Dangerous Crush (Dangerous Noise 2)

"Demanding all of a sudden." He runs his fingers through my hair.

"It's not all of a sudden."

His eyes light up as he smiles. "True." He turns the faucets on—it has separate hot and cold faucets—and tests the temperature. "I've never used this before."

"Really?"

"Why would I?"

"The warm water is nice. Like a hug."

His expression gets contemplative. "Usually I stick with the way the shower pounds my back."

"That's an aggressive hug."

He rises to his feet and pulls me into a quick, tight hug. "That's not always a bad thing."

No, it's not. I rest my head on his chest and melt into his arms. "How long have you had this place?"

"Year and a half."

"And none of the women you've brought home have ever wanted to use the tub."

He chuckles. "You're sly."

"Thank you."

"They have." He breaks the hug to test the water. "But I say no."

"Oh?" I raise a brow.

"Why would I get in the bath with someone who only wants to fuck me cause I'm famous?"

"Well, when you make it sound that romantic..."

"I haven't been with someone I cared about in a long time."

A warmth spreads through me. I like the sound of that. A lot. But it's not like I have all this relationship experience. "Me either."

"Have you had boyfriends?"

"I dated a little, but only one guy was really my boyfriend. It was back in high school."

"How long did you go out?"

"Four months."

Kit cocks a brow. "And you didn't care about him?"

"Maybe..."

"I'm not jealous, Piper. I know you. You're not the type to stay with someone you don't care about. Even in high school."

"We had a good time, sure. We were both in drama. And he was really into British pop. Mostly we'd run lines and makeout listening to The Kinks or Oasis." Okay, I guess I cared about Gerard. Even at fifteen, I knew it wasn't true love, but I enjoyed his company, I liked dating the cool senior guy, I wanted him to have a good time, and I genuinely liked him as a person.

Our breakup was amicable—he was leaving for college and we didn't want to do long distance—and we occasionally chat on social media. He's doing well at Stanford. I'm happy for him.

But it wasn't like this. We didn't have the kind of intimacy that takes my breath away. We didn't even have particularly meaningful conversations.