Chapter Five
Leo
I didn’t like that Carina was mad at me, but I wasn’t quite sure why. For some reason it went beyond wanting to just do a good job at the gig I was hired for. There was something about Carina, something I just couldn’t quite get over.
Like when her dark-brown hair slid over her shoulder when she looked down shyly to hide her eyes. Or how she would bite her lip a little while she was thinking. There was just something about her.
And that kiss!
Sure, I had done it just to piss off those other prissy girls, but now, I kind of wanted to do it again. Her lips were so soft and warm.
Just one more kiss couldn’t hurt. Could it?
As we got to the exit of the gym, I reached out to grab Carina’s arm and pull her back to me. She looked up in surprise. I took her narrow chin in my hand and dropped my face to hers, touching her lips with my own.
I told myself it was just one more kiss to rub our ruse into the face of her classmates, but to my body it felt like more. This girl was fire. I wanted her, badly.
I pulled back, feeling worried all of a sudden. I shouldn’t have done that.
Carina laughed as I dropped my arms, despite herself and I found myself staring at the way her bright-blue eyes lit up when she was happy.
“Okay, no one really saw that,” she commented, leaning her head to the side. “That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“I know,” I said. “I just wanted to kiss you.”
I was surprised by my honesty and so, it seemed, was Carina. Her lips snapped shut as her arched eyebrows went up just slightly. In her eyes, though, there was a fire —a fire that was calling to me. A fire I needed to avoid.
I slipped my hand into hers as we walked out into the hallway and headed for the exit. I was a professional after all. I could pretend without getting too carried away.
Along the hallway, I stopped, noticing the trophy case.
“Any of these yours?” I asked, slightly curious, suddenly wanting to know more about my “fiancée”.
Carina bit her lip and bent down slightly.
“I won the spelling bee as a freshman,” she confessed, sounding like she was remembering that day.
“Oh, my God.” She pointed. “The trophy’s still here! That was thirteen years ago!”
I looked inside the trophy case at where she was indicating. Inside there was a small trophy and a newspaper clipping with Carina’s face.
“Aw, you were a cute kid,” I commented. “You seem happy in that photo.”
“Yeah, I guess I was that day,” she admitted. As she stood up, her smile faded, and she looked away. “I don’t know what happened to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“This,” she said gesturing to me and herself. “I hired an escort just so my former classmates wouldn’t see that I was still single. It’s stupid.”
“You have to stop beating yourself up,” I advised.
Not meeting my eyes, Carina looked down and leaned against the trophy case folding her arms over her full breasts.
“Why does everyone say that to me?” she pouted.
It was adorable.
“Because you’re constantly beating yourself up!” I laughed.
There were butterflies in my stomach. If I was smart, I would just let the evening end here. I would walk away and let this just be another escort job.
“Come on, before we go, show me around your high school.”
I guess I wasn’t smart.
Carina rolled her eyes and blew out a breath. “I suppose.”
She looked up and met my eyes. I wasn’t quite sure what she saw in them, but a slight blush came to her cheeks.
We looked at each other till it became awkward, then she turned and continued down a different hallway. The way her sweet, round ass moved — I was happy to follow her.
Walking the halls together, Carina pointed out the various classrooms. She remembered the teachers, the students, and some of the incidents that shaped her life.
“Over by that water fountain, I got into an argument with Sabrina,” she told me. “She was being particularly annoying that day and I lashed out when she called me ugly. None of my yelling seemed to bother her. She and her friends just started chanting ‘psycho’. Everyone in the hallway crowded around. It was so embarrassing.”
“Did you get into a fight?”
“No, we just yelled at each other.” She bit her lip and shrugged. “It got a little out of hand. Fortunately, there were so many people in the hall, I just melded into the masses and disappeared at some point. I left her rushing around the hall looking for me in the crowd.”
I nodded. The poor girl really had it rough in high school. The thought made me sad.
We continued down the hall.
“Is that the AV room?” I asked, looking into an open door.