Mercedes
WELL, MY RESOLVE certainly hadn’t lasted long.
What the hell was I doing?
Was I stupid?
This boy was going to break my heart.
I knew it.
It was freaking inevitable.
He was going to break me apart.
So why was I willing to go along with it?
Because you want him…
Rourke smiled down at me then, revealing those deep dimples in both cheeks, and I was lost to the fluttering sensation in my chest. With his hands on my hips, he walked us until my back hit the wall behind me.
“I’m really fucking happy about this, Six.” Rourke took another step and pressed his large frame to mine. “Can you feel how happy this friends thing is making me?” he added, tone gruff and thick. His erection strained against me, making me feel weak with want.
Oh. My. God.
“And when you get bored of this?” Of me! “What happens then?” I forced myself to look at him when I said, “Do we go back to hating each other? You being an asshole to me half the time, and pretending I’m invisible the other half?”
Rourke looked at me for a long moment before slowly shaking his head. “I won’t do that to you again.” His voice resonated with sincerity. “And trust me, Six; you have never been invisible to me.”
I snorted. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I’m serious,” Rourke argued, eyes locked on mine. “I’ve been seeing you, Six. The whole damn time.”
Could I handle this? I had an obsessive personality and this boy was like crack to my body. “You make me crazy,” I admitted, unable to stop my body from trembling. Fear and anticipation flooded me.
“Right back atcha, Six,” he replied, blue eyes burning through me.
“Okay.” I exhaled a shaky breath and forced a smile. “Okay, so we’ve established we bring out foreign emotions and personality traits in each other –”
“Six?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
Rourke didn’t wait for me to answer; his lips crashed down on mine harshly, taking my breath away – and what was left of my common sense.
Gasping, I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me and pressed me against the wall. I relished in the feel of him punishing my mouth with his.
He was rough and urgent and I loved every second of it. So much so, I cried out in pleasure.
Everything about this moment felt surreal. This was everything I had refutably denied I wanted since I saw him at our parents wedding. He hurt me that day and I buried my attraction to him with disgust. I couldn’t do it anymore though. Not when he tasted so damn good on my lips.
Having Rourke crushed against me, straining against me, his hands on my body and his mouth on mine, was everything I had ever wished for.
Everything about him screamed urgent, like he couldn’t bear the thought of spending another second apart.
“What about Britt?” I blurted out, panting. I hated to break the kiss, but I needed to know, dammit.
“No Britt,” Rourke whispered, trailing kisses down my neck, stopping to suckle on my collar bone. “No other girls.”
My body thrilled at the thought.
Was he saying he was mine?
“No Larkin, either,” he added gruffly. “Or any other asshole.”
“So, what?” I moaned and tilted my head to one side, giving his mouth access to my bare flesh. “We’re exclusive, um, friends?”
Please say yes.
Please say yes.
Rourke stopped kissing my neck. Leaning back, he looked into my eyes, obviously mulling over my question. “If you want something from me, just ask, Six.”
Okay. “I want you to not touch any other girls for as long as we’re, um, friends.”
Rourke stared hard at me for a long moment before nodding. “Deal.” He gestured between us. “No one else for as long as this lasts.”
Relief flooded my body, so prominent and intoxicating that I drew his mouth back down to mine almost frantically.
I was playing a dangerous game with my stepbrother; one where my heart and pride were on the line.
“I need to be honest with you about something,” Rourke panted, reluctantly breaking the kiss.
Kiss me, I wanted to scream. Stop talking and kiss me…
“What?” I breathed, looking up at his darkened eyes.
“This.” He gestured between us. “It’s not permanent.”
“I know that,” I forced myself to say, even if it killed a little piece of me to say it. “It’s temporary and you won’t ever love me. You’ve told me this before, Rourke.”
“I just want us to be on the same page.” His eyes were dark and full of heated desire as he spoke. “This is temporary,” he continued to say and I wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince. “But one hundred percent exclusive for as long as it lasts.”
“Temporary,” I agreed with a weak nod.
“I mean it, Six,” he said in a husky tone. “I won’t fuck around on you. That’s not who I am. When I’m with you, I’m with you and no one else.” His breath fanned my face as he spoke words that both crushed me and set my heart on fire. “I expect the same in return.”
He was promising not to hurt me. Offering me friendship, exclusivity, affection, and sex. He was fucking perfect. The only thing missing was the promise of a future. I didn’t want him to propose to me for god’s sake.
I just wanted to believe that this was going somewhere. That it could.
But dammit, I needed to look at this relationship in a clinical way. It wouldn’t last. It was just for fun. That’s all. That’s all he was offering me, and why shouldn’t I have some fun? I’d been taking care of everyone else for my whole life. Why wasn’t it my turn to kick back and have fun?
I wanted to.
“Okay then,” I whispered. For as long as it lasts…
The inevitability of this boy crushing my heart should have been enough to make me run. But the emotions and feelings charging through my veins, making my heart pound, made me stay. His eyes on my mine and his hands on my body kept me rooted to the spot.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad when he broke me.
Maybe, with a little luck, I’d end up breaking him, too.
I WALKED BACK TO biology class feeling more confused than I had been when I left it.
Some of the students looked up and snickered when we walked in. “Dude,” Mason chuckled. “What the hell?”
“Don’t.” Rourke shook his head in warning, eyes narrowed on his friend’s desk. It was only then I noticed Rourke’s lips and neck were smeared in my lipstick.
His hair looked like someone had roughly dragged their fingers through it.
Someone had. Me.
I’d be a liar if I said my lipstick smeared on his face wasn’t a huge turn on. Knowing that he was mine and mine only for as long as this lasted made me feel powerful. He wanted me. This stubborn, beautiful boy had a weakness and it was me. I was his weakness. I freaking loved it.
“Are you feeling better, Mercedes?” Miss Black asked, looking at me with a small frown.
“Um, yeah,” I squeezed out, making a beeline for our desk. My face was burning; cheeks flushed, lips swollen from his kisses.
Dying of embarrassment, I slid onto my stool and dropped my attention to the open textbook on our desk. Every nerve in my body was on high alert. The moment Rourke sat down beside me and clamped his hand down on my thigh, my nerves were shot to hell.
“So, friend,” Rourke whispered, dropping his mouth to my ear. “What do you want to do after the game tonight?”
“I’m…um, not sure.” Grappling with my nerves and lust, I forced out, “Hang on. I already told you, I’m not going to the game.”
“I know. I’m talking about afterwards.” Rourke pried my thighs open with persuading fingers and added, “We could go out for dinner…or eat in?” Teasing the apex of my thighs with his fingers, he added, “Whatever you want.”
“I can’t. I’m going to Molly’s party…” My voice trailed off and I bit back a moan when I felt him touch my panties. “You need to stop.”
“Really?” he purred, rubbing once more. “You sure?”
I nodded and bit down hard on my fist. “Friends first, Rourke,” I whispered. “That means no touching the other friend’s, um, private parts.”
“Gotcha.” Rourke removed his hand and snickered. “Private parts.”
“Don’t make fun of my terminology,” I hissed, snapping my head towards his. “I was trying to be polite.”
Immediately, I was snared in his gaze, trapped by eyes so blue I felt I was drowning in them. “Don’t be polite,” he countered, smirking devilishly at me. “Because there’s nothing fucking polite about what I want to do to you.”
I swallowed deeply, his words affecting me like nothing ever had.
Oh yeah, I was in way over my head with this boy.