Chapter Three

 

Makayla

Five years ago

 

 

“You have a little drool, right there.” Lisa teasingly swiped at my chin with her thumb. Recoiling, I shot daggers at her with my eyes as I swatted her hand away. Seemingly unfazed Lisa laughed rolling her eyes.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I huffed out in annoyance. Denial was not just a river in Egypt. The struggle with my emotions was real.

“Oh please, I see the way you look at him. Best friend my ass.” She huffed out under a laugh tossing back her long auburn hair.

“Hush.” I hissed at her, my eyes scanning the crowded halls for the subject of our conversation.

He was just standing there across the hall talking to a group of guys, but I had lost him.

“If I wasn’t absolutely positive he was as interested in you as you are him, I would have asked him out myself,” Lisa smirked smugly, her school books perched on her hip.

I stared at her slack-jawed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re just friends.” I admonished, surprised at her boldness.

I thought I had hidden it. Was I really that transparent? Who else knew I was in love with my Best Friend?

“Who’s just friends?” I jumped at the sound of his voice. A tinny squeak escaped my lips.  Lenny Demark, the hottest guy I had ever met, and my best friend, asked stepping up beside me.

I tried not to swoon as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, tugging me in against his side.

My heart thudded in my chest at the close proximity. My legs felt like jelly as I leaned in against him, savoring the warmth of his body against mine.

His strong arm around me was the only thing holding me up, stopping me from crumbling to the floor.

Reflexively I rested my head against his chest, burrowing into him as I inhaled his delicious scent, warm cedar, musk, and a heady mixture that was just him. 

He smelled like home.

With one hand wrapped around his waist and the other resting over his beating heart, I closed my eyes, savoring the moment, willing my fluttering heartbeat not to give away how he made me feel.

When had my best friend become so hot?

I couldn’t tell you the exact moment my feelings changed from friendship to that of lust, but it happened. He had always been Lenny, my best friend, and then one day he became Lenny, the guy who made my little heart pitter patter in my chest, the guy who made my knees weak and stole my breath.

Lenny gave my hair a sharp tug, drawing my face up to his. “Who’s just friends?” A small wrinkle appeared across his forehead as his brows pinched together in question.

Looking into his deep blue sapphire eyes the world melted away. His eyes shone with mirth, the corner of his mouth tugging up at the side as he stared down at me with such warmth. I felt my insides turn to goo.  He was so beautiful, so perfect.

I eyes scanned his face, drinking in his rugged handsome appearance. I could never tire of looking at him. His high sculpted cheekbones, the deep dimples in his cheeks that begged to be licked, and the slight cleft in his chin, all of it- perfection. 

Narrowing my sight to his lips, my tongue swept out across my own.

I felt myself rising, my body lifting of its own accord, toward his. Our lips just a breath apart. My body felt like a live wire, wrapped in his arms. Energy radiated through me. Electricity crackled along my skin. My heart hammered out a staccato rhythm in my chest.

“Who’s just friends?” He asked again. This time much softer, as his lips brushed against mine.

A whisper of a kiss. 

I moaned softly.

My eyes fluttered up to his.

My breath caught in my chest as I gasped. His eyes were filled with heat, so hot I felt my body scorching, flames licking up my spine, threatening to consume me. It felt like my heart was going to explode inside my chest.

The loud ringing of the school bell shattered the spell, splintering the bubble of rightness we found ourselves in.

“We’re not just friends.” His lips crashed down against mine before I had time to process his words.

Lenny Demark stole my breath and my heart in that kiss.

He wasn’t playing fair.

He was playing for keeps.

From that moment on, Lenny Demark held my heart in its entirety.