Tempt Me

by Claire Raye

Mila smiles, even as she rolls her eyes dramatically, before sliding up my body so she hovers over me. “A kiss,” she says, leaning down to press her lips quickly against mine.

  Laughing, I grab the back of her neck and pull her back to me. “That wasn’t a kiss, baby. Come here.” I pull her closer, so my lips are brushing against hers, my tongue tracing her bottom lip before slipping into her mouth.

  “Adam,” she groans.

  I smile against her mouth. “Yes?”

  “You don’t play fair,” she pouts, pinching my side again.

  This time I smack her on the butt, leaning over the side of the bed to grab the gift I’d stashed under there when she wasn’t looking. “And you are a little impatient,” I tease, putting the wrapped box on the side of the bed.

  Mila’s eyes widen when she sees it as she lets out a little squeal and reaches over me to grab the box. Laughing, I prop an arm behind my head and watch as she tears at the paper, a huge smile on her face.

  When she lifts the lid on the box, she gasps, her mouth falling open as she looks from the box to me and back to the box again. “Adam,” she breathes out. “This is too much.”

  “Nope,” I say, reaching out to tuck some loose strands of hair behind her ear.

  “Oh my god,” she whispers as she starts to lift out all the gifts I’ve filled the box with. Things I know she’s wanted because I’ve asked Charlie, or I’ve listened to what she’s said, or I just paid attention when she didn’t realize.

  “Happy birthday, baby,” I whisper, my fingers trailing down her arm.

  She turns to look at me again, her eyes soft as she slowly shakes her head, as though she doesn’t know what to say. I gesture to the box, watching as she turns back to it. Smiling as she lets out another surprised gasp when she sees the small jewelry box at the bottom, her hand covering her mouth as she looks back at me. “What is this?”

  I smile. “Open it,” I tell her.

  I watch as she does. See the smile on her face when she sees the necklace with two interconnected circles in the chain, inside the box. “Oh, it’s beautiful,” she says, glancing at me. “I love it, thank you.”

  She leans over and kisses me, my arm automatically moving to wrap around her and hold her closer. I want to tell her in this moment how I truly feel about her, admit to her that I am in love with her. That I love her, but I’m still too scared. Too scared to say it out loud for fear of losing her if I do.

  “You’re welcome,” I whisper instead, my lips brushing against hers.

  Mila hands it to me. “Put it on for me?” she asks, turning so her back is to me.

  I sit up, push her hair to the side, so it hangs over her shoulder as I drape the chain around her neck and do up the clasp.

  “Happy birthday,” I whisper again, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck.

  Mila turns a little, so she’s looking at me over her shoulder. “Thank you, Adam, seriously.”

  I move closer, kissing her mouth this time as my hand slides into her hair to hold her against me.

  “What are we gonna do today?” she mumbles around the kiss.

  I smile, pulling back a little. “You,” I say, brows raised as if to emphasize my point. “Are going to class, miss.”

  “But, I—”

  “No,” I say, smiling as I shake my head and lean in to kiss her again. “No buts, and no skipping class either.”

  Mila pouts at me and I can’t help but laugh as I lean in to kiss her again. “But what if I want to?” she whispers.

  “I don’t care,” I tell her. “You’re going. But first, you need to get dressed so Charlie can take you out for breakfast.”

  “What?”

  I tuck her hair behind her ear, leaning close as I kiss the end of her nose. “Go have breakfast with your best friend,” I tell her. “We have tonight.”

  “Adam,” she whispers.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re, this…it’s too much, it’s—”

  “It’s everything you deserve, Mila,” I tell her. “Now go, Charlie’s waiting for you. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

  “Really?”

  Laughing, I pull her into my arms, wrapping them tightly around her as I bury my face in her neck. “Yes, really,” I say, biting her neck. “Now, go, before I change my mind and keep you here, all day.”

  Laughing, Mila crawls out of bed. She stops by the side though, turning to face me, a smile on her face as she leans down and cups my jaw. “Thank you, seriously, I…I, um…”

  My heart pounds with what she might be about to say, with the fear that I won’t be able to say the words back to her even though I feel them, deep inside me. But before I have a chance to wonder, Mila leans in and kisses me again.

  “Thank you, Adam, for everything.”

  After Mila and Charlie leave, I get up, showering and dressing before I head down to the bar, needing to get everything sorted for tonight. Mila believes that everyone is busy for her actual birthday, that the only thing she’ll be doing tonight is having dinner with me.

  But it’s so far from the truth and as much as I really wanted to tell her that actually, everyone wants to celebrate this night with her, I didn’t. And I know it will all be worth it when I bring her down to the bar tonight and she sees all the people who love her, waiting to celebrate.

  “She buy it?” Caleb asks as I walk inside.

  I shrug. “I think so,” I tell him. “Me and Charlie organized for them to go out for breakfast anyway. Kinda throw her off a bit because she thinks Charlie is busy tonight.”

  Caleb laughs, shaking his head as he hands me a bunch of streamers to hang. “She’s probably gonna be pissed when she discovers we’ve all been bullshiting her about not being able to celebrate her birthday tonight.”

  “Yeah,” I say, grabbing a chair as I move to the corner of the bar. “Probs, but I’m kinda hoping she gets over it as soon as she walks in here.”

  “Oh, something tells me she will,” Caleb says with a laugh.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Mila

  As exciting as it is finally turning twenty-one, it really doesn’t hold the appeal it once did. Legally being able to buy alcohol and drinking in a bar is a plus, but reality is starting to set in and the more running I do from my past, the more I realize it’s just fucking everything up.

  I’ve been trying to keep things as normal as they were, partying with Charlie and pretending to drink on the weekends, but it’s beginning to get exhausting living a life that I know is a lie, doing everything to appear normal when inside it’s all killing me.

  If I’m being honest, I’m actually okay with my birthday being lowkey this year because drinking reminds me of what happened in Tahoe, and it’s not something I ever want to associate with my birthday.

  After a few of my classes embarrassingly sang happy birthday to me this morning, my day has been pretty uneventful and I’m looking forward to a quiet dinner with Adam. It’s been a while since I’ve had a birthday that didn’t involve bar hopping and parties and loads of people. All of that is not something I’m entirely comfortable with anyway. The party Charlie and I had at our apartment wasn’t so bad because we had control over it, but since transferring to Hawthorn, we haven’t ventured out beyond the places we know. Mostly we’re either at Stella’s or The Last Drop and we certainly don’t ever find ourselves alone. It’s better this way and it makes me appear normal to the outside world.

  I make my way across campus, enjoying the warm breeze and the way the sun feels on my face. Twenty wasn’t a great year, so I’ll turn the page to twenty-one and know it’s already a better year in my life.

  I walk into the apartment, calling out to see if Charlie’s still home. She has a study group tonight for a big test she has tomorrow. I have no idea what kind of asshole professor schedules a test on a Friday, but obviously it’s Charlie’s.

  “In here!” Charlie calls out from her bedroom and I can hear her sh
uffling around in there. I stop in the doorway, watching her scramble to shove a few books into her backpack.

  “Hey, need any help?” I ask, seeing she’s obviously overwhelmed.

  “Could you fill my water bottle? It’s on the counter in the kitchen. I’m running late,” she replies, sucking in a deep breath as if to calm herself down.

  “Yeah, no problem. You want ice?”

  “Yes please!” she yells as I walk out of the room and into the kitchen.

  A few seconds later she comes scampering out, her bag flung over her shoulder and her blonde hair whipped up into a messy knot on the top of her head.

  “I gotta go,” she announces, pushing out her bottom lip in an apologetic pout. She leans in and wraps her arms around me. “I’m sorry I’m missing your birthday.”

  “You’re not missing it. We went to breakfast and anyway, we can do it up right when you turn twenty-one. You can’t even legally drink with me now.”

  She pulls back, a mock appalled look on her face. “I was wondering when it was coming. The whole I’m-better-than-you-because-I can-drink-legally thing. I can’t believe it’s already started.” She rolls her eyes dramatically and lets out a long sigh. “I guess this underage girl will just haul her ass to the library like a total loser.”

  “You know what we should do for your birthday?” I now say, feeling horribly guilty that she’s off studying, knowing we could celebrate my birthday any day of the week. It doesn’t have to be on the exact day, and I’d much rather have Charlie there with me to begin with.

  “What?” she now questions back, a look of curiosity mixed with mischief crossing her face and she smirks at me.

  “We should go to Vegas!” I announce, tossing my hands into the air.

  “Vegas?” she repeats back, her nose wrinkling up a little. “I feel like that is so overdone and between the two of us, one of us will end up married by Elvis to a guy we just met.”

  “I’m kinda hoping that I’m still with Adam by then and getting married in Vegas is certainly not a dream come true.” I shrug, realizing it’s certainly not the place for Charlie or me. I do feel like we have to do something special for hers though. She’s been through too much to not celebrate in some amazing way.

  “Keep thinking,” she says, kissing me on the cheek. “I gotta go. I’m going to be late. I left you something on your bed.” She winks at me and I watch her blonde knot bounce around as she quickly flies out the door.

  I wait about a quarter of a second before I’m racing into my room to see what she’s left me and wondering why she wouldn’t have just given it to me when we went to breakfast this morning. On my bed is a small box tied with a silver ribbon. I quickly open it, tossing the ribbon off to the side and when I open the box, sitting there right in front of me is a beautiful silver bracelet with a tiny circular charm. Engraved on it is the word ‘breathe’ and something about it makes everything in my body tighten with the threat of tears.

  It’s one word, one simple word that means so much. When things were really bad in Tahoe and there were moments where I thought I couldn’t keep going, Charlie would tell me to breathe, to just breathe. She knows better than anyone what it feels like to not want to keep going, and she knows even more just how hard it is to do anything but just breathe. If you can get through a day and all you do is breathe, then you’ve done the one thing that you need.

  She probably won’t see it, but I still send her a text anyway.

  Me: Thank you. I’m in tears and I don’t deserve you. Good thing I haven’t done my makeup yet. ;)

  She actually responds just seconds later and probably only because she’s still walking over to the library.

  Charlie: We deserve each other. You were there for me when I needed you most and I’ll always be here for you. Love you and happy birthday.

  Me: Love you back.

  A few hours later, Adam is knocking on my door. He said nothing fancy, so I didn’t go all-out getting dressed in something nice. I settled on a pair of jeans and a black lace bodysuit I borrowed from Charlie.

  “Mila?” Adam calls out, opening the door just a second later, as if he was giving me time to make sure I knew it was him. I knew he’d just come in though, so I didn’t bother scrambling to get to the door.

  “In here,” I call back from my bedroom as I finish putting on some lip gloss.

  “You can’t wear that,” he announces from the doorway of my bedroom and when I turn around, his eyes trail the length of my body. “It looks like underwear.”

  I start laughing immediately. “That’s the point. And anyway, it’s Charlie’s. I’m sure you’d let her wear it.”

  “I don’t think I would, but whatever. I know I’m not going to change your mind and you look fucking amazing in it,” he now says, stalking over to me and pulling me into his arms.

  I smile against his mouth as he kisses me. “Thank you. I hoped you would like it.”

  “Like it? I love it, but now I kinda wanna take it off you and not go anywhere but your bedroom.” There’s a possessive growl to his words and there’s something about them that I love, something that screams he’s mine and only mine. “But we have an Über waiting for us because even if we don’t get drunk, you’re going to have a drink or two, and if I’m being honest, I’m drinking.”

  I giggle at him, my hand resting on his cheek. “Thank you for this. As much as people think their twenty-first birthday should be this drunken debacle, I’m happy with the way things turned out. Just you and me.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he says, his words falling a little quieter now and he looks away, his eyes focused on the door. “You ready?”

  “Yep.”

  We climb into the back of the car, both of us quiet, not really saying much. I never even asked where he’s taking me, and not that I need to know. He wanted to plan the night, so I let him take the lead. I figure why ask now when we’re already on our way there. I’m sure it’s going to be wonderful no matter what.

  A few minutes later we’re pulling into the back parking lot of The Last Drop and I look over at him, my eyebrows knitted together. “We’re going to The Last Drop?” I ask, trying not to sound too appalled, but I’m sure he catches the easy way it falls from my lips.

  “We are. We met here and I served you your first illegal drink at this place. What better way to start your twenty-first birthday than with me serving you your first legal drink at the place we met?”

  I have to admit, it’s kind of cute and sentimental and it makes me laugh.

  “You know we could’ve just walked here?” I tell him, knowing the walk is only about twenty minutes from our apartment complex.

  “I know, but did you really want to walk in those shoes?” he asks, looking down at the heels I have on my feet.

  “I’m an expert at walking in heels, but yes, this was better.” I lean over and kiss him before we both thank the driver and exit the car.

  The back lot is full of the usual employee cars including Ruby’s since Caleb and Ruby have just been sharing her car. It’s not like they need a second one anyway with how little Ruby drives anywhere. It’s mostly just Caleb driving to and from The Last Drop and Ruby occasionally using it when she’s too late to walk to class.

  Strangely when we walk in through the back door of The Last Drop, it’s completely silent and the whole place is bathed in darkness.

  “What the—” I start to say, but it’s cut off by a crowd of people yelling, “Surprise!” as Adam stands beside me with the biggest smile on his face.

  “I hate all of you!” I yell back, my heart hammering in my chest when I see the smiling faces of everyone I know and love standing in front of me when the lights come back on. “Did you do this?” I ask, pushing up on my toes so my mouth is next to Adam’s ear.

  “Sorta. I had a little help from our little group,” he admits, tipping his head toward where Charlie and Ruby are standing.

  I don’t know many people in Ha
wthorn, so the place isn’t packed and in a way I’m grateful for that. Lately I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by crowds and people I don’t know. I look around, seeing Reid and Sie, Caleb and Ruby, Charlie, some people from our classes and a few people who work at The Last Drop behind the bar. There are a few of Reid’s football buddies here too and I give Charlie a wink when I see them.

  She laughs, coming over to me and pulling me in for a hug. Adam drops a kiss on the top of my head, whispering, “happy birthday” into my hair before he walks off to talk with Caleb.

  “You did this?” I now ask her.

  “I had help, but yes, Ruby, Adam and I concocted the whole thing,” she admits, smiling at me with a bit of satisfaction behind it. “And that’s my top. Looks better on you.”

  “I didn’t know I’d be seeing you or I would’ve asked if I could borrow it,” I tease her, just as Adam comes up to us with beers.

  “A drink for the birthday girl and the girl who pulled this whole thing off,” he says, but Charlie shakes her head.

  “I’m not drinking here. I don’t want this to come back on Caleb,” she says politely, and I totally understand.

  “This isn’t going to be much fun for you,” I tell her, feeling a little disappointed that she’s going to be the only sober one in the place.

  “Nah, I told Caleb I’d keep an eye on his crew that are working tonight and help get the place cleaned up after the party. This way he can actually enjoy himself.”

  “You’re seriously the best friend I have,” I say, hugging her again.

  “I better be the only best friend you have,” she jokingly bites back.

  “More for me then,” Adam announces holding up the beer making Charlie and I laugh. I tap my glass against his, and then take my first legal drink of my twenty-first birthday.

  Charlie wanders away, winking at me as she saunters over to where one of Reid’s football buddies is standing. She’s good, but she isn’t interested in him and we both know it. He’s too loud, too muscled and too, dare I say it, dumb, for Charlie, but he’ll be a good time for the night. I keep my eyes on her for a few seconds longer, worry washing over me, a nagging feeling pulling at me from the back of my mind. I can’t go into everything with this feeling; it’s beginning to consume my life.