“I don’t think so.” She winces. “Sorry. I really…should head back to my dorm. Sorry to make you drive me back. I bet I could get a ride or—”
“Hell no,” I say vehemently, rolling over so I’m sitting on the edge of the mattress, my back to her. Damn that stupid chick for interrupting what was building up to an amazing moment. “I’ll take you back. I don’t mind.”
I stare at the wall, willing my erection to calm down. I can tell she’s standing, can hear her fixing her clothes, buttoning up her shirt, smoothing out her hair, whatever. When I finally turn back around she’s standing in the middle of my room, looking a little lost, a lot embarrassed.
Without thought I go to her, pull her into my arms and drop a soft kiss on her upturned lips. “This is going to happen again, you know.”
“Who says?” One delicate brow rises and I’m relieved at seeing that tiny glimpse of the Jade I’m used to return.
“Me.” I kiss her again, my lips lingering on hers. Damn, they’re soft. And plump and delicious and fuck me, I need to get a grip before I lose all control. “I say. So tell me. Are you game?”
A shuddering sigh escapes her, her breath wafting across my lips. “Okay,” she whispers shakily.
That girl’s interruption broke me from the Shep spell he’d been weaving. And what a spell he can weave. Holy crap, he knows how to kiss. His lips, his tongue…there are no words. My mouth is still tingling.
He’s sort of bossy. I liked how he shoved me against the door. I loved it when he picked me up and carried me over to his bed. I’m no petite little girl and he hauled me around like I weighed nothing.
Which means he’s super strong. I felt his biceps. They were the stuff of dreams. He’s the stuff of dreams.
But see, that’s the thing. Dreams are just…dreams. They’re not real. So what Shep and I are experiencing? It’s not real, not at all.
That’s what I keep telling myself so I don’t end up hurt when he dumps me out of nowhere.
We’re on our way back to my dorm hall in his precious car, neither of us saying a word. It’s so quiet I can hear him breathing. How he shifts in his seat like he’s restless. I swear I can hear him freaking blink and it’s making me slowly insane.
“That was probably a mistake,” I blurt out, clamping my lips shut the moment the words are out. I bang the back of my head against the seat, pissed that I said it.
Because I don’t mean it and I’m just proving to him yet again that I really am a Bitch Face. Or an immature idiot, take your pick.
He chuckles, the rich, warm sound slowly unfurling in my belly and making me tremble. “Liar,” he murmurs.
Now I’m sort of pissed at him for calling me out. “I mean it. We should’ve never…kissed.”
He glances at me, dark eyes flashing, his perfectly kissable lips curved into a perfectly adorable smile. “I’m calling bullshit, babe. Sorry.”
“What do you mean, you’re calling bullshit?” He called me babe. What an asshole.
Fine. I liked that he called me babe. A lot. Not that I’d ever, ever tell him.
“We definitely should’ve kissed. Because it was fucking amazing before we were so rudely interrupted by Miss Bogus I’m Looking for the Bathroom, Whoops My Bad, Toodles.”
I start to laugh. I can’t help it. His frustration is so palpable. He hated how that girl interrupted us. I hated it too. I’d had freaking Shepard Prescott on top of me on his bed. He’d been this close to taking off my shirt. And I was going to let him. I desperately wanted to feel his hands on my bare skin. I still want to feel his hands on me.
The interruption helped me realize that what I’m doing with Shep is bad for me. As in, he’s going to leave me in a bad state. More like wreck me. He’s not the lasting kind. More like the fuck ‘em and leave ‘em type. I know this. My logical, very smart, very cautious brain knows this.
But my body lights up like a burst of flame every time he so much as looks at me with those sexy, full of mystery eyes. He touches me and I melt. And when he kisses me? Oh good lord, all of my very logical, very smart brain cells evaporate into thin air and I’m left wanting more. More, more, more.
“Why are you laughing?” He sounds cranky, which makes me laugh even harder. “It wasn’t funny. We were making progress, Jade. Before she had to ruin it.”
“You call what we were doing progress?” I call it delicious.
Wait. I so didn’t think that.
“Fuck yes, I call it progress.” He slows at a stoplight, turning to look at me. His hair is an absolute mess, sticking up everywhere. I really love his hair. And I’m the one who made that mess because I kept tugging on it while he kissed me. “Stop trying to act like you hate me. I know you don’t.”
“How do you know?” I ask warily, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
“You wouldn’t have agreed so readily earlier if you hated me.”
I don’t want you to stop.
The words I said to him ring in my brain. At that very moment, the last thing I wanted was for him to stop. And that makes me feel a little crazy. A lot on edge.
God, he frustrates me. He makes me nuts. He’s so…arrogant. So sure of himself and full of bravado. Plus, it’s not right for a guy to look so deliciously hot. More like it’s unfair.
And why is he interested in me? I don’t get it. Because he supposedly won me in a bet? Does he think I’m easy? I’m so not. I’m difficult. Extremely difficult. I think I’m sexually broken and I have no idea why.