Tempting

Fuck, I want that hand around me.

I want those lips on mine.

I want to bury myself in her.

To fuck her like I’ve never fucked before.

I takes everything I have to pull back.

Desire is coursing through my veins. My heart is pounding. My cock is screaming for attention.

I slide off the bed. “You trust me?”

“Why?”

“You want to feel better about school?”

She nods.

“You trust me, yes or no?”

She stares back into my eyes. “Yes.”

“Then get dressed.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Brendon

Twenty minutes later, I’m parking my sedan on a Brentwood street and Kaylee is clutching at my forearm.

She forces her words out. “Are we really doing this?”

I nod as I pull the door open. “Call it a trial run.”

She steps onto the street. Nods to the No Parking 10 PM to 6 AM sign posted in front of my car. “You’re going to get a ticket.”

“At three a.m.?”

“Yeah.” She digs her cell—the one with the Hunger Games phone case—from her purse and stares at the screen. “It’s really three a.m.”

I nod.

“Why did you get home so late?”

“Walker and Dean.”

“They take that long to find women to bring home?”

“Yeah.” Or they were dragging it out for my benefit. Their benefit really. They both enjoy mocking my pining over the one woman I can’t have state.

“Hmmm.” She hugs her purse to her shoulder as she steps forward. “You sure about the car?”

“My car.”

“Damn. Such an outlaw. What will you risk next?”

I flip her off.

She smiles as she returns the gesture.

I take her hand. Lead her across the small, neighborhood street. All the way to the main drag.

No lights or cross walks in any direction.

No cars either.

I turn to Kaylee. “You ready?”

She nods. Squeezes my hand and takes the first step into the street.

We run across the major road. Through the tuft of Eucalyptus trees on the other side. Over the wet green lawn.

Kaylee clutches her stomach as she doubles over with laughter. “You run fast.”

“It’s called exercise.”

“I exercise. Just not running. Running is the devil.”

“No wonder I like it so much.”

She laughs. “That was bad. But funny too. I must be tired.” She pushes herself up. Wipes her wet hands on her jeans.

I take them. Wipe them on my t-shirt.

Her palm lingers against my chest. She drags it over my torso as she pulls it back to her side.

Her eyes meet mine.

Her lips part.

I can see the words on the tip of her tongue.

And I’m not praying for her to hold them back.

I’m desperate for every fucking syllable.

Tell me you want me, angel.

Tell me you want me to fuck you so hard you get grass stains on your skin.

Tell me you want me to throw you on that bench, rip off your jeans, and lick you until you’re screaming.

Her eyes go to the building to our left. One of the science buildings. “It’s different than before.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She leads me across the campus. “It feels real. Like this is really happening tomorrow.”

We move onto the sidewalk. Past the science building. “It is.” Toward the foreign languages building. “I remember the first time I walked into a shop looking for a job.”

“It wasn’t Inked Hearts?”

“No. I met Ryan at this dive in Downtown LA. He knew Manning. Invited me to Inked Hearts. He invited Dean and Dean invited Walker.”

“What was that place like?”

“It was cleaner than it looked. Very go the fuck away. Band stickers on the walls. A burly guy at the register. A bunch of elitists who scowled at tattoos that weren’t traditional enough.”

“And you liked that?”

“The bands, yeah. It was a lot of punk. Metal. Hardcore shit. Nobody who listened to KIIS FM would dare enter that place.”

“Perfect for you.”

Yeah, it was. It still is. I can’t say I’m into the elitist bullshit anymore.

But the whole I’m pissed and I don’t want your opinion?

I get that.

“You’ve been seventeen,” I say.

“Only three weeks ago even.” She bites her lip. “There was a long time that I didn’t see you.”

“Mom didn’t want me around Em. Not once I started apprenticing.”

“Oh. I never realized. I thought you were just—”

“An obnoxious teenager who didn’t want to be around my family?”

“I guess. I’m not sure. I was young. And I… I mostly thought you were hot.”

“And old?”

“Yeah. But the same age as Harry Potter.”

I chuckle. “I think he’s older.”

“Probably. But shorter. And—”

“Submissive, apparently?”

“Yeah.” Her cheeks flush.

I shouldn’t have said that. It’s too late. The part of me that knows better is tired.

“How exactly did it happen?”

“I moved out the day I turned eighteen. Moved into a shitty place in Downtown LA. Had too many roommates. But I still came by to hang out with Em. Picked her up from school. Took her out on the weekends. Not like Mom was gonna take her to do the shit she actually wanted to do.”

Kay nods.

“It was fall. I’d just gotten my sleeve. I was gonna take Emma hiking up in the Malibu hills. She used to enjoy that kinda thing. If you can remember.”