She slid me a look like I had an overdue library book. Man, she had mastered that expression. “No.”
Because college was predictable, no doubt. Safe. So where did this wild side to Paige live? The one whose nails scraped my scalp so she could fuck my face and who snuck into my room in the middle of the night for a drunken BJ? She was dirty underneath her perfect exterior, maybe as dirty as me. And wouldn’t it be fun to see just how dirty and wild she could get?
“Didyouever think about not going to college?” she asked.
“All the time.”
“No offense, but you don’t look like a political science student.”
“Does it count that I’m related to a political science graduate?”
“You don’t look much like Riley, either.” She rested her cheek against the seat back, her tired gaze aimed at me.
“What do I look like, then?”
“Young, maybe a little bit like a lost soul.” She swallowed. “Dangerous.”
I stared hard at the road, a strange kind of disappointment sinking into my gut. She had no idea how dangerous I was with all my extra-curricular activities. We lived on two sides of the law. If I allowed myself to be with her, to explore this thing we had going, one of us would get burned. And fuck all if I would let it be her. But here I was inhaling Paige’s smell like the powdered drugs I sold while driving to a literacy center to read to children. Jesus, she had me by the balls.
Paige lifted her head to look out the passenger window, so I took full advantage of the view. Her ponytail had flipped over her shoulder to trace along her slender, golden neck and fell between her tits. She was too gorgeous, too good for me. I should probably keep my distance. Being with her was a constant push and pull of my craving for her and the necessity to keep her safe. From me. From Riley. From everyone.
But my body practically vibrated with the need to lick and bite and kiss and even smooth the adorable way some of the hair stuck out from her ponytail where she’d rested her head.
“This is it,” she said. She pointed to a small brick building on the right with weathered window shutters and a faded rainbow arching over the front door.
I flipped on my turn signal and pulled into the nearly empty parking lot. “I can hear the money rolling in already from the large crowd here. Lucky I found a parking space.”
“It’s still early, but they’ll be here,” she said and shot me a grin. “Stop trying to get out of coming.”
“I’m not trying to get out of anything.” Actually, I was trying to getinto something, and not just her pants, either. I wished I knew what was going on inside that pretty head of hers. But right then, if I had to guess, I’d say she was itching to get inside from the dreamy smile on her face. “You love this place, huh?”
“Just...” She shook her head with a look of what had to be wonder in her eyes as she gazed at the crumbling building. “Wait until you see it.”
The excitement radiating from her lit up the whole car, but it faded some when her gaze flicked to my mouth. Accidentally? Didn’t matter. Because a flush crept up her neck, and her chest heaved against her thin T-shirt.
I could guess at what she was thinking because I was thinking the very same thing. She ran a quick tongue over her upper lip. I followed the movement in slow motion while replays of her mouth on my dick fisted my hands at my sides. An almost audible hum buzzed the air between us, even when she broke my gaze and looked down at the folded hands in her lap.
She had to know it was wrong to want me, but to ignore this—whatever this was—between us was probably just as hard for her. Because she had to feel it, too, that everything was...right. And even though I knew I shouldn’t have her, even though I’d proved I couldn’t control myself around her, I would walk into any building on the planet and see whatever she wanted me to see.
Hear that? It’s the sound of a pussy-whip.
“Well,” I said, my voice strained from the effort to keep from touching her. “What are we waiting for?”
She got out of the car, and I let loose a growly kind of groan while I watched her curves move against her clothes. I slammed my car door a little too hard in my rush to see more of that in person.
She threw me a stink-eye over her shoulder. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re excessively loud sometimes?”
Ohhh. Was this what sexual frustration looked like on Paige? All fiery and hot?
I gave her a slow smile as I sauntered up behind her then blew a soft breath up her neck. Even in the thick humidity, she shivered. Her irritated spark vanished with a gasp. The urge to kiss the trail of goose bumps I’d left behind tripled my pulse, but when I leaned in, my arm bumped hers, and a series of explosions went off at the skin-to-skin contact.
As I reached for the doorknob, I murmured, “Did anyone ever tell you that your nipples are showing through your T-shirt.”
She spun around to face me. With my hand on the knob behind her, our bodies stood inches apart. Too many inches.
“No, they’re not.” She swallowed, but didn’t look for herself since her gaze scanned mine for the truth. “Are they?”
If she insisted on me looking, again, then I sure as hell wouldn’t argue. I wandered down her body, taking my time.
