But this--the thrill bumps rising across the surface of her skin, the way her tongue instinctively licked out to stroke his, the perfect fit of her curves and softness against his muscles and strength--this was the kind of passion people threw away perfectly good lives for. And it was no wonder, when just kissing him could make her feel this way.
Like she was thawing from the inside out.
Serena couldn't believe how good it felt to be in his arms and how quickly his kiss was heating up her body. And as he showed her the passion, the wild heat, and the wonder that she'd been seeking for so long, instead of stopping him or pushing him away, she moved even closer between his strong thighs and twined her fingers into his soft, dark hair to keep his mouth against hers.
On a groan, he captured her mouth more deeply. For a few perfect moments, they were equal partners in passion. He wasn't leading and she wasn't following. They were both simply taking and giving to each other exactly what they needed.
A break from the cold.
A reminder of what it was to feel alive, completely alive.
And a chance to forget what they each needed to forget.
For herself, all she wanted was to forget that her life had never been hers, not until she'd set foot on this campus. And for him? Well, it was obvious that whatever it was that he needed to forget had wounded him deeply. Very deeply.
"My room."
The air brushing against her lips as he spoke startled her for a moment. Why, she wondered, had he stopped kissing her?
There was no forethought on her part as she pulled his mouth back down to hers. All she knew was that when he kissed her, everything felt right and she didn't want the feeling to go away. Not when she'd finally found something--someone--to make her feel this good.
Thank God, he immediately lowered his mouth back to hers. This time she was the one running her tongue along his lower lip, then nipping it lightly with her front teeth. When he groaned against her lips, she had to do it again, loving that she was affecting him just as much as he was affecting her.
"My room," he said again, only this time he punctuated each word with another sizzling-hot kiss.
With his kisses intertwining with his words, she could almost just let them wash over her like the music. But when he pulled away enough to take her hand and lead her through the crowd, without his mouth on hers to lull her, the cautious voice inside her head that she'd tried so hard to stuff away earlier that evening popped back up, front and center so that she couldn't ignore it.
What are you doing? You don't even know this guy! He's planning to take you to his room...and you can't be such a naive, dense virgin that you don't know why, can you?
The voice, the words, all sounded like her mother's. But it was true, she realized as ice-cold reality suddenly splashed over her, that if anyone had taken a picture of them making out--or, God forbid, a video--it could already be up on Twitter or Facebook right now.
It was a horribly sobering thought to think about the way the gossip sites and magazines would eat this up...but it was far worse to think that her mother would see them. Especially after Genevieve had made it perfectly clear that she'd never forgive Serena if she tossed everything away for a boy.
What had she been thinking?
But that was just the problem. She hadn't been thinking, hadn't been able to form a coherent thought from the moment the stranger's lips met hers.
Just then, he moved close again, close enough that her body betrayed her by leaning into his heat rather than away from it. "I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you," he said in a low voice that rippled through all the parts of her that he'd just brought to life with his kisses.
And the truth was that she was nearly as lulled by his sensual words as she'd been by his kisses. But that was just the problem: When she was in his arms, she wanted so badly to never let go of the wonderful feelings he sent rushing through her, that she was afraid she'd do something stupid. Like giving up her virginity, two weeks into college, to a beautiful stranger at a frat party. All because she wanted to feel something real and big and true.
"I--" She faltered as he kissed her again because it really did feel so good, so perfect. She couldn't believe how hard it was to make herself tug her hand from his and start to take a step back. "I should go now."
But instead of moving away from her, instead of letting her go, he slid one hand around the nape of her neck. "Stay." He stroked he
r skin as if to coax her to change her mind. "Come upstairs with me and I promise we won't do anything you don't want to do."
He lowered his mouth as if he was going to kiss her again, but the more he tried to convince her to come upstairs to sleep with him, the colder every part of her grew.
Too late, she realized that she'd been so stupid and needy that she'd mistaken the heat of his drunken kisses for something more, for something bigger. For something she'd been waiting her whole life to feel.
Suddenly she could see that all he wanted was to take her up to his room to have sex with her, even though he couldn't possibly know anything at all about her apart from the fact that she was famous...and that she obviously loved kissing him.
Angry with him--but also with herself for being stupid enough to think it could ever have been a good idea to go to a frat party--she put both of her hands on his chest and shoved him away. So hard that, for the first time since he'd spun her into his arms out on the dance floor, he didn't try to kiss her again.
"What's wrong?"
"I know you've probably seen my pictures in magazines and think I'm easy--"
God, she couldn't believe her voice was starting to break. She needed to get out of here before she made an even bigger fool of herself. But she couldn't leave without letting him know that whatever he'd assumed about her just because she was famous was wrong. Completely wrong.
"I shouldn't have come here tonight and I definitely shouldn't have kissed you back," she told him. "But I still can't believe you would actually think that I'd want to sleep with you when I only just met you five minutes ago. I would never do that." She made sure to look him straight in the eye. "Never."
Then she reached deep for the poise she'd used on hundreds of runways, and walked away.
*
What the hell had just happened?