But I'm not the female lead character in the books I read. I'm real. This is real. And reality isn't what the books make out to be. I don't expect to have a happy ending in whatever this is with Mariano. His family ruined mine. What we have is supposed to be…not this. Not him touching me like this. Not me wanting to see what he does next.
Shut up, I tell the voice in my head.
"You want me to stop talking?" Mariano asks, making me realize I said that out loud instead of just thinking it. "Why? You can't handle the truth, can you, Ree?" His nose glides down the length of my neck and up again, lazily…erotically. Then he captures the lobe of my ear with his teeth, and the tip of his tongue grazes the skin. I squeeze my thigh in an attempt to relieve the ache between my legs. It's not enough.
