Comfort Zone (Awkward Love 4)

“You want to see that bad?” I ask, laughing,

I hold the phone up, so he can read the message, and the five that follow it from Brooke, who is naturally freaking out.

“Five minutes,” Becca says with a grin. “Then you can reply. That’s your dare.”

“Seriously?” Jake groans. He covers his face with his hands. “Brooke is going to murder me.”

As if on cue, his phone starts ringing, and it doesn’t stop for the next five minutes. Finally, his time is up. He fumbles the phone, trying to answer it.

“Br. Yes, it was nothing. Just the guys playing a j—” He pauses and curses. “I know. No, calm down…No, of course not. Yes. She’s here.” He glares at Becca, then stalks outside, still trying to get more than a word into the conversation.

“That was mean,” I say. “You must really hate Brooke.”

“No, I’ve got nothing against her. She’s the one who hates me,” Becca corrects.

“And let me guess, you have no idea why?”

“It’s true. When he first told me about this amazing girl he was seeing, I thought awesome, we’re totally going to be friends. But right from our first meeting, she made it clear she hated me.”

“It’s funny,” I muse. “I’ve met her a handful of times and she seems like an easygoing, laid-back kind of girl.”

“That’s not the side I see.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do. There’s only so many times I can try and be friends with her.”

“Maybe she’s threatened with how close you are to Jake?” I suggest.

Becca frowns. “You think she’s jealous of me?”

I shrug. “It’s not that farfetched.”

I look up as Jake wanders back in looking exhausted. He glowers at Becca.

“Thanks for that.”

She shrugs. “Call it payback for 2005.”

“Hold up, what was 2005?” I ask.

Jake grins. “I convinced Becca that S&M stood for sweet and meaningful.”

“You conveniently left out the part where you told me that while I was setting up my online chat profile,” Becca retorts. “Announcing that you’re fifteen, female and looking for someone to have S&M conversations with?” She shudders. “Well, let’s just say I had a lot of unwanted chat requests.”

I laugh and shake my head. These two have such a strong friendship I’m beginning to see why Brooke is the way she is toward Becca.

“Sorry, but I’m on his side.” I grin. “I can’t believe you were gullible enough to believe that.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s your turn now, right?” Jake raises his eyebrows. Even though his comment is directed at Becca, I groan internally.

Why do I feel like this is going to involve me?

“Fine.” Becca shrugs. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

His eyes fall on me and his smile widens. I knew this was coming.

“Make out with Liam.”

Becca looks confused, and then she laughs. And then she stops laughing.

“Wait, your serious?” she scoffs. “Make out? What am I, ten?”

“Making out at ten?” Jake chortles. “That explains a lot, actually.”

“Shut up,” Becca growls. “No. I can’t do that. I won’t. He’s my professor. Surely that’s against the law or something?”

“Nope. Only if you’re not legal, and there’s no way you pass as underage,” Jake cracks.

“Gee, thanks,” Becca mutters.

She stands up and glares at me like this is my fault. Somehow, with the one step she has to take to get to me, she loses her balance and falls straight onto my lap.

“You’re keen,” I say, putting my arm around her to steady her. She shrugs me off and straightens herself up. “Exactly how much have you had to drink?”

I’m only half joking. The last thing I want to do is take advantage of her, but if I’m honest with myself, I was hoping something like this would happen.

“Relax, I’m far from intoxicated,” she assures me.

“Then it must have been my charm that had you stumbling at my feet.”

She narrows her eyes at me and balances and swings her legs around so she’s straddling me. My heart pounds as she cradles my face and stares into my eyes, while we both pretend that what’s happening inside my pants isn’t happening. Well, I’m pretending at least. She’s not bothering to hide her amusement at all.

“Someone’s excited,” she murmurs, her eyes glistening.

She gently slides herself back and forth over my erection, her eyes not leaving mine as she works me like a fucking jack-in-the-box. I grip hold of the arm of the chair, too nervous to do anything other than sit there.

I should stop this. I should be the adult here and not let this go any further than, than…

Hold up, what was I talking about?

She inches her lips closer to mine, the desire sparking between us, until she presses her mouth against mine. Her lips, soft and gentle are different to what I was expecting. Her tongue wraps around mine as I taste her sweetness. I reach up and touch her cheek, my mouth tingling as our mouths touch. I sigh, the sound of Jake and his friends cheering feels like it’s a million miles away, like we’re the only two people in the room.