by L. A. Casey
Even tipsy he was almost too perfect, and it irritated the hell out of me. He turned to face me, grinning down at me. “Are your claws stowed, kitty?” he asked.
I pretended not to know what he was talking about. “Can I get you some water?” I asked.
He chuckled and took hold of my hand, sending jolts of electricity up and down my spine. “Come with me. I want to talk to you somewhere I can hear you clearly.”
I followed him then and was surprised to find he was leading me back up the stairs Lavender and I had just descended. At the thought of my friend, I cringed. “Shit, Lavender,” I grumbled, and looked over my shoulder but saw no sign of her.
She was probably still with Daven, the prick.
“Where are you bringing me?” I shouted over the blaring music to Kale.
“Somewhere quiet,” he replied, and led me down a long hallway and took a right, then opened the first door on the left. We entered a white bedroom that was dimly lit by a lamp in the corner of the room.
“Whose bedroom is this, pup?” I asked Kale.
I heard the door close.
“It’s a guest room.”
I blinked and turned to face him, only to find him leaning against the now closed bedroom door. “How do you know it’s a guest room?” I quizzed.
He grinned. “I’ve been here to party a few times.”
I rolled my eyes, not wanting to know how many girls he’d shagged in this house, or in this room. “I don’t want to be in here if you bring girls here for sex.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve never had sex with anyone in here. I just know it’s a guest room.”
I eyed him, and when I saw the truth in his hooded eyes, I nodded.
“Come here,” he said.
I blinked. “Why?”
He shrugged. “’Cause I want you to.”
“Okay,” I said with a quizzical look, and I walked over to him, stopping a few inches away.
“You never answered my question downstairs,” he mumbled and reached out, placing his hands on my bare hips, causing my eyes to widen.
I blinked at the sound of my thudding heartbeat.
“What was your question?” I asked, not recalling anything I had said, because he put his hands on me.
He smirked. “I said, since when do you dress like this?”
I nervously swallowed. “Since tonight. They’re Lavender’s clothes; I’m just borrowing them.”
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and let his eyes roam over me once more. He looked at me like he appreciated what he saw. He looked at me like I wasn’t a kid, or his best friend. He looked like he . . . desired me.
“Since when do you look at me like that?” I asked, my breathing becoming a little rapid.
Kale’s eyes flashed with fire as he grinned at me. “Since you wore those skinny jeans and I saw you in your bra two months before you turned sixteen. You started looking more like a woman than a little girl.”
I almost fell over. He’d noticed me back then?
I rolled my eyes as if what he said didn’t affect me. “It’s my boobs, isn’t it?” I asked, teasing.
I was trying my hardest to play it cool.
Kale’s eyes zeroed in on my chest. “It’s always the boobs, Lane.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You perv.”
“Hey,” he smiled, flicking his whisky-coloured eyes up to mine. “You asked.”
I playfully shoved him. “If you’re done teasing me, we can go back downstairs.”
He didn’t move an inch.
“Who says I’m teasing you?” he murmured.
I cleared my throat. “I say.”
“Why?” he asked.
Did he want the list?
“Because I’m your best friend, like your sister and I’m under eighteen,” I rattled off. “Three things you always remind me of when we talk about anything related to sex.”
Kale’s tongue swiped across his bottom lip and got my full attention. “I say those things for your benefit, not mine.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, furrowing my brows.
He blinked and looked away from me. “Shit. Nothing. Forget I said—”
“Oh, no you don’t,” I stated and grabbed hold of his T-shirt when he tried to turn away from me.
Kale grunted but didn’t resist against my hold on him.
“Explain that,” I demanded. “Now.”
He looked up at the ceiling, then back down to me and said, “What do you want me to say, Lane?”
“I want you to tell me what you meant.”
His jaw set. “You sure you want to hear this?” he asked.
“I asked, didn’t I?”
He licked his lips and said, “I know . . . I know that you . . . like me.”
I felt my pounding heart drop to my stomach.
Be cool.
“Wh-Wh-What?” I stuttered.
Be bloody cooler!
I cleared my throat. “Run that by me again?”
He gazed down at me. “I’ve known for a few years that you like me in that way.”
I didn’t understand what was happening.
“Why do you think that?” I asked, trying not to appear as dumbfounded as I felt.
“Come on, Lane,” he said, his lip slightly quirked. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, how you get when I talk about Drew and other girls – and I’ve seen your scribbles on the back pages of your school journals.”
He. Did. Not.
I gasped in horror. “What?”
“‘Lane loves Kale’” – he fully grinned – “and my personal favourite, ‘Mrs Lane Hunt’.”
This wasn’t happening.
“Omigod,” I breathed, and tried to push away from him.
He laughed and swayed again as he grabbed hold of me. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
Embarrassed? my mind screamed. I am fucking mortified.
“Let me go,” I begged. “Omigod, I can’t ever look you in the eye again.”
Kale continued to laugh as I struggled against his hold, and it got under my skin.
“Stop laughing at me!” I shouted.
He pressed his face against my hair, and it halted my movements. “I’m not laughing at you, just at your reaction to me knowing you fancy me.”
The surface of my face felt like a supernova.
“Shut up, Kale!”
“Oh, give over,” he said, laughing again. “If it will make you feel better, I fancy you too.”
Everything stopped.
My heartbeat.
My breathing.
Time.
“You’re playing,” I whispered after a stretch of silence.
He nudged the side of my head with his face. “Look at me.”
I did.
I lifted my head until I was staring up at his transfixing face. “I’m not playing; I do fancy you.” He said this while looking into my eyes, and his eyes spoke to me too.
He was telling the truth. I felt my mouth drop open.
“Since when?” I asked, astonished.
He sheepishly smiled. “I told you. I noticed everything about you two months before you turned sixteen. You were upset over Anna O’Leary and Ally Day, and you got it into your head that you wanted a makeover. I noticed before that day that you were, um, filling out, but when you got your haircut and a new wardrobe, it highlighted everything that I found attractive about you. It was like a jolt of pure lust shot straight to my dick. I spent most of that day, and many more following it, trying to hide my hard-on from you.”
I could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes as I thought, Is he saying all this because he’s had a bit to drink?
“I know,” he breathed, taking in my reaction. “This admission is very sudden and out of the blue, but fuck, you look insanely hot tonight, and when you looked at me downstairs with the want in your eyes and got catty with those girls over me, it took everything in me not to kiss and touch you.”
I lift
ed my left hand to my right arm and pinched the skin. I winced as pain filled me, and Kale frowned. “Why did you do that?”
“Just making sure I’m not dreaming,” I replied.
He stared at me for a moment, and then a breathtaking smile curved his luscious lips. I smiled back at him but grabbed hold of his arms once more when he swayed on his feet.
“Shit,” he grumbled and lightly shook his head clear. “The whisky is hitting me at the worst time.”
I giggled. “I feel like I should make a joke about you not being able to handle your liquor.”
Kale’s lip twitched. “You try drinking Bud and downing some Jack Daniels, and we’ll see how long you’re on your feet for.”
I smirked. “Ten quid says I’d be up longer than you.”
Kale licked his lips and dropped his eyes to my mouth. “I’d take that bet.”
I grinned. “Stop looking at me like you want to eat me.”
“I do want to eat you.”
My playfulness disappeared. “And how would that go exactly?”
Kale growled. “Aren’t we bold tonight?”
I smiled teasingly. “I’ve dreamt of conversations like this with you. Let’s just say I’m ready to play them out in real life.”
He bit down on his lower lip, looked down at my body and took a small step backwards. “Let me see you.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You can see me.”
He smirked as he lifted his hand, stuck up his index finger and rotated it in a circular motion. He wanted me to twirl. I playfully shook my head, smiling as I slowly twirled in a circle, swaying my hips from side to side as I moved.
“Damn, Laney Baby,” Kale whispered in a low, husky voice.
I blinked with surprise as I watched his eyes slowly scale their way down from my face to my chest, which had finally decided to develop over the last year and a half. He licked his lips as he read the word across the front of my crop top and snorted to himself before lowering his gaze further.
“You got your belly button pierced,” he murmured, more to himself than to me, then flicked his eyes up to me and asked, “What else do you have pierced?”
I licked my lips, and heat flooded my core. “No more piercings, but . . .”
“But?” Kale prompted.
“I have a tattoo on my inner thigh,” I said in a rushed breath. “I got it a couple of months ago with Lavender, like a pre-birthday present to myself for my eighteenth next month.”
Only Lavender, and now Kale, knew about my tattoo. If it got back to my parents or brothers, they’d kick my arse, never mind what they would do if they knew what kind of tattoo I got.
Kale’s features hardened. “What did you get?”
He looked in pain.
“Just two words,” I whispered.
He moved close. “What words?”
“Taste me.”
Kale’s sharp intake of breath caused my legs to shake. “You. Are. Perfect.”
My heart thudded against my chest so hard it almost hurt. “Such a sweet talker,” I murmured.
Kale lifted his hand to my face and cupped my cheek, rubbing his thumb under my left eye. “Where’s my girl gone?” he mumbled.
I frowned. “I’m right here.”
He lightly shook his head. “No, my girl wears glasses and is terrified of other people seeing her with hardly any clothes on.”
Was terrified.
Lavender helped build my self-esteem up when she realised how shot it was. She had observed me a lot during our first few weeks of friendship, and she held off in calling me out on what she termed “hiding behind my books”. At first she thought I was just quiet, but when I let about to how Anna and Ally had made me feel about myself, she hit the roof. She blew a fuse and vowed then to always be completely honest with me, and she told me I was beautiful and that I shouldn’t hide behind the books I love so dearly because the real world was much better than fiction.
She started off by giving me small compliments every day. She repeatedly told me I had lovely penmanship and that she wished her ears and lips were like mine. Silly things that most people would overlook. Her compliments were only the beginning; she brought me on new adventures too. She was a daredevil and believed most things should be tried once, and she took me along for the wild ride. She broadened my perception of the world and myself, and eventually I became content with who I was. I wasn’t freaky or a nerd because I loved reading, and I wasn’t fat or ugly because I didn’t measure up to society’s version of beauty. Lavender made me appreciate my own beauty.
I didn’t understand what Lavender saw in me because I felt I didn’t offer anything great to our friendship, but she told me the way I cared for her was enough. She said that she noticed when I cared about someone; I treated them like one of my favourite books. I treasured and loved them. She said that was what was special about me.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m growing up.”
“This is you growing up?” Kale asked as he continued to stroke his thumb under my eye, his eyes getting more bloodshot by the minute.
I nodded. “This is me having some fun, Kale. I wanted to come to a party and see what the fuss was all about; I’m tired of just reading about them in my books. I wanted to experience what one was really like.”
He growled, and the sound caused me to jump and lick my own lips as a thunderbolt of excitement shot up my spine.
“Dressed like that you wanted to experience a party?” he asked, maddened.
I stood my ground. “I’m eighteen next month, I can dress like this – and be with lads if I want to be.”
Kale’s breath hitched and he dropped his hand from my face. “You haven’t been with someone . . . have you?”
I felt heat spread across my cheeks. “Why do you care?”
I gasped when my back was suddenly pressed against the wall behind me, and Kale was up against me, moulding his hard body to the front of mine.
My centre began to throb.
“Have. You. Had. Sex?” Kale asked me, his eyes narrowed and non-blinking.
I was so twisted for finding him incredibly sexy when he was angry.
“What will you do if I have?” I questioned.
He placed his hands on either side of my head and said, “Rip the bastard’s dick off.”
My eyelids fluttered, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “And if I haven’t, what will you do?”
He dropped his roaring red eyes to my lips, and my heart almost came to a complete stop.
“Answer my question and I’ll show you.”
Show me. Not tell me.
“No,” I squeaked. “I haven’t had sex with anyone.”
Kale lowered his face to mine until our lips were centimetres apart.
“I’ve had a fair bit to drink,” he hiccupped. “So kick me in the balls if kissing you isn’t okay.”
I bit down on my lower lip, and the action caused him to groan as I felt him harden against me. Fuck. Shit. It was happening.
Finally.
“I’ll kick you in the balls if you don’t kiss me.”
Kale pressed his forehead against mine and said, “I don’t want to do something that will ruin things.”
“It’s too late for that,” I replied, terrified he would change his mind. “You want to kiss me, and I really want to kiss you.”
“We can’t be friends after this,” he whispered, swaying into me. “We can’t ever be just friends anymore.”
I lifted my hands and gripped onto his T-shirt. “I don’t want to just be your friend.”
He blinked. “You really want me?”
“Hell. Yes.”
His eyes lit with fire then, and he applied more pressure against my body.
“Think carefully about this,” he said firmly, groaning when I moved, causing my hip to brush over his hardened length.
Yeah, he’s hard, I thought. For me.
I swallowed. “I’ve thought about this non-stop the last couple of years.”
Kale growled. “You’re making this very hard.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “I think that’s the point.”
He looked at me, his hooded eyes filled with lust. “Last chance for you to run away from me.”
Like hell.
“I’d never run away from you.”
Kale lowered his face dangerously close to mine. “Promise?”
“I promise,” I breathed, and fisting his shirt in my hands, I pulled him towards me.
He didn’t protest; in fact, he almost glided across the room with me, but he halted and said, “The door.”
I let go of him as he scurried over to the door, turning the lock. When he turned back to face me, I started to lose my cool and become nervous. Extremely nervous. I continued to back up until the back of my legs came into contact with the bed.
“You’re sure about this?” Kale asked as he stumbled towards me.
I caught him just as he was about to trip over his own two feet.
“I’m sure, but are you?” I asked. “You’ve had a bit to drink, and I don’t want to take advantage—”
“Let me stop you right there,” he said, laughing. “You aren’t taking advantage of me, Laney Baby – trust me.”
I did, but he wasn’t exactly in his right mind, and I didn’t want this to be something that was really good tonight but turned out really bad in the morning.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Kale looked down at me and licked his lips.
“Lie back for me, sweetheart.”
Shit.
Okay, this was really fucking happening.
I sat down on the bed and lay back like he asked. I looked up at him as he knocked his knees against mine and took off his beanie hat, tossing it on the floor behind him. His hair was sticking up all over the place, which only added to the Greek god look he was rocking. He kept his inflamed eyes on me as he kicked his shoes off and began to unbutton his shirt.
Ohhhhhh, my God.
I licked my lips when the shirt left his body and floated onto the floor. I watched it fall until it was out of sight, so my eyes automatically went back to the show Kale was giving me. His hands were on his belt, and he was unbuckling it. My hands itched to do it, so I boldly sat up and covered his hands with mine in silent question as I gazed up at him.