by Piper Shelly
But then his dark eyes looked up…and remained fixed on me. His body froze, only his chest moved with each breath. Heads turned in my direction. My heart drummed a little faster, and with all the attention, my cheeks warmed uncomfortably.
I grimaced. “Is something wrong?”
Ryan didn’t answer, but Justin victory-punched the air as he rushed to my side. He laid his arm around my shoulders, grinning like a loon. “You just saved my life, poppet.”
“Ah…yes.” With a grimace, my gazed switched back to Hunter. “And how so?”
He started grinning, too, but didn’t seem as happy as the guy next to me. More like, he knew crap was about to fall.
“He can’t play when someone is watching him,” Justin almost sang into my ear. “Totally screws up then.”
“But you all are watching him,” I pointed out.
At the back of the room, someone laughed. “Yeah, but we’re not girls.”
Chuckling, Hunter straightened and chalked the tip of his cue, lips tight, eyes set on me. Although my being there obviously amused him, I didn’t want to trouble him, especially where money had a hand in the pie.
“Sorry,” I croaked. “I’ll leave you guys alone then.”
“Uh-uh, no way, poppet!” Justin’s arm remained firm around my shoulders. “You’re my insurance to get that comic book. You stay.”
His antics made me laugh, even though I felt like a traitor.
Ryan, who hadn’t said one word in all that time, slid his tongue over his bottom lip, then the left corner of his mouth tilted up. He took a deep breath and leaned over the table once more. Everyone kept silent. Justin crossed his fingers next to my face, no doubt praying for Hunter’s miss.
I never thought a single shot could get an entire room this tense. Including me. Ryan cleared his throat, his gaze moving back and forth between me and the white ball. Suddenly he dropped his forehead to the edge of the table and laughed. “Take your money, Just. I give up.”
The room cheered as though the unthinkable just happened. Justin pressed a kiss to my cheek and hurried to grab the bills. I stood rooted to the spot, staring at Ryan, who now braced his palms on the pool table and hung his head. But when he looked up, there was this flash of amusement in his eyes again.
“I’m so sorry,” I mouthed, not even trying to raise my voice over the other guys’ celebration.
“You are banned from this room,” he mouthed back, a smirk on his lips. Then he walked around the table, slowly, measuring me with each step he took. I pressed a little harder against the wall, welcoming the coolness seeping through my top.
He stopped right in front of me, the cue in one hand, the other placed against the wall next to my head. “You just cost me fifty bucks,” he drawled with a smile.
“Yeah, I know.” I put on a poor puppy look. “But he really, really needs this comic book.”
That made him laugh. “Siding with the enemy. I should have known.” With his hand on my back, he ushered me through the arch in the wall, back into the main hall. “For tonight, this room is off limits for you.”
“Oh why?” Playfully pouting, I glance up at his roguish eyes. “It’s so much fun to watch you…screw up.”
He wouldn’t let his smile slip as he leaned in a little closer. “Off you go.”
CHAPTER
4
I WIGGLED MY fingers at Hunter and left the guys to their game. It was time to look for Tony, anyway. But finding him in a place brimming with two hundred people was impossible. On the plus side, I ran into a few more friends, and Susan introduced me to her older brother and a few of his companions. One offered to get me another drink. When he suggested Corona, I told him I didn’t drink alcohol.
“Fruit juice then?”
“Sounds good.”
He got me berry soda in a glass and popped in a straw. Wearing a hat, he looked a little like Bruno Mars. He made an interesting conversation partner over the next hour in which he refilled my soda three times. In the end, I saw his lips moving but didn’t really get what he said. I also felt the need to frown a lot and lean against the wall for support in the suddenly swaying room.
“You okay, hun?” the guy asked.
The guy with the hat. Did he tell me his name? And when did his twin brother come in? The boy melted into him, then appeared again. Something was very off here. I rubbed my brow. “Not so sure,” I said, having trouble to get the words out. I also spoke extra slow in case he had the same trouble like me and wouldn’t understand a thing.
The world tipped, and suddenly I was in his arms.
“Whoa, girl, you meant it when you said you didn’t drink, huh?”
I smiled at his face so close to mine. Sure I meant it. What did he think? That I was a liar? I picked up his hat and planted it on my head. “My turn to be Bruno for a while.”
“Hey, what’s going on here?”
“Tony?” I cheered, trying to locate where his voice came from. And then he was right behind me, pulling me away from Mr. Mars without his hat. I turned in Tony’s arms and beamed at his oh so worried face. “Where have you been all night. I tried so hard to find you.”
“Where did you look? At the bottom of the wine cooler?”
I decided I didn’t have to understand that and let him pull me to the rear, into the kitchen. “Whoop,” I slurred with a loopy smile as he grabbed my waist and lifted me onto the counter. He usually stood half a head taller than me, but sitting here, we were on eyelevel, which I really liked. He had such pretty blue eyes.
His hands planted firmly besides my hips, he stood in between my dangling legs. This awkward pose made my brains go wishy-washy and majorly turned me on. I dipped forward and touched my forehead to his, grinning as I stared into those sapphire gems.
Tony laughed, but it sounded nothing like his normal, easy laugh. He straightened me on the counter. “How many drinks did you have?”
“Hey, why so worried?”
“How many, Liza?”
Not liking his commanding tone, I sighed heavily, puffing my bangs out of my view. “There was this half bottle of beer, and then some Sprite. The soda. One—or four—glasses…I think.”
“Soda?”
“Berry soda.”
“Shit.” He laughed again. It sounded nervous. “Your mom’s going to strangle me if I take you home drunk like this.”
“I’m not drunk,” I protested. “You know I don’t drink alco-whole.”
When a certain bimbo bounced into the kitchen like a doe in a marigold meadow, I thought I was going to puke. She totally ignored me and flashed Tony with a flirtatious smile that set my stomach on nausea. “Anthony, you promised to dance with me.”
“Anthony, you promised to dance with me,” I iterated like a three year old.
That drew her attention to me. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She just had a little too much of the wine cooler. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
He was going to dance with Cloey? No! I wanted to tell him he couldn’t, but a sudden lethargy settled over me and made me dip my head to his shoulder. “I’m so tired. Can we go home?”
“Aw, come on, Anthony. You’re not going to leave already. It’s only eleven.”
Jeez, how I hated Barbie’s voice.
“Take her upstairs to one of Hunter’s guest rooms. She can sleep there.”
“And not bother you any longer?” I managed to moan, tilting my head in her direction, but unable to open my eyes. Her annoyed snort didn’t bother me.
“You don’t want to do that.” Another person seemed to have joined our conversation. Hunter. But what was he talking about?
“In her state, she’s not safe in any of the guest rooms. You know how the parties go on the later it gets. Take her to my room.”
“What?” Tony and I shouted simultaneously. I was sitting straight with my eyes wide open. The thought of sleeping in Ryan Hunter’s room shocked me something awful. But why Tony was agitated I didn’t figure out.
“Don’t be ridiculous, guys. She’ll be awake and gone before I even get upstairs.”
There was a tense pause.
“Hell, do it already, Anthony, and come back fast.” Barbie.
Tony pressed his lips together.
What was he supposed to do again? The thought escaped me.
“Come on, Liz.” He pulled me off the counter and walked me to the door. But a sudden lack of control over my feet made me stumble sideways, knocking into something cold and shiny.
“Pardon me,” I said to the fridge.
Ryan caught me before I knocked into more kitchen furniture. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from the strawberries?” he growled into my ear.
“Strawberries? There was one in my last soda.” I grinned. “It was yummy.”
“Yummy, all right.” He chuckled as he swept me up in his arms. “I’ll carry her to my room, Mitchell. You can grab her when you go. Or come back for her in the morning.”
“You sure?” There it was again, Tony’s worried voice.
“Yes. Go dance with Cloey or she’ll pester me next.”
The music grew fainter as Ryan climbed the stairs with me. I flung my arms around his neck and leaned my head on his shoulder. “You don’t like dancing with Cloey?” I murmured.
He chuckled. “Would you?”
“I don’t like her, period.”
“And I know exactly why that is.”
“Really?” I breathed deep, inhaling his aftershave mingling with the scent of his heated skin. “You smell good.”
For some reason, that made him laugh. “Time to go to bed, Matthews.”
He shoved open the door and carried me backwards over the threshold. Next I was placed on a soft mattress. The pillow bore the same musky scent that clung to Ryan. I drew in a long breath.
He slipped off my shoes and pulled a blanket over my bare legs. “You comfortable?”
“I’m not sure. But can you check if my head sprouted rotor blades?”
With my eyes closed, I felt his hand raking through my hair. “That will go away when you sleep. If you need anything, the light switch is right in front of your nose and the bathroom is next door on the left.” He paused. “Did you hear me?”
“Light, nose. Toilet, left. Gotcha.” I gave him a thumbs-up, feeling sleep tugging at me. “Hunter?”
“Hm?”
“Sorry about the pool game.”
He chuckled. “Sleep tight, princess.”
Something brushed over my cheek. Very gently. Fingers? I couldn’t tell as I drifted off to careening dreams.
*
A door banged shut. Jolting upright, I found myself in the center of a bed in a moonlit room I didn’t recognize. The figure standing in front of me seemed slightly familiar, though.
“Hunter?”
“You’re still here?” Ryan moaned. My presence didn’t stop him from unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it in a corner of the room along with his sneakers.
My brain roared like mad. I rubbed my brow. “Where is here exactly? And why are you undressing?”
The moonlight cast a silvery look to his features as he studied me. “This is my room. And that thing you’re lying on is my bed. Since I don’t usually sleep in clothes, I figured I’d just take them off.” He spoke slowly and in a slightly slurred way. I rubbed my temples, having trouble following this conversation.
The blurry events of the previous evening crept up in my memory. “Is the party over?”
“Someone puked on the floor. Yeah. Party’s over.” His deep breath was audible in the silent room. “I swear, next time Claudia brings her strawberry soda, I’m going to debut-ish kick a girl’s butt. Harmless, my ass.”
I glanced at my wrist watch. The clock face should be glowing in the dark, but as soon as I tried to focus, dizziness made me groan. “What time is it?”
“Three.”
“A.M.?” I cried.
“It’s dark outside. Of course it’s A.M.”
Slamming back the covers, I jumped out of bed. But gravity was a bitch, and I stumbled to the floor. I patted around for my shoes. I should have been home hours ago. My mom was going to kill me.
I tried to stand again. “Where are my shoes?”
“What are you doing?”
Panicking! Because I felt trapped in a strange house. “Going home!”
God, the pain in my head snarled at me to take it easy. And speaking fast was impossible.
“Oh-woe.” Ryan pushed down on my shoulders until I sat on the bed again. “So not a good idea. Since we already agreed that it’s the dead of the night…and you’re sixteen…and drunk—”
“Drunk? No.” I never drank alcohol. And soda sure wouldn’t make my brain so spongy. But I had to admit something was seriously wrong with either me or the room, since everything started spinning in a very uncomfortable way.
Hunter waved a dismissive hand at me. “Whatever. I can’t let you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Walk alone.”
I frowned. “You want to come with me?” Strange. Shouldn’t Tony be around to drive me home?
“It’s a mile and a half to your house. That’s three for me to walk. I’m positive I won’t make that tonight.” The mattress sank under his weight as he lowered next to me. “So if you really want to go home, I’ll have to drive you. But right now, I’d rather not.”
Even sitting, Hunter swayed in front of me. But since the room did that too, I wasn’t sure if he really did or if I was having some kind of weird hallucinations. “So what do I do now?”
“I’d say lay back. Sleep. And worry about everything tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
He looked around the room, rubbing his neck. “The floor is hard. And I’m beat. There’s room for two in that bed.” He made his last statement sound like a question.
I was getting sick—and not because of his request to sleep in the same bed with me. My stomach rolled. I felt the sour taste of soda traveling up my gullet. There was only one way to avoid puking all over this strange bed and floor. I had to get horizontal.
Dropping to my side, I buried my cheek in the pillow. I groaned, keeping one eye open, and focused on the top of the lamp on the nightstand. If only I could grab my brain and stop it from spinning.
“Good choice, Matthews,” Ryan rumbled and lay down beside me. He probably took my silence as an invitation.
Should I care? I wasn’t sure.
His head tilted to my side, he grinned—dangerously. “I swear you’re safe with me for the next three to six hours. I can’t make promises for any time after that, though.”
CHAPTER
5
THE SUN BREAKING through the windows woke me the next morning. I felt as if I was drifting out to a restless sea on an unsound airbed. It took a few seconds for the eerie swaying to stop so that I could focus.
My cheek rested on a pillow smelling of pine trees and warmth. I inhaled deeply, wanting to keep that scent, and opened my eyes to stare at the sensual lips of Ryan Hunter. My hand on his naked chest rose and fell with his slow, even breaths.
Holy cow, what the hell happened? I was in bed with the captain of the soccer team. Heck, I should have never gone to that party.
Now, my only thought was run. But shock kept me pinned to the bed as I became aware of the entangled position Ryan and I had taken on in our sleep. Lying on my right, my left leg was slung over his hip. My calf rested neatly on his groin. He lay on his back, his left leg bent so, that I wouldn’t be able to withdraw mine. I tried to stop my body from shivering. No chance.
Not daring to wake him, I didn’t move, frantically running through the options I had. Great, there were none. I was trapped.
Maybe if I lay still, pretending to be fast asleep, until he woke up and got out of bed first, then I could sneak out after him and be gone before he noticed. I would have slapped myself for that idea i
f I could remove my hand from his warm chest.
And a firm chest it was. He must lift weights besides playing soccer. As if my eyes had their own mind, they traveled down his gorgeous body. A thin trail of dark hair led south from his navel over his flat stomach until it vanished under the waistband of his jeans. His bent leg seemed amazingly long. I never paid attention, but he must be more than a head taller than me.
My gaze swept up to his neck and the part of his face not covered with his arm. A lean jaw and a perfect, straight nose. He sported an overnight shadow that begged to be rubbed. I resisted. Under his left ear was an old scar, about an inch long. One would never notice unless close to him, like I was now.
Suddenly his lips twitched.
“I can feel you staring at me,” he said in the softest wake-up voice I’d ever heard. “I only hope you’re a girl and not one of the drunken guys.”
My breath caught in my chest. I jerked my hand back from him. Not taking his arm away from his face yet, he reached down with his other hand. And slowly ran his palm over my naked thigh in the direction of my bum.
“Yep, definitely female,” he purred.
In panic, I held his hand in place. “Move another inch, Hunter, and you’re a dead man.”
“Matthews?” Surprised amusement filled his chuckle. Unlike me, he seemed relaxed enough.
A strange heat rose from my gut to my head as I studied his hand on my bare skin. Wearing nothing but jeans and a black wrist watch, he looked more like a guy from the many posters on the walls of Caroline Davis’ bedroom than the boy I knew from school.
I felt awkward for not letting go of his hand on my leg, but I was too scared he’d continue the path he’d started if I did.
“Tell me, Matthews,” he said as he dropped his arm to the pillow and tilted his head to study me with warm eyes. “Why do I have you in my bed, when I’m not allowed to touch you?”
“I didn’t know there were strawberries in the soda,” I whined.