The worst part? The ache is back. It’s a throbbing between my legs so strong that I’m wetting my core. I hate myself.
“Maybe I should hook you up with my friend Lucy,” I say, standing from the table with a laugh. “She’d be way more your speed.”
He shakes his head and rakes a hand back through his thick black hair, actual laughter coming from his lips before he takes another sip of whiskey. “There’s no one else. I only see you.”
“A little forward for a stalker, don’t you think? What would the dean say if I told him this?”
“If you need to tell him, tell him. That doesn’t change the fact that I want you.”
It’s like someone is playing racquetball against my rib cage, sucking the air straight out of my lungs.
“Are you always this direct?”
He stays stoic. “Yes.”
He stands from the bar slowly, leans in, and I follow suit. It’s more an instinct than anything, a reaction I feel powerless to resist.
His thumb grazes across my cheek and over top my lips.
“I need to kiss you.”
I shake my head, words stuck somewhere in my throat. I don’t think I’ve convinced either of us that I wouldn’t slightly want that too.
He leans into my ear, his hot breath on my skin, tingling the lobes of my ears and every surrounding nerve. “Maybe you’d prefer something more aggressive then? A lap ride maybe? I’ll make you come while you finish your drink.”
Swallowing hard, I look away, then back again quickly, my body reacting to his statement with confusion. On one hand, what he’s said is forward and vial. On the other, it’s moving the needle.
“I think maybe you have your lines crossed.”
“You like it,” he says, smugly. “I’m not sure what your boyfriend over there is thinking, though.”
Boyfriend?I’m so lost in the strange conversation we’re having that I completely forget about Ryan.
I don’t respond, instead I ignore his comment all together. He doesn’t deserve an answer. Instead, I say, “On that note, I think I’ll let you finish your drink alone.”
Before he can reply, I stand from the stool and make my way down the stairs of the bar, panting and dizzy, my core soaked, my brain fuzzy.
What just happened? Why is my body reacting like this?
At the bottom of the stairs, I step to the side and wait for Ryan. I’m sure it’s going to take him a minute to follow. He wouldn’t get up right away, that would be too obvious. I can’t wait to see him. I need to tell him what just happened. I need him to make sense of all this for me.
Hearing footsteps, I spring forward, and leap into Ryan’s arms, my head instinctively against his chest. Except the man I’m leaning against isn’t Ryan, it’s Viktor, and something about it feels… right.
Chapter Seven
Everleigh
He’s hard. His entire body, like a brick wall, a cement floor, or that math test I took the first semester of college.
“Expecting someone else?” His voice is graveled.
I stare up at him with wide eyes, sort of in awe, my cheeks flaming with heat. He’s tall, and next to him, I feel downright petite.
The words he said to me earlier replay in my head. Could he really have made me come sitting in the bar with everyone around? A twinge of excitement shoots through me.Fuck.What the hell am I thinking?This is not attractive. He is not attractive. This is not okay.
Oh look, I found a new mantra. I bet my therapist will be excited to hear about this one.
“Everything okay?” Ryan asks as he follows down the stairs behind us. I can’t even imagine what he must be thinking.
