed.
But despite the orgasms rocking through me and the thick scent of sex in
the air, what we were doing didn’t feel like sex.
It felt like love.

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53

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JOSH
“T
HIS
WASN
’
T
WHAT
I 
HAD
IN
MIND
WHEN
YOU
SAID
WE
’
LL
CONTINUE
THINGS
at your house.” Jules’s soft grumble was muffled by my pillow.
I suppressed a laugh as I iced her shoulder with a towel-wrapped ice
pack. “I never said what the things would be.”
After I thoroughly apologized at her apartment, we took the train to my
house before Stella came home. The minute we did, I had Jules lie down in
my bed so I could tend to her injuries.
She’ll fully heal in a few weeks, but the thought of her in any sort of pain,
even if it was temporary, made my heart twist.
“It was implied. I feel misled. Bamboozled. Falsely advertised to.” Jules
lifted her head to glare at me. “Where’s my makeup sex, Chen?”
My laugh broke free. “Were your earlier orgasms not enough?”
I skimmed my fingers up her neck to her face, where I pushed a strand of
hair out of her eye. The entire train ride home, I couldn’t stop staring at her,
afraid she would disappear if I looked away for two long.
There’d been every chance Jules wouldn’t forgive me for how I treated
her, and I wouldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t.
But thank the fucking Lord she had.