Chapter One
Anita
This was such a bad idea. I looked around anxiously as I moved through the crowd. I just knew somebody would bust me as the imposter I was.
I can't believe I had actually gone through with this.
It had been such a fun, and simple, plan at the time. I’d show up at the party, pretend I was someone else, have a night of fun, and go home to dream about it. It would be a party to remember, for me at least. I never got invited to these kinds of parties, so I’d invited myself.
The reality of how hard it was to pretend to be someone else had me so nervous I could barely stand it. I had to fight the urge to push down my short skirt and pull up the low-cut top. I’d found both at a second-hand store and had hidden them in my closet since my senior year had started. I’d stared at the outfit more than once throughout my senior year, but I’d always reach for something else. Not tonight.
I’d followed online videos to figure out how to turn my long, blonde mop into perfect beach waves and applied more makeup than I’d thought I’d owned as I followed online tutorials. When I sat back from my mirror I hadn’t recognized the woman in front of it, because that’s what I looked like. A grown woman with seductive blue eyes. Wow.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that nobody recognized me, at all. I was offered drinks with smiles, and I got the kind of looks from the boys I’d only dreamed about. More than one glanced at the bare legs I displayed for them, and quite a few stared down at the cleavage I barely had. I knew I should have been displeased with those glances, but I wasn’t. I was a little depressed when I thought that it might be because I was so unnoticeable before, but then I reminded myself it didn’t matter. Not tonight.
Tonight, I was going to fulfill all of my high school dreams, before it was too late, and graduation came along. I felt a moment of panic as I let my gaze wander around the large living room of the house. There were too many people around, some with drinks in hand, while others danced or stood too close to each other in dark corners. My eyes didn’t know where to look and bounced from one person, or couple, to the next. I was both shy and curious at the same time. My eyes wanted to linger, to watch how people interacted with each other, but I was afraid I’d get caught staring.
I’d been at the party for a while when some tall blonde girl I didn’t know dragged me back into the living room and declared they needed one more person to play. She gave me a wink as she pushed me down to the floor in front of the fireplace and declared the circle complete. I stared around and had to fight the urge to run out of there to hide. I called myself all kinds of stupid. If I’d known how that game would end, maybe I’d have stood up and gone home, but then, maybe not?
How was I to know a game of spin the bottle could change my life so much?
The first spin saw Evan Stewart, the host of party and the boy that had my heart, even though he didn’t even know I was alive, as the first to go to the closet to await a partner. We all know how this game works, right? One spins and whoever the top of the bottle stops on goes into a closet, to await the next person that arrives. You’re generally supposed to make out, but I didn’t think that really happened. Not always anyway.
The blond girl that drug me jumped on the bottle as soon as Evan shut the door. Her eyes weren’t on the bottle, though, they were on that door. I guess I wasn’t the only one with a crush. Unfortunately for her, the practiced spin she gave the bottle meant it landed with the neck pointed at me, not at her. That didn’t stop those in the circle; they all cheered, stood up, dragged me to the closet, and threw me in.
Panic surged through me and I wanted to bang on the door, but I was very conscious of the young man behind me. The boy I, and nearly every other girl in our school had a crush on. The 18 year old boy with a man’s deep, suave voice.
“You’re the girl from Wentworth, right?”
I jumped when he spoke. It was dark in the closet and coupled with the noise from outside it sounded way too close and far too intimate. So close and intimate that my body shivered. I jumped once again when he placed his arm against the door, just above my head, and practically caged me in. I looked up, but couldn’t see him, it was too dark in the closet.
“How do you know that?” I asked after an awkward silence.
Evan chuckled, and my body shivered again as I let out a gasp. “I can smell your perfume. You’re the only girl I’ve smelled it on.”
Whoa! That meant he’d noticed me, without me knowing about it. When had that happened? “You noticed my perfume?”
I liked Evan. A whole lot. Evan was tall and athletic, dark-haired with emerald eyes and slightly tanned skin from beach parties and football practice; he was also the sexiest guy I’d had the pleasure to see in real life. I’d had so many fantasies about him in the privacy of my bedroom, and having him so close was doing things to my body that made me completely ignore my anxiety.
“How could I not?” He murmured as he ducked his head, so his lips were right at my ear. “You’re the most beautiful girl here and that perfume is intoxicating.”
Liar.
He didn’t know me from the next girl, he was just using a line on me. We’d gone through school together from freshman year when he transferred to our school in the middle of the semester, and I didn’t think he’d ever looked twice at me. Why would he notice me now?
I showed up at this party posing as a girl from a school in the next district. Wentworth was a high school just like ours only it was in the next county, and the girls were known for gate-crashing parties all over the area. No one even blinked when I told them the lie, and though I’d worried when I was pulled into the spin the bottle game with Evan, he didn’t have a clue we knew each other, nor should he.
Still, I had to remember I was someone else today. I wasn’t Anita, the glasses-wearing nerdy girl. I was Anita, the sexy blonde with blue eyes from a different school. Though I’d had to temporarily bleach my hair and put in contacts for the first time to pull of the ruse, not to mention the skimpy clothes I’d worn instead of my normal comfortable clothes so I could fit in, I knew it was worth it just to get to crash this party.
Tonight, I was going to have fun for once in my life. With that in mind, I put aside my reservations, smiled as I’d practiced in my mirror, even though Evan couldn’t see it, and turned around. I leaned back against the door and tilted my head up to look at Evan. There wasn’t any light in the closet, just a little crack at the top that didn’t make it any easier to see by, but as my eyes adjusted, I could see. Evan look down at me, finally, and I didn’t think I imagined the heat in his eyes as he looked me up and down.
“I didn’t catch your name,” I said from dry lips. My tongue darted out to wet them and his eyes followed.
A slow grin spread across his lips. “It’s Evan,” he said, and leaned his face a little closer. “So, you got picked to follow me in here, huh. What do we do now? It’s just the two of us in here…”
Yeah, behind a flimsy door with a bunch of other high school kids not too far away. So not sexy! So not romantic!
I ignored the thoughts in my head. The thought formed in my head that I could finally have what I’d wanted for so long. If I was just brave enough to take it. I imagined I was in the middle of one of my fantasies and raised my hand to press it against his chest, before I ran it slowly up with a glance at him from underneath my eyelashes.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly, my breath picking up lightly. “You tell me.”
“How about this then,” he murmured, then leaned down to kiss me.
For a moment, I was frozen. For fantasy, it felt incredibly real. I tried not to think of it, because I would freak out, my crush just gave me my first kiss. His other arm wrapped around my waist, pulled our bodies closer, which made my mind jolt back to attention, and I realized he was going to do so much more than that.
I kissed him back or tried. It was simple at; first, he moved his lips against mine, and I decided to do the same. Then, his lips parted against mine, and I felt his tongue touch the seam of my lips. I let out a gasp, my mouth fell open, and his tongue slid inside. It felt like a huge shock surged through my body, electrifyingly hot, and desire rushed right behind it.
My hands roamed over his chest and abs through his t-shirt. Now that I had the chance to touch what I’d been drooling over for years, I wasn’t going to waste it. Evan let out a satisfied groan, his arm held me tighter until our entire bodies were pressed together. My breasts were against his chest, hardened nipples rubbed against his hard chest as I panted for breath in between kisses. A massive heat grew between my thighs, and I wanted to touch myself there. Better yet, I wanted Evan to do it.
He broke off the kiss, and I made a sound of complaint, moving on my tiptoes as I pressed even closer, as I tried to get to his lips. Instead, I felt something like a bulge at his crotch press back, and it took a few seconds to realize what it was. That froze me in place. Evan cursed above me, and I heard him swallow.
“How far are you willing to go?” Evan asked on a ragged breath.
I blinked and looked up at him, still trying to catch my bearings and my breath.
“What?” I whispered.
“I want you,” he said, voice low and hot, intense. “Can I take your clothes off?”
“Oh.”
They were just words, but they were too much for me. I’d never been with a guy, only touched myself while locked away in my bedroom, or my bathroom, and every time with Evan in my mind. Now, I had him in front of me. My hesitation melted away, as the ache in my nipples and between my legs grew. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but I didn’t hesitate.
“Please,” I whimpered, as I clung to him.
Evan released a wild grin, before his head came down and he kissed me harder than he had before, more fiercely. I was overwhelmed, but the right kind, the kind that made me struggle hard to get even closer to him. He didn’t hesitate to yank the bottom of my top, and we separated for a second so he could tug it off before our lips fused again.
As his mouth focused on mine, his hands roamed over my body. He explored the narrow expanse of my waist, down to the gentle flare of my hips, up around the long silky stretch of my back and down again. His touch relaxed me, but it also enervated me and it felt as if every single one of my nerves were alive and begging for his touch. Then, he brought his hands around and up to cup my breasts. I whined as another jolt pulsed through my body. The fabric of my bra was thin, and as he rhythmically squeezed his hands, I could feel my nipples rub against his palms through the material. The heat between my thighs grew hotter and I all but pranced in pace with a need I could not name.
“Please,” I said again in a gasp, desperate. “Please, please.”
Evan’s mouth had moved to my neck, where he left wet, open-mouthed kisses, and I occasionally felt the slick swipe of his tongue after his teeth nipped my skin gently, nips that sent little shocks through my body that made me tremble. I had no idea what I was begging for, but I kept asking.
“I know exactly what you need, baby,” he growled as if he heard the thought, before he pressed a kiss to the curve of my breast.
It was one shock after another tonight, and I got more when he kissed my nipples through my bra, sucking my flesh into his mouth. I had to bite my lip to hold back a very loud moan as desire shot from where he sucked to that firepit between my thighs. My legs felt weak, and I was sure, if he wasn’t holding me up, that I would have already melted to the closet floor.
Then, his hands reached around my back. I barely noticed when my bra’s clasp came undone. I was starting to think it was a little unfair that I was getting naked so quickly, and I became bold enough to try and take his off. When he pulled back from my chest, I lifted his t-shirt up. He quickly pulled it off, and I struggled out of my bra, letting it fall to the floor.
“So, fucking beautiful,” Evan said with a sigh, as his hands went to my waist while he looked at my breasts.
I suddenly whirled around so he could press me to the back of the closet. That door was way too flimsy for where this was headed. A few clothes hung there, but he’d pushed them aside. It was darker in the back, and his much larger body blocked most of the light from me, but I knew the closet door would have fallen open if we pushed it too hard. It was closed, not locked.
His arms went around me as he started to kiss me again, and we both groaned as our naked chests touched. Then, he pulled back, our panted breaths loud in the small space.
“This is your first time, right?” I heard him ask.
I froze.