Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

The thought that I might be in love is too much. I’m too young for love, plus this is my friend. I might have a bit of complex feelings towards her, but this is something else. It’s heavy and frightening, not what I want at all. I don’t know if I can cope with it, already my lungs feel tight and constricted. I don’t know if I can breathe properly. What’s that sound? Is it me panting? Am I falling apart here? I just don’t know. I might have had girlfriends before, but none of them have ever made me feel like this. She really is my whole world.

I don’t take me off of her the entire time as I delve through my emotions, and eventually, Veronica senses someone staring at her. Her eyes dart towards me but as our gaze locks, she doesn’t give me her usual bright smile. Her lips turn down into a confused frown and I have a funny feeling that’s much more to do with how I look right now than the fact that I’m late. I can tell I’m messy and raw, it’s obvious I’m vulnerable as hell.

Don’t abandon me for him, I beg her in my mind again. Please, choose me, come for me.

She doesn’t move, she remains seated where she is but she doesn’t take her eyes off of me. The guy next to her doesn’t seem to notice that she’s distracted. He’s so involved in whatever he’s telling her that he’s oblivious. I’m grateful to him for that, it’s important for us to just have this moment of shared eye contact.

Then something snaps inside of me. I don’t know what it is but I can’t just keep looking anymore. I need to take action, to claim what I think is mine. I don’t even plan it, I just start walking and by the time I get to Veronica my body knows exactly what it wants to do even if my brain doesn’t. I cup her face in mine, give her a much more intimate look than I’ve ever done before, and I finally let my feelings free. I dip my head down and I crash my lips against hers. I kiss her. Gently at first, with just a little soft touch, but soon the passion overcomes and the kiss deepens. It’s a wild kiss, one I really didn’t think was coming, and it feels so good. Even better than I expected. I’ve thought about what this might be like, but I never expected it to feel so intense…

There’s a real palpable chemistry between us, a powerful sensation that consumes me. My heart thunders like a jack hammer, I can feel a pulsing deep inside of me, immediately I want more. I want everything from her. I feel desperate needy. my hands work their way up into her hair as if we’re in the bedroom rather than at a very public party. I can barely remember the rest of the people here, never mind the guy next to her.

“Oh, Veronica,” I gasp as I finally pull backwards. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to be…”

She pushes me backwards as if she’s been electrocuted. I know she liked the kiss though because she got into it just as much as me. Maybe even more. I might have heard a little whimper in the back of her throat at some point. It’s just the after effects of that. She might actually want to leave this where it is for a moment despite my pleading looks. To be fair, Veronica looks extremely confused, like she doesn’t know what just happened, which is fair. I’m not too sure myself, that seemed to come from nowhere. All I know is it felt good.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Tom…” She turns next to him, but her new friend is gone. I guess the sight of us kissing was too much for him to handle. I can’t blame him, I wouldn’t much like it if I’d had to see it either. “Oh right, I guess Tom is gone. Erm…” She turns back to stare at me. “What was that, Jordan? Is that something? Are you just pretending that I’m your girlfriend? Because if so, a heads up would be nice. I don’t want to be…”

“No.” I take her hands in mine, loving the way the touch of her skin makes me feel. “No, that was real.”

“It was real?” I can understand her bewildered look. That was a bit nuts. I’ve tried so hard not to take our friendship to this level because it’ll wreck what we have, but that line has been crossed now, it’s too late. Seeing her with another guy made me realize what I’d lose if I let her go… and that scared me more. “What now?”

I give her a one shouldered shrug. “I don’t know, but we should probably go somewhere a little better than here, don’t you think?” A frat party isn’t the right place to have a life changing conversation. “Liam is away on a trip at the moment so my room is empty… we can always go back there if you like?”

I don’t necessarily mean for anything other than talking, but the suggestion earns me that gorgeous blush from her. It’s really hard for me to keep myself under control while she looks like that. All I want to do is grab her and kiss her inappropriately all over again. But I suppose, if we’re going to my room we have all the time in the world.

“Okay, yeah.” Veronica nods slowly. “Sounds good. Let’s get the hell out of here. To your room, sure.”

She holds out her hand and I take it, feeling a lot like her boyfriend now. It’s a nice sensation. She’s the most beautiful woman in this place, especially in that gorgeous dress of hers, and now she might actually be about to become mine for real. It’s something that’s been scaring me for months, but now I’m purely thrilled.

That kiss was filled with promise… I want to see

where it can lead.

5

Veronica

My heart races violently as Jordan leads me towards his bedroom, I can barely think about what I’m doing, this is just so crazy! How did this even happen? I’m really not sure. One minute, I was having a perfectly nice conversation with Tom, purely a friendly chat with absolutely nothing in it. Then I spotted Jordan across the garden. Immediately, I was struck by how odd he looked, he had a very strange expression on his face, like he wanted to eat more or something. I loved it, it was secretly delicious. But I still didn’t expect him to come for me. And boy did he come for me. He claimed me in the most incredible way possible. Then we came here…

This must be a dream. That’s the only explanation. This cannot really be real. It’s everything I want. Just because it feels real doesn’t mean it is. I have to be asleep and any minute now I’ll wake up.

God, I don’t want to wake up. This is everything to me. I so need this. I might have been trying to tell myself that everything is okay and I’m all fine with just being friends, but the truth is I crave him desperately.

“Oh, wow,” I chuckle nervously as we crash through into his room. “It’s tidy in here for a change.”

“You think the mess is me?” Jordan cocks one eyebrow at me. “It’s Liam. I took the time to tidy up now.”

“Oh yeah?” I try and picture him acting domestic but I can’t totally see it. “Wow, I didn’t realize.”

He twirls me around, tucking me under his arm as he does and presses me up against his rock-hard body again. The intensity inside of me racks up once more and I feel myself stiffen. All I want to do is mould into him, to give myself over completely, but I’m nervous. This is a whole different situation now, it’s much more real.

I connect my eyes with his and my breath catches in my throat. He’s got such a new look in his eyes, I’ve never been stared at with such desire and lust before. It’s absolutely intoxicating. I want to swim in it, I’d even drown in it, just because it makes me feel that much more amazing than I am. It’s as if he thinks I’m beautiful.

I part my lips, I feel like I need to say anything to break the silence, but before I get the chance to his mouth is all over mine again. He’s kissing me hard, claiming me with his lips, and I love it. I find the courage to snake my arms around his waist to hold him in place. I don’t want him to stop kissing me now that it’s finally happened. I might well want him to kiss me forever more. God, I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing…

“I like your dress,” Jordan murmurs against my skin as he hooks his fingers underneath the hem line. “It looks really good on you. I think you should wear dresses more often… unless it gets you lots of attention…”

I feel suddenly horror struck by the idea this might just be a jealousy thing. Maybe he’s only interested in me now because he saw me with Tom. Should I be worried about that? Maybe it just made him realize how he feels about me. I can’t be mad if he just needed that tiny little nudge in the right direction.