Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

“With you looking like this, Baby Girl, I think it’s going to be very, very necessary.” My voice was so husky and thick with lust that it was almost embarrassing.

Her knees tightened around my hips as her gaze flicked down to my lips. All I could envision was pressing my lips to hers and tasting her again as I pressed every inch of my body against hers. Before anything could happen though and I could act on what my instincts were telling me to do, there was a knock at the door. My heart sank because I knew that the intimate moment was over. I seriously needed to get a grip on myself.

“That’ll be Dean,” I whispered, not taking my eyes from hers. “Are you ready to go?”

She blinked a couple of times as if coming out of a daze, and then nodded, clenching her teeth together. It was almost as if she was mentally scolding herself for allowing me close to her or something. She did that a lot after we’d almost had a ‘moment’.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she confirmed. “Do you have your iPod? You’ll need it.”

~ Anna ~

As the rental car headed towards the school, I could still feel the residual ebb of the sexual tension from the apartment. I had no idea how he did it, but one smouldering look from Ashton seemed to reduce me to a needy, quivering mess.

I flicked my eyes over to him, trying to be discreet as I watched the way his muscles tensed in his arms while he drove. He looked particularly irresistible today. He was wearing blue again – I liked him in blue. My teeth sank into my bottom lip as a thousand lustful thoughts of him seemed to hit me at once. Clear as day, I could remember the feel of his skin under my hands, the taste of his tongue, and the sensations that his lips created with the smallest of kisses. A wistful sigh escaped my lips as I forced my eyes away from him, looking out of the windshield instead. I needed to stop this because it wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair on Jack for me to keep lusting after another man.

After another five minutes, we pulled into the campus parking lot. Ashton turned to me. His eyes were stern and warning, just as they had been this morning when we’d discussed the rules of him guarding me. “Wait there for me to come around and get you. You stay with me at all times.”

I nodded in agreement, trying to keep my breathing steady. This was my last attempt at school because I wasn’t going to start over again. I was really going to try hard this time, just like I’d promised Jack I would. Hopefully, Ashton would make that possible with all the changes that he’d made to my usual routine.

As he opened my door for me, I took a deep breath and took his offered hand, closing my fingers around his tightly. He smiled reassuringly. “You’ll be fine,” he whispered, pulling me to my feet gently. “This’ll be fun, and I’ll look after you. You trust me, don’t you?” he asked, bending his knees so that his emerald green eyes met mine.

An involuntary smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “I trust you with my life, Ashton.” That was the honest truth. He was the only one that made me feel safe, but I didn’t know why, there was just something about him that told me that I could put my faith in him.

A dazzling, proud grin spread across his face as his arm slipped around my shoulder, pulling me to him as he guided me across the parking lot and towards the large campus building in front of us. As we walked past people, I pressed against his side, trying to melt into him as inquisitive glances were cast in our direction. The tension was practically radiating off him in droves as he discreetly surveyed the area. Dean was doing the same thing about a hundred yards off to my right. I smiled because no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to my far guard, which meant that maybe the undercover thing would work here like Ashton kept assuring me.

A group of girls fell silent as we walked passed, all of them eyeing Ashton like he was their next meal. “You could get a lot of action here, Pretty Boy,” I teased, shaking my head in awe. He wasn’t even trying, yet it looked like girls were willing to throw themselves at his feet.

His forehead creased with a frown as he shook his head. “I’m not interested in any of these girls, Anna.” His tone was a little brisk, as if I should have known better or something. He opened the door to the building and pulled me inside with him. “Come on then, let’s get to our first class,” he whispered, guiding me down the hallways as if he knew exactly where he was going.

“Don’t we need to go to the office first? How do you even know where our first class is?” I asked, confused. Usually I had to book in at the office and someone gave me a tour of the school before showing me the way to my classes.

“They sent me everything already, and I spoke to the dean this morning while you were getting dressed. Plus, I have the map, remember? You know, the one I was looking at this morning when you said I was taking this too far,” he mocked, smirking at me.

I laughed, slipping my arm around his waist. “Okay, I guess your memory will come in handy for finding our way around then.”

He stopped walking, pulling me to a stop too. “Wow, that’s almost an apology.”

More people were watching us now. I shook my head in rejection. “No it wasn’t, I don’t do apologies very often,” I denied, shrugging and narrowing my eyes at him teasingly.

He grinned, cupping my face gently as he stepped closer to me, so close that my skin prickled with sensation. “Oh, I know that,” he purred as his mouth closed over mine, claiming my lips in a kiss that made my tummy flutter with excitement.