He says my name against my lips and he sounds tortured. I break the kiss first and open my eyes to find him watching me, his chest moving rapidly, his lips swollen, his eyes dark. He leans in again and I close my eyes on a sigh when I feel his mouth land on my neck, his damp lips blazing a fiery path along my skin. His tongue darts out for a lick, his teeth nibble and I clutch him close. My brain shuts down, shuts out everything else happening. The faint roaring coming from the television in the living room, everyone yelling when someone scores—those sounds I heard only moments ago are gone.
All I can see, hear, taste, focus on is Shep. And it’s so good, so perfect I’m almost scared. How can it get any better than this?
* * *
Shep
* * *
I knew it would be like this between us. Jade’s mouth is perfection. The way she tastes, the sounds she makes, how she feels in my arms…
Again. Perfection.
Gripping her ass in my hands, I lift her up and she goes willingly, her legs wrapping around my hips, her arms sliding back around my neck. I continue kissing her as I turn and head for the bed, sitting down first with her in my arms and she presses against me, sending us both toppling backwards onto the mattress. Laughter huffs out of me when her thick hair lands in my face and I push it away just as she lifts up so she can stare down at me.
Her hair creates a curtain over us as it falls around her face, shutting out everything else so she’s all I can see. “What are we doing?” she asks breathlessly.
I let my hands drift back down over her ass. It’s as perfect as she is. Round and soft and I’m fucking dying to see it without the jeans on. Without any panties on either, though catching a glimpse of Jade in a pair of sexy panties and nothing else is high on my list. “What does it look like we’re doing?” I shift upwards so I can press my mouth to the spot where her pulse throbs at the base of her throat, breathing deep her intoxicating scent. My eyes close and I exhale against her skin, making her shiver.
Her hands sink into my hair as she holds me in place, right against her neck. I know she likes what I’m doing. “I’m guessing this probably won’t work between us.”
“Why do you say that?” I murmur against her skin. I took a couple of hits off the joint Gabe had earlier and I got a good buzz on but now I feel like I’m high on Jade. On the feel of her in my arms, her body nestled close. Her scent, the sound of her voice, the taste of her skin, her lips, her tongue…
Fuck. I should run. Push this girl off my lap, pay someone to take her back to her dorm and be done with her. She’s dangerous, but worse?
She doesn’t even know it.
“We don’t like each other.” Her breath hitches when I lightly graze her skin with my teeth. “We fight all the time.”
“We didn’t fight tonight.” I lift up and brush my mouth with hers, enjoying the little hitch of her breath when our lips connect. “The last thing I want to do is argue with you, Jade.”
After I make that statement, there’s no more talking. Our mouths are fused, our tongues tangled, our hands everywhere. Her hips thrust against mine, subtly at first, driving me fucking insane with wanting her. My cock is hard, my skin is hot and then I’m rolling her over so she’s beneath me, her vibrant hair spread all over my pillow, her head tilted back, her lush mouth swollen and red from my kisses. Our ragged breaths mingle as I study her, my knees on either side of her hips, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Reaching for her, I settle my hands on the front of her shirt, my fingers slowly undoing the buttons. She doesn’t utter a word of protest, just stares up at me with those big hazel eyes, her skin flushed, her freckles…Christ, I want to kiss every single one of them.
But my gaze falls from her face so I can see the prize I’m slowly unveiling. The last button comes undone and I spread her shirt apart, staring in fascination at her chest. She’s wearing a white tank with one of those bogus built in bras or whatever they’re called and I can see her nipples. Small and tight, protruding against the thin fabric of her shirt.
I want to suck them into my mouth.
Her breasts raise on a deep inhale and I wonder if she’s pushing them into my face on purpose. There is a faint smattering of freckles across her creamy skin and I bend down, pressing my face into her cleavage like some sort of pervert. Some sort of tortured pervert because holy hell, she smells good. And feels good. Her skin is so damn soft.
She wraps her arms around me, one hand curling around my nape and I brush my lips across her collarbone lightly. I'm afraid if I push too hard, too fast she’ll shove me off her and end it. And I can’t have that. Not when I’m so close.
I hadn’t planned on this but I’m not about to blow my chance either.
“Tell me to stop,” I whisper against her skin, handing over the control. She’s got it. I refuse to do anything she doesn’t want. She needs to tell me how far she’ll let this go or give me a hard limit.
Because right now, having her like this, open and warm and so fucking sexy, I’ll take her as far as she’ll let me.
“I—” She sucks in a breath when I kiss the very top of her left breast. “I don’t want you to stop.”
Triumph surges through me. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear—what I needed to hear. I grip her waist, my fingers slipping beneath the hem of her camisole to touch bare, smooth, soft as a cloud skin and I shift lower. Ready to slowly take her shirt off so I can finally see her…
The door plows open and I lift my head, ready to tell whoever it is to fuck off when I see a girl standing in the doorway, her eyes wide, her mouth dropped open. “Uh, sorry.” She smiles. “I thought this was the bathroom.”
The exasperated sound from Jade matches the way I feel. “Clearly, it’s not,” I say as coldly as possible because fuck me, this chick just ruined everything.
Everything.
Jade shoves at my shoulders, trying to get me off of her and I refuse while the girl is still standing there, looking smug as shit. Like maybe she did it on purpose? She’d been trying to get me to talk to her all night and I’m not interested. You’d think she’d realize this, especially with Jade beneath me on my fucking bed but whatever.
“Sorry, I’ll leave you two fuck birds alone.” She waggles her fingers at us and starts to shut the door. “Toodles.”
“Get off me,” Jade murmurs the moment the door closes and I roll over so I’m lying by her side, staring up at the ceiling as I try to calm my breathing. “Did she really call us fuck birds?”
“You should be more irritated by her use of the word toodles.” I grimace. “Because that sucked.”
With a sigh she turns to look at me and I do the same, staring at her pretty face. She’s so close I can practically count her freckles and I mentally start doing just that. “You should take me home.”
I flub up at the fifteenth freckle across the bridge of her nose when I hear her request. “You really want me to?” Please say no. Please say no.
She nods, her thick hair rustling against my pillowcase. “It’s late. I have class tomorrow.”
“I thought you didn’t want me to stop.” I reach out and touch her hair, testing the silky strands between my fingers.
Her cheeks flush and her gaze skitters away from mine. “I think Miss Looking for the Bathroom just ruined the moment.”
“We could pick up where we left off if you want.” I need to respect her wishes because right now, I sound desperate. What the hell is wrong with me? I never do this. I should just attack her again. She can’t resist me. I heard the little sounds she made, the way she moved against me. She was into it. I can get her right back into it with a few choice words and determined kisses.
“I don’t think so.” She winces. “Sorry. I really…should head back to my dorm. Sorry to make you drive me back. I bet I could get a ride or—”
“Hell no,” I say vehemently, rolling over so I’m sitting on the edge of the mattress, my back to her. Damn that stupid chick for interrupting what was buil
ding up to an amazing moment. “I’ll take you back. I don’t mind.”
I stare at the wall, willing my erection to calm down. I can tell she’s standing, can hear her fixing her clothes, buttoning up her shirt, smoothing out her hair, whatever. When I finally turn back around she’s standing in the middle of my room, looking a little lost, a lot embarrassed.
Without thought I go to her, pull her into my arms and drop a soft kiss on her upturned lips. “This is going to happen again, you know.”
“Who says?” One delicate brow rises and I’m relieved at seeing that tiny glimpse of the Jade I’m used to return.
“Me.” I kiss her again, my lips lingering on hers. Damn, they’re soft. And plump and delicious and fuck me, I need to get a grip before I lose all control. “I say. So tell me. Are you game?”
A shuddering sigh escapes her, her breath wafting across my lips. “Okay,” she whispers shakily.
Chapter 12
Jade
* * *
That girl’s interruption broke me from the Shep spell he’d been weaving. And what a spell he can weave. Holy crap, he knows how to kiss. His lips, his tongue…there are no words. My mouth is still tingling.
He’s sort of bossy. I liked how he shoved me against the door. I loved it when he picked me up and carried me over to his bed. I’m no petite little girl and he hauled me around like I weighed nothing.
Which means he’s super strong. I felt his biceps. They were the stuff of dreams. He’s the stuff of dreams.
But see, that’s the thing. Dreams are just…dreams. They’re not real. So what Shep and I are experiencing? It’s not real, not at all.
That’s what I keep telling myself so I don’t end up hurt when he dumps me out of nowhere.
We’re on our way back to my dorm hall in his precious car, neither of us saying a word. It’s so quiet I can hear him breathing. How he shifts in his seat like he’s restless. I swear I can hear him freaking blink and it’s making me slowly insane.
“That was probably a mistake,” I blurt out, clamping my lips shut the moment the words are out. I bang the back of my head against the seat, pissed that I said it.
Because I don’t mean it and I’m just proving to him yet again that I really am a Bitch Face. Or an immature idiot, take your pick.
He chuckles, the rich, warm sound slowly unfurling in my belly and making me tremble. “Liar,” he murmurs.
Now I’m sort of pissed at him for calling me out. “I mean it. We should’ve never…kissed.”
He glances at me, dark eyes flashing, his perfectly kissable lips curved into a perfectly adorable smile. “I’m calling bullshit, babe. Sorry.”
“What do you mean, you’re calling bullshit?” He called me babe. What an asshole.
Fine. I liked that he called me babe. A lot. Not that I’d ever, ever tell him.
“We definitely should’ve kissed. Because it was fucking amazing before we were so rudely interrupted by Miss Bogus I’m Looking for the Bathroom, Whoops My Bad, Toodles.”
I start to laugh. I can’t help it. His frustration is so palpable. He hated how that girl interrupted us. I hated it too. I’d had freaking Shepard Prescott on top of me on his bed. He’d been this close to taking off my shirt. And I was going to let him. I desperately wanted to feel his hands on my bare skin. I still want to feel his hands on me.
The interruption helped me realize that what I’m doing with Shep is bad for me. As in, he’s going to leave me in a bad state. More like wreck me. He’s not the lasting kind. More like the fuck ‘em and leave ‘em type. I know this. My logical, very smart, very cautious brain knows this.
But my body lights up like a burst of flame every time he so much as looks at me with those sexy, full of mystery eyes. He touches me and I melt. And when he kisses me? Oh good lord, all of my very logical, very smart brain cells evaporate into thin air and I’m left wanting more. More, more, more.
“Why are you laughing?” He sounds cranky, which makes me laugh even harder. “It wasn’t funny. We were making progress, Jade. Before she had to ruin it.”
“You call what we were doing progress?” I call it delicious.
Wait. I so didn’t think that.
“Fuck yes, I call it progress.” He slows at a stoplight, turning to look at me. His hair is an absolute mess, sticking up everywhere. I really love his hair. And I’m the one who made that mess because I kept tugging on it while he kissed me. “Stop trying to act like you hate me. I know you don’t.”
“How do you know?” I ask warily, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
“You wouldn’t have agreed so readily earlier if you hated me.”
I don’t want you to stop.
The words I said to him ring in my brain. At that very moment, the last thing I wanted was for him to stop. And that makes me feel a little crazy. A lot on edge.
God, he frustrates me. He makes me nuts. He’s so…arrogant. So sure of himself and full of bravado. Plus, it’s not right for a guy to look so deliciously hot. More like it’s unfair.
And why is he interested in me? I don’t get it. Because he supposedly won me in a bet? Does he think I’m easy? I’m so not. I’m difficult. Extremely difficult. I think I’m sexually broken and I have no idea why.
None.
“You don’t hate me.” He settles his hand on my knee and his touch warms my skin, even through the denim of my jeans. “Just admit it, Jade.”
The light turns green and he removes his hand from my leg, turning left onto the street that leads to my dorm hall. My skin is still buzzing from his touch and I’m anxious to get out of this car. Away from Shep so I can hole up in my room, crawl into bed and yank the covers over my head where I’ll try my best to collect my thoughts. Go over what happened tonight and analyze everything.
We’re quiet again as he pulls up in front of my dorm hall and cuts the engine. I undo my seat belt, about to reach down to grab my backpack when he grabs me first, yanking me into him with so much force I have no choice but to scrabble across the center console and collapse on top of him. It’s an exact replica of our position Sunday night and I stare down at him breathlessly, my brain flailing to come up with something to say when he slips his hand across the back of my head and pulls me down to his mouth.
And then he’s kissing me. Again. His other hand is at my waist, sliding beneath my shirt and my cami to touch bare skin, burning me with his fingertips. His lips devour mine, his tongue playing a wicked game within my mouth, making me moan, making me shiver, making me wet.
God, he’s awful. He doesn’t play fair. How can I resist him when he’s kissing me like this? Touching me like this? I grind my hips against his, I can feel his erection straining beneath his jeans and I suck in a harsh breath when his hand wanders up…up…until it’s stopped by the elastic band of my shelf bra.
Stupid, stupid shelf bra.
“You still think it was a mistake?” he mutters against my mouth just before he takes my lower lip between his and sucks on it.
Holy wow, I really like it when he does that.
“Well?” he prompts when I say nothing. It’s like I can’t speak. He slips his hand out from beneath my cami and now he’s touching my chest, his fingers delicately tracing the neckline of my camisole, skimming across the tops of my breasts and I’m trembling. God, his touch feels so incredibly good…
“Answer me, Jade.” His voice is deeper. Firmer. Like he means business. “Do you still think this was a mistake?” His fingers drift lower, across my right nipple and I suck in a gasp.
“Y-yes. No. I don’t know.” His mouth stops the flow of my stupid words and I fall into the kiss, squishing myself against him so tight you couldn’t slip a piece of paper between us. I’m full on making out with Shep Prescott in his car, right in front of my dorm hall and I couldn’t give two shits about it. I’ve clearly lost my head.
Clearly.
Within minutes though he’s shoving me away from him, frustration written all over his handsome face.
I whimper in protest, trying to grab onto his shirt, his neck, his shoulders but he won’t have it.
“I’m not fucking you in my car. No matter how badly I want to.” He sets me away from him. Literally picks me up, and plops me back down in the passenger seat like it was no problem and I marvel yet again at how strong he is. He looks completely unhinged. His T-shirt is wrinkled, his lips are swollen and his eyes are so dark they look almost black.
I love it. Oh my God, I love how he’s looking at me at this very moment. Like he wants to consume me. I feel the same. Exactly the same.
“Is it because you don’t want to get your leather seats dirty?” I ask, remembering what Em and Em told me. I tentatively touch my lips with shaky fingers, marveling at how swollen, how tingly they still feel. Damn him and his magical lips. I wonder if Shep would let me just make out with him for hours. Kissing is the best thing ever. Eventually, it always just leads to sex and considering I’m no sexpert, I’d rather just make out. Feel each other up. Sex always complicates it.
Kissing is the only way to go.
He starts to chuckle and I decide right there he has the sexiest laugh on the planet. “Is that what you think?”
“I’ve heard rumors.”
He raises his brows. “Rumors? About me not having sex in my car because I don’t want to ruin the leather interior?”
“Um, yeah?” I feel stupid. Again. I blame the kissing. His lips are like weapons, zapping brain cells with a single touch.
“It has nothing to do with my leather seats.” He leans over the console, dropping a kiss on the tip of my nose. “And everything to do with the fact that when I fuck you, it’s not going to be in the backseat of a cramped car. I want you naked, in my bed. So I can kiss you. Everywhere.”
Keep This Promise Page 33