The place didn’t matter. The mud clinging to our skin didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were lost in each other.
And when I pulled away from her, she didn’t glare or shy away. She stared into my eyes, breathing heavily, just like me.
TWENTY
Nat
What just happened?Was it real life or some strange dream about my addictive roommate?
All this need and want had only one place to go. He seemed frozen on top of me, his perfect lips still only millimeters from mine.
Jack’s breath, a sweet puff of air, tingled over my face as he stared at me. One minute we’d been working, arguing, our normal. Next, we were this. Wrapped up and completely lost to the world, clinging and dirty without a care. He touched my cheek tenderly, and I let out the smallest gasp as he moved to hold my chin. Mud from his hand smeared across my face, and I smiled.
Was mud an aphrodisiac? Because I wanted those lips to meet mine, to linger and play and lavish me again. But Jack moved his hand, and he got to his knees, pensively staring down at me.
Why was this hotter than it should have been? I lay there, ready and waiting for him to move me into whatever position he wanted, but then he looked away.
The bubble we had been in just moments ago burst, and I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t ready for the quiet look on his face as he stood up and reached a hand down to me.
Apparently, the time to come out of the mud was now. It was all for the best anyway. I needed this spell to break. Needed to get myself together.
I took his hand and grinned at him while my arms shot out to each side of my body, and I caught my balance. “You look like you had a mud mask.”
He chuffed out a strangled laugh at my joke and shook his head. His hand moved to my lower back, where he helped me regain my balance. I took a wobbly step, unsteady.
He kept a supportive hand on me. “And you look like a baby fawn.”
I smiled and took another step, my stuck boot making a funny squelching noise. Jack’s laugh escaped, and his grip on me tightened. Only the touch, grounding as it was, had me leaning into it rather than stabilizing myself. I tried for another step and promptly slipped and fell.
Correction. We fell.
I grabbed for Jack and took him down with me. We both sat on our asses, laughing with each other. His eyes were so beautiful like this. Crinkled at the sides. Blue and playful and, best of all, focused solely on me. There was no hatred, just heat.
Oh my god. I kissed my nemesis.Not just kissed. I made out with Jack. I wanted more from him, and I couldn’t deny how right his hands felt on me. How perfect our lips were. His guiding touch, insistent and warm. Damn, I really wanted more.
As if it were written across my face, Jack seemed to realize what I was thinking. His expression went from dreamy to moon-eyed to surprised, until a gruffness settled over his face. If I were being honest, it was exactly what I’d expected from him.And just like that, the once-scorching moment morphed into an unbelievably awkward one.
Something about that made my heart sink in my chest like a battered ship.
“Jack, I?—”
His eyes darted away from mine, and it was clear we weren’t going to talk about this right now. “Let’s go get cleaned up.” He pulled me up again, sturdier this time. Not laughing at the state of our clothing or the sounds we made as we pulled ourselves out of the mud and into reality.
Finally, on solid ground, I resolved not to overthink my reaction to him. It was basic animalistic lust, that was all. It meant nothing.
As I walked a step behind Jack in the quiet, I was only comforted by the fact that I wasn’t the only one shaken up by our actions. The surprise and heat of our kiss. Jack was probably just as confused about the whole thing as I was. I didn’t know if that was comforting or not.
One thing was certain about this whole scenario. It couldn’t happen again.
Heat gathered around my cheeks and neck, and I worried even the mud wouldn’t be able to hide my blush as I recalled the embarrassing confession I’d made while drunk two nights ago. Traitorous words that had just flown out of my mouth. No thoughts or filters. No self-preservation. Just a late-night, tipsy confession no one had asked for. But in my defense, he had looked really good that night, even disheveled. He’d been friendly, not just to everyone but to me as well.
Was this impromptu mud make-out because of that inconvenient confession? Or had he been obsessing over how our lips might align, what I might taste like, just like I wondered about him?
Either way, we’d promised Leo we’d be professional. Which we would be if you considered bickering hyenas professional.
Professionalism had died the moment Jack’s hands came around me, the second our tongues collided perfectly. Too perfectly.
But that was the problem with me.
