Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

want to tell him that there was something in her that needed to keep the relative darkness between them.

Knowing that he couldn't entirely see her face, couldn't read her, would make it easier for her to get closer to

him.

"Good call, naughty girl."

He let the lighter go dark and leaned toward her. All the tiny hairs on Ariana's neck stood on end and her lips

pursed, anticipating his kiss. But then he leaned right past her and opened his top desk drawer, plucking out a

pair of candles.

"Interesting," she said, raising an eyebrow and sliding aside to give him more room. "This wouldn't be some

sort of ploy to seduce me, would it?"

Thomas placed the candles on his desk and quickly lit them, then glanced at her over his shoulder. "Like I

really need candles."

Ariana blushed as her heart flipped over ten times. How did anyone get so confident? It was intoxicating.

Thomas turned and dropped

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down on his bed, looking up at her with a cocky smile in the flickering light.

"You gonna stand there all night?" he asked slyly. "Much warmer over here."

Ariana didn't move. Suddenly, now that she was here-now that she was faced with the stark reality of being

alone with Thomas, being in bed with him-she couldn't do it. "What was she thinking? That she was going

to lose her virginity to him right here, right now? After telling Daniel that she couldn't sleep with him in a

dorm room? Aft

er putting off her perfect boyfriend for so long, was she really going to give it up to Thomas

Pearson?

Besides, Daniel might have followed them here. He might be standing outside the door right now, listening.

The very thought sent the walls closing in on her. There was no telling what he would do if he heard the

wrong thing.

"I can't," she said.

Thomas's smile froze. "You're kidding.

"I'll just sleep in your roommate's bed," Ariana told him, trying not to cringe as she sat at the very edge of the

other bed. The faint smell of spoiled milk leaked from a mini fridge under her bed.

""Wait a second. First you have me calling the Driscoll Hotel and now you're all shy?" Thomas challenged,