As I slowly started to drift into consciousness, the first thing I noticed was that my head was pounding. I groaned and rolled over, pressing my face into the pillow, trying to block out the light. My stinging eyes cracked open and raked around the room. Not recognising anything, I jerked up quickly with a horrible sensation brewing in the pit of my stomach. The last time I woke up not knowing where I was, I’d been with Carter.
I jumped to my feet and pressed myself against the wall as my breathing started to accelerate. The muscles in my body ached, as if I’d slept awkwardly or something. Slowly, it started coming back to me. College, I was at ASU with Ashton, and this was our new apartment. I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, resting my head back against the wall. My eyes fluttered closed again and I groaned as another wave of pain started in my head. How much did I drink last night? Jeez! I remembered having about four or five doubles, then we met a couple of guys and played pool. What were their names? Tim and someone else, and two girls…
One of the girls was flirting with Ashton, and I got jealous and… oh no, I kissed him! I was all over him and begging him to take me home and… oh God no. I basically begged him for sex when we got back too! My cheeks flamed from the shame of what I’d done last night and how much I’d flirted with him. Thank goodness he’d said no though, not many guys would have turned down a free score, I’d bet. I’d have to thank him today for that because if I’d slept with him again, I was pretty sure I’d be feeling guilty over Jack again afterwards. I covered my face with my hands in disgust. I really had no self-control, and I should have been thinking about Jack last night, not myself.
After a few deep breaths, I decided I should go and see if we were okay this morning after that. Maybe my drunken antics had frightened him away and he’d request that transfer that he was so adamant he wouldn’t be asking for. The smell of coffee and toast drifting from the kitchen made my stomach rumble as I made my way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. As I stepped into the room, I stopped. It wasn’t just Ashton in there, Dean and a guy I vaguely recognised as Peter, the night guard, were there too. They were all standing around the kitchen island, drinking coffee.
“Good morning,” Ashton chirped, smiling as he spotted me.
I waved a hand in response. He grinned and nodded down at my legs for some reason as if trying to tell me something. My gaze drifted down, confused, until I spotted that I was only wearing his T-shirt. Heat flooded my face for the second time in a few minutes as I realised that they were all looking at me. I grabbed the bottom of the T-shirt, trying to pull it down further; it already came to my mid-thigh, but I felt exposed in front of the other two. I actually didn’t care if Ashton saw me like this. He’d seen me in much, much less.
“Um, hi. Sorry, I didn’t know you guys were here.” I winced, smiling apologetically.
“Don’t worry about it, Miss Spencer,” the new guard replied, looking me over slowly with an appreciative look on his face.
I frowned at his obviousness. “My eyes are up here, Agent!” I snapped acidly, pointing to my face.
Ashton’s body tensed as he stepped to my side, glaring at Peter warningly. I moved closer to him, trying to discreetly hide behind him as he spoke. “Agent Burnet, I appreciate that you might want to keep the relationship of bodyguard and client informal, but that shit stops right now, understand? Plenty of other Agents would love a cushy job like yours, so if you want to keep your position, I suggest you be a little more respectful,” he stated, his voice angry and full of authority.
Peter jumped, looking a little taken aback as he nodded in agreement. “Right. I’m sorry, Miss Spencer,” he apologised nervously.
I laughed uncomfortably. “Don’t worry about it,” I told Peter, waving it off. “But can everyone just shush, please?” I winced and looked longingly at the coffee, trying to decide if I could be bothered to make the four steps over to it to pour some for myself.
Ashton’s shoulders loosened as he smiled down at me before picking up a glass from the side and pouring me a glass of water. “Suffering after last night?” he teased, nudging me in the side and setting the glass of water and two pills in front of me.
“Thanks.” I smiled gratefully, swallowing them quickly.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today? Do I have anything I need to do, or can I unpack?” Ashton asked, as he poured me a coffee.
I frowned. “I don’t know. We need to go grocery shopping, I guess, but I need to unpack too, I don’t have any clothes for today. I mean, why the hell am I wearing your shirt?” I asked, looking at him curiously. All three of them laughed again.
“You were drunk. I couldn’t find your pyjamas, so I let you borrow my shirt,” Ashton explained, shrugging casually, but the tiny tightening to his eyes showed me how uncomfortable he was.
Flashbacks of me suggesting we sleep naked flashed into my brain, so I quickly averted my eyes from his. Dear God, what is wrong with me lately? “Right okay, well thanks.”
“No problem. So, if we unpack first, then maybe go grocery shopping this afternoon?” he offered. I nodded, liking the idea of having a few hours to chill in the apartment; hopefully my hangover from hell would be gone by then. “Did you want to go to that party tonight?” he asked curiously.
“Party? What party?” I didn’t know anything about a party.
He shook his head, smiling. “Tim, the guy who liked you last night, asked us to go to a party tonight at a bar. You had a whole conversation about it with him. There’s a band and DJ, apparently,” he explained, shrugging easily.
I frowned. A party invite didn’t ring any bells with me so I must have been more intoxicated than I thought last night. “Do you want to go?” I asked, watching his face. I didn’t actually want to go, but I knew that I needed to start thinking of him more. I couldn’t trap him in with me twenty-four-seven for the next eight months, he’d go stir crazy.
“I don’t mind, whatever you want is fine with me,” he answered noncommittally, finishing his coffee.
I turned to look at Dean and Peter. “Well, what about you guys? Do you mind if we go? I guess that means one of you has to go too, unless Ashton and I can go on our own and forget this whole guard business? After all, what my dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him. We could have a sweet set up here. You can do what you want, and so can I,” I suggested, suddenly excited for a little piece of freedom away from prying eyes.
Unfortunately, they didn’t look as if they were going for it. Peter gasped, looking at me in disbelief. “Are you kidding? What with everything that’s going on, there’s no way that’s going to happen, Miss Spencer.”
Ashton snapped his head around to look at him, giving him a warning look which made Peter shrink back and press his lips into a thin line.
“Everything that’s going on? What does that mean?” I quizzed, confused.
Peter cleared his throat. “I meant with the whole starting college thing. We still haven’t checked out everywhere. No one knows routines and stuff, that’s all,” he answered quickly.
I detected a measure of unease as he spoke, but decided to leave it. I didn’t know him well enough to start second guessing what he was talking about. “Oh okay,” I muttered. “Well, maybe we should go for a little while, just to see what it’s like,” I agreed. “I’ll leave it up to you three to sort out the details; I’m gonna go start my unpacking.” Before I turned and ran to the bedroom, I stole Ashton’s toast from his plate, laughing as he complained about it.
We spent the whole day just lounging around and not doing much. Lazily, I’d unpacked my clothes, arranging my room how I wanted it, with my photo of Jack right beside the bed as usual. After we’d unpacked, we’d headed to the grocery store to stock up for the week. Even that was actually quite fun. I’d only ever been when I was a little girl with my mom. Since my dad had climbed higher up in his job, we weren’t really allowed to do normal things and I enjoyed the day of just relaxing, and talking to Ashton about random things. He was incredibly easy to get along with, so easy that it almost frightened me.
After half an hour of watching him pull up the schematics for the bar that we were going to tonight, my tummy rumbled. I smiled, deciding to make some dinner. “Want to help me cook?” I offered, pushing myself up from the sofa I was slouched on.
“Sure.” He closed the laptop and followed me into the kitchen, standing close to my back as I pulled open the fridge, looking at the array of meat, salad and vegetables that we’d bought.
“What do you want?” I pursed my lips, not sure what I was in the mood for.
He reached around me, making his chest press against my back as he picked up a pack of chicken. “Fajitas?”
I nodded, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach caused by the accidental brushing of our bodies, and we both set to work. The whole time he was pottering around behind me, trying to help, but actually just getting in the way. It was cute the way he was concentrating so hard on learning how to cook.
Surprisingly, despite Ashton helping, the food was nice. He’d cleared his plate of five wraps, and even finished the last of my second wrap when it appeared that my eyes were bigger than my belly. He moaned in appreciation, sucking the spicy juice from his fingertips one at a time with a satisfied smile on his face.
“That was good. I think I could make that on my own,” he mused, eyeing the empty dishes and nodding to himself.
I raised one eyebrow in disbelief. Just from that one meal alone, I already knew that Ashton was a terrible cook. He’d been so slow slicing up an onion that, in the end, I had to take it off him and finish it, and then I’d left him in charge of stirring the pan while I set the table, and by the time I got back, the chicken was seconds from burning. No, Ashton would not be able to make fajitas all by himself. Frankly, I’d be worried that we’d die of food poisoning.
“Maybe you should start with something easier… like grilled cheese?” I joked, shaking my head.
“You doubt my ability,” he observed, standing and picking up the plates.
I grinned. “I just think you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself,” I replied cheekily.
He grinned and leant against the counter, folding his arms over his chest. “Alright, admittedly, I probably need more practice at cooking, but I reckon that by the time we’re married, I’ll be able to lay on a full feast.”
My heart jumped into my throat at that word. Marry him. It wouldn’t even be possible. “Right, yeah, okay, that’s not gonna happen. You’re too pretty for me.” I gulped and stood, squirming uncomfortably.
“Too pretty? Damn it.” He clicked his tongue, smiling his heart-stopping smile. I forced a smile too, even though I could feel the emotion swelling inside me like a storm. I needed to get away from him before he saw it and questioned me on it. “You never know, I may be able to get you to overlook my prettiness and make you fall madly in love with me by the time I leave,” he replied, smirking at me cockily.
I smiled back weakly as my heart started drumming wildly in my ears. I needed to leave. “Okay, Pretty Boy, I’m sure I’ll fall madly in love with you, right about the time that you fall madly in love with me.”
“About two more days then,” he replied, winking at me playfully.
My mouth had gone dry, and my eyes started to prickle with tears. “I’m going to go in the shower and then get ready to go out.” After excusing myself, I headed into the en suite bathroom and closed the door tightly. My breathing was coming out in short pants as I leant against the door, trying to calm myself. Why the hell did he have to say that? I looked down at my left hand and willed myself not to remember. Just forget it, Anna, he was just joking around, stop being pathetic! I mentally slapped myself and switched on the shower, trying to forget his comment.
The shower made me feel slightly better. Once dry, I searched through my closet, finding a black skirt and a cute baby doll top. After drying my hair and adding a few curls, I hesitantly picked up the make-up bag that I’d brought with me. During our shopping trip, I’d filled it with new make-up that I was yet to wear. Deciding to see how it looked, I swept on some chestnut eye shadow and a little mascara. Once I’d applied a small amount, I stepped back and frowned at myself with my hand poised over the face wipes. I hadn’t worn make-up since my sixteenth birthday, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it again.
At that moment, Ashton knocked on the door.
“Um, yeah?” I called hesitantly.
“Hey, are you nearly ready?”
“I guess.” I picked up the face wipes, tearing them open and pulling one out. I gulped, looking back at my reflection, still undecided.
“Can I come in, Anna?”
I groaned and narrowed my eyes, hating that the smallest bit of make-up actually scared me. “Yeah, okay.”
Behind me, the door opened and he walked in. I watched his entrance in the mirror. He was wearing dark blue fitted jeans and a black button-down shirt, open a little at the top; he’d left it un-tucked and rolled the sleeves to his elbows. Wow was all I could think. He actually hurt my eyes to look at because he was so incredibly mesmerising.
He strutted in, but stopped in his tracks when he was halfway across the room. His mouth popped open, and his eyes widened as he stared at me.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. “Too much, right? I should take it off, shouldn’t I?” I rambled, before realising he was still staring at me. “Why are you staring?”
He finally closed his mouth. “You just…” He blinked a couple of times, his eyes still wandering over me slowly. “You look stunning, Anna. So beautiful,” he complimented.
A small smile tugged at my lips as I dropped my eyes to the floor. I hadn’t expected that reaction. “I haven’t worn make-up for years.”
He walked over to me slowly, hooking his finger under my chin and lifting my gaze to his. “Anna, you look perfect, but if you’re more comfortable without the make-up, then take it off. Either way, you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” he said, dipping his head and kissing my forehead softly.
His sweet words made my insides squirm. “You’re such a charmer.” I shook my head, smiling.
He shrugged. “I’m serious.”
I took a deep breath and looked back at my reflection. “Okay, I’ll leave it on then. You won’t leave me tonight though, will you?” I asked, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of being on my own looking like this while there were guys around.
His hand closed over mine as he pulled me closer to him. “I won’t leave you, promise.” I could hear the sincerity in his voice, and that gave me the confidence I needed.
“Okay, let’s go then before I change my mind,” I suggested, nodding at the door.
He grinned. “I honestly have the sexiest girlfriend in the world. I’ve got my job cut out for me tonight to keep the guys away from you,” he teased, winking at me.
“I need to get you to earn your money somehow,” I joked.
He stopped at the front door, his hand on the handle as his eyes turned to me. “Do me a favour tonight, huh? Try not to flirt with me as much as you did last night, because damn, I’m not sure how much I can stand with those sexy legs out like that,” he growled, looking me over again, making me blush.
“Stop being a pervert, Ashton!” I scolded, slapping his chest playfully.
“Hey, a guy’s allowed to perv on his girl!” he protested innocently before his famous smile slipped onto his face.
“Stop!” I warned.
He laughed and nodded. “Seriously though, try and tone it down tonight if you can, alright?” he asked, looking a little pained. I nodded and smiled apologetically. “Right then, let’s go,” he chirped excitedly.
The line for the bar was already about thirty people deep by the time we arrived. Dean and Peter joined behind us, not talking to us so that no one would know we were together. Thankfully, the line moved fairly quickly so we were ushered in within fifteen minutes. As we were let in, we had to show our IDs as proof of age. Ashton refused to allow me to drink again tonight, so insisted that I show my real ID that said I was only nineteen – which resulted in me getting an underage blue wristband so that the barman would know I wasn’t allowed to be served alcohol. Ashton showed his fake ID that he’d been given when he started his assignment, so he was rewarded with an underage wristband too. Frowning, and not very happy with the colour of my bracelet, I folded my arms over my chest.
“Stop pouting. Do you want me to get in trouble for letting you drink whilst underage?” Ashton said in my ear, leaning in close so that I could hear him over the band that was already in full swing. Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. Of course I didn’t want him in trouble, but it appeared that hanging out with an undercover cop for the next eight months was going to put a dampener on my college experience at ASU.
Not answering his question, I looked around. The club was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. It was across two levels and had strobe lighting coming from the ceiling. A stage off to my right housed a live band that was slightly too loud, and slightly out of key as they jumped around excitedly. There were cheap carpets and cheap tables dotted around the edges. The long and well-stocked bar was five people deep, most of whom sported blue wristbands like mine. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. I actually quite liked it here. My hand slipped into Ashton’s as I grinned and gave him a tug towards the bar.
Unexpectedly, I was actually having a nice time. It turns out that I didn’t even need alcohol to enjoy myself. What did annoy me though was the fact that every now and again, my safety would be put into Dean’s hands while Ashton went to the bathroom, or got stuck at the bar buying another round. Dean was trying to be discreet, I could tell that, but him standing close to me, pretending to look around while ignoring me completely was totally over the top and actually screamed ‘bodyguard’ – but maybe that was because I knew that was what he was. No one else seemed to bat an eyelid at him. Each time he had to leave my side for something, Ashton would call or text Dean and ask him to ‘watch the jewel’ for him for a minute. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the stupid codename they’d obviously come up with for me.
After a couple of hours, a hand closed around my forearm. A little squeal escaped my lips, and my body reacted immediately, making me jump into Ashton as if a bomb had detonated near me.
“Whoa, sorry! Didn’t mean to make you jump,” Tim said, laughing hysterically.
My heart started to slow as Ashton’s arm slipped around my waist. “Hey, sorry, you scared me,” I admitted, smiling with relief.
“Hey, Ashton. How you doing?” Tim greeted, smiling warmly.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Ashton replied, rubbing his hand up my arm; he was doing it to calm me down I presumed, and it was certainly working.
“I’ve been looking out for you two all night. We’ve got a table. You want to come and sit with us? We’re upstairs,” Tim offered, nodding towards the back of the bar. Ashton looked at me as if waiting for me to make the decision. I would honestly rather stay here with him, but, for his sake, I probably needed to start being more social.
“Sure, okay,” I agreed, nodding. Ashton smiled and we followed Tim, weaving through the sea of people to the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs there was a table that we had to pass to get to the next level. It was full of a group of laughing men, all of them wearing white ‘adult’ wristbands. My stomach tightened as one of them turned towards me and raised one eyebrow as we approached. A predatory smile crept onto his face. “Hey, sweetheart, I can show you a better time than that guy,” he purred, nodding at Ashton distastefully.
I scoffed and shook my head. “I doubt that very much, sweetheart,” I answered sarcastically, trying to appear confident even though my insides squirmed.
His smile grew bigger. “Well, you never know if you don’t try,” he flirted as he leant forward and landed a slap on my behind.
My nervousness suddenly gave way to anger and my hands clenched into fists, but before I had a chance to respond, Ashton whirled around, looking so angry that he actually looked like a different person as he pushed me in front of him, away from the guys. “Hands off my girl if you wanna keep them!” he growled.
The guy flinched. “Whoa, chill dude, I was just having a laugh with her,” he said, nervously.
Ashton’s shoulders were tense. “Oh really? I didn’t realise. I tell you what, touch her again and then we’ll see how fucking funny you find it,” he suggested, smiling but at the same time looking at him menacingly. The guy held up his hands in protest, shaking his head quickly as his eyes widened at the threat. He actually looked frightened, even though he and his friends outnumbered Ashton five to one.
I gulped, looking back at the stairs that were only a few feet away. I didn’t want him to get in trouble. “Let’s go,” I urged, pulling his hand. His jaw tightened as he nodded, putting his hands on my hips possessively as he gave me a little push towards the stairs to get me walking.
“You okay, Baby Girl?” he whispered in my ear.
I nodded. Spotting Tim already at his table, we wove through the crowd to get to him. Rich and Serena were already sitting there, along with Monica. I suppressed my groan as her predatory eyes landed on Ashton again. I had hoped that my jealousy would have evaporated, but she seemed to make it rear its ugly head again immediately.
Behind Monica there were three other people. Two new boys and one new girl. Tim waved a hand at each of them in turn. “This is Sam, Andrew and Rosie. Guys, this is Anna and Ashton.”
“Hey, nice to meet you,” I greeted as they all scooted over to let us sit down. Ashton nodded for me to sit in the booth first. I bit the inside of my cheek and looked at him pleadingly; I didn’t want to sit next to the new guy I’d only just met. Ashton smiled, obviously understanding my silent plea because he sat down and pulled me onto his lap.
The new girl, Rosie, smiled warmly and leant over to talk to me. “So, you’re new to the college? How come you’re starting mid-semester?”
I smiled in return. She looked extremely nice. She was actually exceptionally pretty; she had long reddish-brown hair and brown eyes that were warm and welcoming.
“Um, well, I didn’t like my old college, so we transferred here,” I lied, shrugging.
Rosie looked at Ashton, raising one eyebrow curiously. “You came all the way here because your girlfriend didn’t like her college?” she asked. Ashton smiled and nodded, which made Rosie make a cooing noise as she put her hand over her heart. “That’s so sweet! Do you have a brother?”
“Nope sorry, only child,” Ashton replied, laughing and tightening his arms around my waist.
Rosie sighed dramatically, looking disappointed. “That’s a shame.”
The three new people were really nice too; I liked the whole group of people if you discounted Monica’s doe eyes that she directed at Ashton. Due to us all having blue wristbands, we were all on soft drinks tonight, but it was fun, I enjoyed it.
When the band finished their set, a DJ came on which seemed to get the crowd even more fired up. Serena looked at her watch. “Shall we dance, girls?”
I looked at Ashton questionably. I actually did want to dance, but I wasn’t sure if that would be okay. Did that mean that he had to dance too, or could he wait here with the other boys?
“You can dance if you want,” he confirmed, nodding. I smiled and stood up, downing the last of my drink as he pulled out his cell phone and sent a quick text. I rolled my eyes, seeing Peter appear out of nowhere and walk about five steps behind me as we made our way to the dance floor downstairs.
“So, how long have you two been together?” Rosie inquired as we danced.
Okay, time to remember all the lies we made up. “Just over a year.”
“Where did you meet?” she asked, seeming genuinely interested.
“We met at a basketball game,” I lied, shrugging.
She sighed, stepping closer to me. “He is so damn hot, Anna! Are you in love with him?” she asked, looking at me hopefully. She struck me as a bit of a romantic, the type of person that would cry at soppy movies and enjoyed a good love story.
My hands were getting sweaty, and my insides starting to tie in knots at the questioning. “Yeah,” I lied, nodding.
Serena chimed in then. “I’d love him too if he were mine. He’s so damn sweet!” Suddenly her eyes narrowed with interest. “He must have a flaw though; no one can be that perfect.” She pursed her lips, waiting for my answer.
Flaws. Did Ashton actually have any flaws? I hadn’t seen a single one, apart from… “He snores.” I didn’t class that as a bad thing though, after all, if he didn’t snore I’d probably still be screaming myself awake, haunted by dreams of Carter’s leering face.
Monica turned her nose up, obviously finally deciding that she didn’t want him now that he was a noisy sleeper. “I hate guys that snore.”
I smiled weakly, feeling the need to defend him in some way. “Yeah, but he wakes pretty easily, and if I wake him up then he always insists on apologising properly, if you know what I mean.” I waggled my eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh well then, I’d definitely forgive him,” she replied, laughing and looking at me enviously. Immediately, I wished I hadn’t said my comment. I’d rather she kept her wandering eyes to herself, but stupidly I’d said the wrong thing. Suddenly she nodded behind me. “Speak of the devil.”
I barely had time to turn and see he was walking up behind me before his arms snaked around my waist. “I figured I could steal one dance before we have to go,” he whispered in my ear. His hot breath blew down my neck, and I shivered as his chest pressed against my back. My hands started to get a little sweaty as the temperature in the already warm room, started to climb. “Oh, and apparently these damn sexy legs are also driving the guys wild, so Peter tells me.”
I frowned, confused by his statement. I knew Peter was watching, he was standing against the wall at the edge of the dance floor trying – and failing – to fit in. “What are you talking about?” I asked, confused, looking at Ashton over my shoulder.
He smiled teasingly. “You’ve not noticed?” We swayed to the beat of the song as one of his hands slid down to the outside of my thigh. “Young, impressionable, sex starved, geeky college guys are staring at you as we speak.”
I frowned, looking around, seeing that he was right. There were guys looking in our direction, some of them looking at me, others looking at the other girls that I was dancing with. I guess a group of girls dancing would normally draw some male attention. I gulped as my back stiffened.
“It’s fine, don’t worry,” he whispered reassuringly. Sliding his hand back to my waist again, he guided me to turn around to face him. “People just need to know that you have a boyfriend, that’s all. It’s easily sorted.” He pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around me.
I nodded, keeping my eyes focussed on him as I looped my arms around his neck. As I looked into his deep green eyes, everything else seemed to fade into insignificance around us. They were beautiful and they trapped me there. He raised his hand and slid it slowly up my back before tangling his fingers into the back of my hair; his other arm wound around my waist and pulled me closer so that there was no gap between us at all.
I had no idea how long we danced like that for before he finally started to inch his mouth closer to mine, all I knew was that however long it was, it wasn’t long enough. I wanted to live in that moment forever. Holding my breath in anticipation of feeling his soft lips against mine again, I closed the distance between us and then, I was lost.
When he moaned in the back of his throat, my heart seemed to do a little flip in my chest. His lips parted against mine and then his hot tongue slipped into my mouth, tangling with mine in a tantalising kiss that left me breathless and giddy. With his mouth on mine, I forgot everything else around us and what this kiss was probably for. In that moment, we could have been anywhere, we could have been standing in the middle of a stampede of wild horses, yet I wouldn’t care, so long as he didn’t stop kissing me. His kisses were addictive. My excitement was growing inside me, building like a raging inferno as I pressed my body against his, needing to be closer, to feel more of him, to be devoured and possessed by him.
But he broke the kiss and put his forehead to mine. A needy whimper left my lips as he breathed heavily and clutched me closer to him. Tilting my head, I captured his lips again, tangling my hands into the back of his hair, needing just a little more of his undivided attention. An involuntary moan escaped my lips as he kissed me back, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and biting it gently.
Again he pulled away, shaking his head this time. “Enough now.” His voice was husky and thick with lust as he swallowed and those sultry, heavily-lidded eyes met mine.
I blinked a couple of times and nodded in agreement, even though every nerve in my body was screaming for the opposite. I laid my head on his shoulder as he continued to dance, swaying to the slow beat of the song that the DJ was blasting out. His ragged breathing slowly returned to normal as I tried desperately to push the lustful thoughts away so that I could calm my jittery body.
As the song slowly filtered into another, his pace changed seamlessly to compensate. I smiled and looked up at him. “Are you good at everything?” I asked.
“No, why do you say that?”
I waved my hand at him as an explanation. “You’re a really good dancer. I’m yet to find one thing you can’t do.”
He laughed and smiled at me. I tilted my face, rubbing my nose up the edge of his jaw, breathing him in as his hands stroked my back softly. “I would say the same for you, but the only thing I know you’re not good at is letting people in,” he said in my ear.
I pulled back to look at him. “Hey, I can let people in; I let you in, didn’t I?” I was a little annoyed at his comment.
He shook his head. “No. You won’t let me in; you barely even want to be my friend because you think I’m going to leave you. You close yourself off from everyone so that you don’t have to feel anything again. You like to be numb,” he said matter-of-factly.
I stared at him, dumbfounded. How the hell does this boy know so much about me? Oh my God, does my file have my therapy tapes in there or something? Has that bitch of a therapist breached my confidentiality?
“Have you been listening to my therapy tapes?” I snapped angrily, pushing myself out of his arms.
He laughed and caught my hands, pulling me closer to him again. “No, Anna. You’re actually pretty easy to figure out most of the time,” he replied, squeezing my hands gently. My body relaxed, and I rolled my eyes at his comment. “Now shut up and dance with me before the bar closes.” He pulled me closer to him again and I laughed, smiling because somehow, he always seemed to make me feel better.