I glance over my shoulder to see Amanda grinning at me, showing off the braces, looking like a child trying her best to convince everyone else she’s a grownup. I wave at her again and she frowns, turns on her wobbly heel and starts down the stairs toward the makeshift dance floor.
“Isn’t she a little young for you?” Jade asks.
I return my attention to her, trying my best to keep my eyes on her face but…I can’t. She’s wearing some crazy shirt that’s sleeveless and cropped, offering a teasing glimpse of her flat stomach, the curve of her waist. The pale fabric strains across her chest and the cropped denim skirt she’s got on shows more thigh than covers them.
Dayum.
“Come to repay your debt?” I ask, decidedly happy at tonight’s turn of events. I know Gabe said I needed to forget her. And I agreed with him. But if she’s going to magically appear and drive me crazy with what she’s wearing, then I’m going to take full advantage of this.
And collect my payment.
“I don’t owe you shit,” Jade says, her cheery voice at odds with the scowl on her face. It doesn’t detract from her beauty though.
She’s looking extra gorgeous tonight too. Her hair is down, long past her shoulders and wavy. Her lips are this vibrant pink glossy shade I have the sudden urge to kiss off. And her legs in that skirt…I want them wrapped around me. Naked. Just before I—
“You have a lot of nerve, you know that? Showing up at this party like you own it. I’ve never seen you before in my life and all of a sudden I see you two nights in a row? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were stalking me,” she says, sending me a withering stare.
“I could say the same for you.” I grab hold of her arm and yank her close, trying my best to ignore the electricity that crackles between our bodies but it’s no use. I’m attracted to her. She’s attracted to me.
We need to see where this takes us.
“Like I’d stalk you. I think you’re an asshole, remember?” She jerks her arm from my hold, her foot on the edge of the deck and where the stairs start. One minute she’s standing before me, the next she’s falling…falling…
It goes in slow motion but happens so fast, I leap forward, catching her before she goes crashing onto the stairs. I’m holding her in my arms, leaning against the stair railing and bent over Jade, one hand cupping the back of her head, her hair clinging to my fingers, silky soft and fragrant.
Everything about her is perfect. And soft. She’s staring up at me, a grimace of what looks like pain crossing over her delicate features. “Are you okay?” I ask, hearing the panic in my voice but not really giving a crap. Her near fall just scared the shit out of me.
“I’m fine. It’s just…” Her voice trails off and she winces again. “My ankle. I think I twisted it.”
Without hesitation I scoop her up and carry her into the house, ignoring her protests, ignoring how she beats on my chest with her fist to get my attention. I’m focused on taking care of Jade, nothing else. I feel like an ass, driving her away, making her almost fall.
“Put me down,” she says for about the twentieth time. “Where are you taking me?”
“To one of the back bedrooms so I can look at your ankle.” I angle her to the side and carry her down the narrow hallway, kicking in one of the bedroom doors which is thankfully empty and haul her inside, where I set her carefully onto the bed. “Now let me look at it.” I sit on the edge of the bed, ready to reach out and start probing but she jerks her legs away from me, whimpering when she does so.
“Go away,” she says with a sniffle.
“Stop being such a baby.” I brace my hand on the mattress on the other side of her legs, caging her in. “I’m trying to check out your ankle, not look up your skirt.”
Though now that I mention it…
“Yeah right. God, do you think of nothing else or what?” She rolls her eyes and leans back against the headboard, making herself somewhat comfortable.
Which is good. Real good. I hope this means she’ll let me make sure she’s okay without much protest.
“Think of what?” I ask innocently as I let my hand settle carefully on her foot. She flinches, tries to move away but I circle my fingers gently around her ankle, keeping her in place. “It doesn’t look swollen.”
She leans over the slightest bit, the scent of her perfume washing over me, a heady mix of floral and citrus. “It doesn’t hurt as bad,” she admits.
“Yeah?” I lift my head, my gaze meeting hers. We’re close. Kissing close. Not that I want to kiss her. Not really.
Okay, I’m a liar.
“Yeah,” she whispers, parting her lips, a shaky exhale escaping when I sweep my thumb over the top of her foot.
I drop my gaze, taking in her pale blue painted toenails. “Cute.”
“My toes?” She wiggles them. “The color matches my shirt.”
Ah, the perfect excuse to check out that shirt again. I love how much of her it exposes without being trashy. Her skin is pale but not ghostly and she has a smattering of freckles on her shoulders. Makes me wonder where else she might have freckles. And why I’m suddenly so attracted to freckles.
I drift my hand up, over her calf, stopping at her knee. Her leg is smooth and if we were both drunker, I’d let my hand continue its search, going higher and higher until I ended up under her skirt. Under her panties…
“What are you doing?” she asks, sounding the tiniest bit breathless.
“Making sure you’re not injured,” I answer, proud of how under control I sound. Inside, I’m chaos. My heart is thumping hard against my chest and my breathing’s accelerated. I grip her knee, and realize my hand is fucking shaking.
“I think you’re trying to get your hand up my skirt.” Leave it to Bitch Face to call me out. I can’t help but find her straightforwardness attractive. No girl is ever straightforward with me. They’re always coy. Playing games and flirting and never asking for what they really want. They always defer to me.
After a while, that gets pretty damn boring.
“Maybe I am,” I say, moving my hand to rest on top of her knee.
Her lips curve into the smallest smile and seeing it feels like a victory. As if I’ve just won an extra difficult battle and that tiny curve of her lush lips is my prize. “You’re pretty determined, aren’t you?”
She’s not pushing me away. I need to take this moment. Seize this fucking moment and make it mine. Make her mine. At least for tonight. Her scent is making my head spin and just touching her knee has got me sporting wood. “I’m always determined.”
“Determined to piss me off?”
I chuckle and her smile grows. “Am I doing a good job?”
“You’re an expert at making me mad.”
“I think we’re having a moment,” I tell her. “A bonding moment.”
She looks the slightest bit horrified. “No. Way. That is the last thing I want to do.”
I raise my eyebrows, let my hand slide up a bare inch more. Then another. I’m so close to getting under that skirt, it’s not even funny. “You don’t like me very much, do you?”
“You don’t like me either. You call me Bitch Face.”
“You introduced yourself to me as Bitch Face.”
She tilts her head, all that wavy red hair tumbling over her shoulder. My fingers itch to touch it. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. I thought it was an unusual name…” I let my voice drift and she smiles once more.
“Says the man with an unusual name.”
“I told you it’s an old family name.”
“As a last name, not as a first.” She makes a little face. “It’s not very sexy.”
“You don’t think?” Interesting.
“I can’t imagine shouting out your name in the throes of passion.” Her cheeks go the faintest pink. That she’s even thinking like this gives me a secret thrill.
Forbidden. Unknown. This is the last girl I should consider getting naked with.
“T
hroes of passion?” I ask. “Someone’s been reading too many romance novels.”
“You know what I mean.” She waves a hand, dismissing her words.
“I don’t.” I pull the innocent act, which she isn’t falling for but it’s still fun. “What are you talking about exactly?”
“You’re not going to make me explain, are you?”
“I would love for you to explain. Or maybe I should help you.” I crawl my fingers up her thigh, playing with the frayed hem of her denim skirt. “Are you talking about…having sex?”
She nods, her cheeks blazing up. Hmm, she’s extra pretty when she blushes.
“And that moment…when we’re fucking…and you’re so damn close.” I lean in and inhale deep, my eyes almost falling shut as I absorb her scent, her warmth and that flush in her cheeks, the way her breathing quickens. “So fucking close as I push deep inside you. You don’t think it would be sexy to yell out my name just as I make you come?”
“N-no.” She shakes her head, that single word coming out as a squeak.
“Really.” I give in and settle my cheek next to hers, nuzzle her ear with my nose before I whisper, “Because by the time I have you coming, I’m fairly certain you’ll be crying out my name and begging me please.”
“You’re a real arrogant prick, aren’t you?”
I pull back from her the slightest bit, a little shocked. The girl doesn’t mince words. “Merely confident in my abilities.” I cup the back of her head, thread my fingers in the silky soft waves of her hair. I’d love to wrap her hair around my fist and tug her head back right before I kiss her…
“Proud of your man-whore status?”
“I can’t help it if the ladies flock to me.”
She rests her hand on my chest and gives me a gentle shove. “I’m not flocking to you.”
“Even after all that talk about coming and with my hand up your skirt?”
Jade looks down with a sharp gasp, dropping her hand to mine and shoving it out from beneath her skirt. “What are you doing?”
“I thought it was obvious.” When she says nothing, only glares at me, I continue. “I was going to kiss you and hopefully get you off with my fingers.”
Her mouth drops open. Instead of looking aroused, she looks…pissed. Vaguely horrified. “You’re disgusting.”
I lean back. Move way, way back though I’m not getting off the bed. Not yet. I still have a chance.
Or then again, maybe I don’t.
I almost fell for all of that. The charm, the seductive tone of his voice, the way he looked at me, the way he touched me. Somehow, without me being aware of it, he’d skimmed those too sure fingers up my leg and slipped them beneath my skirt. Nuzzled my face with his. Freaking talked about being inside of me and making me come all while I’d be begging and shouting his name.
What a perv. Worse? I like his perverted side.
A lot.
“Shepard Prescott,” I whisper, trying it out. “Shepard. Shep.”
He runs a hand through that sexy mop of hair. It’s in dire need of a trim. Touched with gold as if the sun reached out and shot her rays directly on those rich brown strands. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, Shep.” I smile, feeling like the chick that fakes an orgasm in that one movie from the eighties. Mom loves that movie. I prefer Sleepless in Seattle but whatever. “Touch me there, Shep. Deeper Shep.”
He smiles. “See? Is that so hard?”
“Are you hard?” I clamp my lips shut the moment the words fall out of my mouth. Did I really just say that?
He clears his throat, readjusts the front of his jeans. Oh good lord, I did. And I think he is.
“You’re the one calling my name,” he points out.
“I was pretending to try it out.” I sit up straighter, jerking my legs away from him. My ankle feels much better thank goodness. “But it’s not working for me. Shep is definitely not sexy.”
“Says the only female on campus who thinks that.”
“Please. You’re so arrogant.” I dart out my foot and nudge it against his thigh, surprised at how rock hard it is. The man is solid muscle, I’ll give him that. I bet he looks damn good with his shirt off. Or even naked.
Yeah. Don’t go there.
“See? You’re trying to touch me.”
“I’m trying to get you to stand up so I can get off this bed.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” He leaps to his feet, agile as a cat. And he’s a sneaky predator too. Scary. “Need help?” he asks, offering his hand toward me.
I ignore his outstretched arm and push off the bed, putting my weight gingerly on my twisted ankle but it’s fine. All better now.
I can make my escape.
“Since I just shut you down maybe you should go try and charm the panties off some other innocent girl,” I say, blinking up at him.
“You still owe me.”
Ugh. He’s not going to let this go. “And by owing you, are you implying I’m supposed to have sex with you? Please. I’m not your whore.”
“I never said that,” he says, all calm, smooth and irritating as hell. “But a bet is a bet. A deal is a deal. I won you fair and square.”
“Yeah, because my ex put me up for grabs!” I point out, immediately regretting that I yelled at him. It’s annoying, how serene he is when I’m all flustered.
“You two broke up?” I refuse to hear the hopeful note in his voice.
Refuse. Refuse. Refuse.
“We’d been headed in that direction for a while.” God, I’m trying my best for nonchalant but it’s difficult. I lift my chin. “Not that it would matter to you. You were making a play for me, believing I was involved with someone else.”
“Give me a break. You were willing. Don’t make me out to be the scumbag.” He jerks a thumb at his chest. His very broad, very nice chest.
True. Not that I’d ever admit it. And why can’t he back away a little bit or better yet, leave the room? He smells delicious. That same earthy, woodsy scent with the hint of citrus, and he looks damn good in those jeans.
“I expect you to pay up. I won that hand. I won you,” he says, his voice low, his gaze intense. And directed right at me. “If Joel the loser can’t come through then you need to.”
I gape at him. This entire situation is surreal. Why is Shepard Prescott so determined to—have me? I don’t get it. So I guess I should ask him. “Wh-what do you want from me?” I sound like a stuttering fool and I hate it. He unnerves me completely. I swear he was going to kiss me not even five minutes ago.
And I would’ve let him.
“Your time.”
I squint up at him. Man, he’s tall. “What?”
“Your time. I won a girlfriend so I expect…a girlfriend.” He shrugs. “You’ll do all those girlfriend things girls do. Hang out with me. Wash my clothes. Feed me. Rub my back. Go out to dinner with me. Watch TV together.”
“Wash your clothes? Feed you? You make me sound like a maid.”
“Isn’t that what good girlfriends do?”
This guy doesn’t have a clue. “So that’s what you want from me?” I ask incredulously. “I thought you didn’t have girlfriends. That you don’t want a girlfriend.”
Jeez. Should I have just said that to him? It’s a well-known fact that Shep has never dated anyone seriously for the last three years he’s been on this campus. He has a revolving door of women and that’s it. I don’t want to be one of the many.
I don’t want to be with him, period.
Liar.
“I definitely don’t want one. A real girlfriend would always want something from me. But you wouldn’t be a real girlfriend. You’re temporary. A girl I won in a bet.” His face lights up, as if he’s figuring out what a great deal this is. Which it is.
For him.
“And what do I get out of this?”
“Me.” He grins and spreads his arms out wide, like he’s a prize or something.
I want to sock him right in his smug as hell face. ??
?No way.”
His smile falters and he drops his hands to his sides. “No?”
“Absolutely not.” I shake my head. “You’ll need to find Joel if you want him to repay this debt. I owe you nothing.”
I start to leave but he grabs hold of my arm, stopping me. His grip is gentle. I could pull out of his hold easily but I don’t. There’s something about the press of his fingers into my skin, his nearness, the way he speaks, low and steady close to my ear, that makes everything inside of me come instantly, achingly alive.
“You owe me everything. All that you have. And don’t deny that you want to give it to me because I know you do,” he murmurs, his breath stirring my hair.
God, his words…they do something to me. Has any guy spoken to me like this before?
No. Not ever.
We stare at each other, the air charged with unspoken tension. He sweeps his hand down my arm in a gentle caress, causing gooseflesh to rise on my skin and I want to step away. I tell myself to step away. Instead I’m tilting my head back, he’s moving his head down and oh my God, he’s going to kiss me. Fucking sexy Shep Prescott who knows just what to say to make me light up inside is going to put those perfect lips on mine in three…two…
“Hey.” The door swings open and there stands a guy I recognize from last night, his arm looped around the neck of a really short, really pretty dark haired girl who’s giggling uncontrollably. “Oh. Shep. What are you doing in here?”
“What does it look like I’m doing in here?” Shep asks tightly as I move away from him. Far, far away, so I can breathe again.
I take in a shaky breath, refusing to look at him. Because he knows. I know he knows I would’ve given in and I can’t give him that power.
The guy grins and holds his hand out toward me as he enters the room. “Gabriel Walker. A friend of Shep’s. I saw you last night. You have a most excellent backhand.”
Oh God, how embarrassing. “Jade Frost.” I shake his hand, momentarily dazzled by Gabriel’s good looks. Was there some sort of unspoken law that attractive men must hang out together? “Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine,” he drawls, earning a deathly glare from Shep.