by Renee, Holly
He was completely naked. Completely bare in front of me, and my hands shook as I pulled my own shirt over my head. He was so beautiful, heartbreakingly so, and I suddenly felt self-conscious.
But he didn’t let it last. He slowly pulled my pants and panties down my legs as he stared at me. “You are so beautiful.”
I listened to his words, and I let them run through me. There was nothing left between us as I unsnapped my bra.
No rules, no Theo, no reasons we shouldn’t be together.
It was just me and him.
He leaned forward, gripping my head in his hands, and he kissed me like he felt it too.
His body pressed against mine, and I rolled against him trying to feel more of him. His mouth left mine, running over my jaw, tracing a path down my neck, and I spread my thighs, forcing him closer.
“We don’t have to do this,” he whispered against my collarbone. “We don’t need to have sex.”
I didn’t have a single speck of doubt that I wanted him, that I wanted this, but there was something about knowing this wasn’t all he wanted me for that seemed to make me want him more.
“Please don’t stop,” I begged as I clung to his shoulders.
He looked up at me, his blue eyes searching my brown ones. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I nodded my head. I had never been more sure about anything in my life. “Please.”
His leg touched my inner thigh, and I shivered in anticipation. He gripped his cock in his hand, and I felt him against me. He rubbed himself along my slit and he groaned when he felt how wet I was for him.
He teased me, rubbing up and down against my clit, and I cried out at the sensation. He lined himself up with me, and I tensed as he pushed into me. I felt impossibly full as he pushed in and out, and I was embarrassingly close to orgasm just from a simple grind of his hips.
“Easton,” I called his name just as his thumb started rubbing small circles against my clit.
“I know.” He moaned against me. “I know, baby.”
I fell apart around him then. My thighs tightened so hard around him I didn’t know how he still managed to move, but he did. He milked every ounce of my orgasm out of me before he followed me over the edge.
His chest was heaving against mine as we both tried to catch our breaths. Easton may not have been my Prince Charming, but he was everything I needed. At least for now. At least until the rest of the world told me he wasn’t.
He lifted his face from my neck, and his eyes were a softer shade of blue than I had ever seen them. He looked happy, deliriously so, and I knew that I would chase the high of putting that look on his face for as long as he’d let me.
“Go to the homecoming formal with me.” His words were a whisper but then slammed into me like a ton of bricks.
“What?” My body became tense beneath him, and I knew that he could feel it.
“The homecoming formal. I know it’s a bit lame, but I want to take you.”
I knew that I should have said yes. I wanted to say yes, but I had already agreed to go with Theo, and I hated the idea of letting either one of them down.
“I can’t.” I shook my head.
“Don’t worry about my position.” He pushed a stray piece of hair out of my face. “The professors won’t be there, and honestly, I don’t care.”
“It’s not that.” My chest felt heavy, like someone was pushing against my breastbone, and I hated saying the next words that passed my lips. “I already told Theo I’d go with him.”
His face fell even though he tried to hide it with a smile, and for the first time since Theo asked me, I wished I hadn’t said yes.
“Our parents are coming in for the homecoming game. He asked me before school even started,” I rushed to explain.
“It’s okay, Maddison.” His fingers cupped the back of my neck, and he gently lifted my face to meet his. His lips were a whisper over mine before he spoke. “Just promise to save a dance for me.”
“Promise.” My answer was immediate, and Easton chuckled before pressing his lips back against mine.
Sixteen
I had never been so nervous about a formal in my entire life.
Dillon curled my hair before pulling it all back out of my face in an updo that I would have never been able to accomplish on my own. My makeup was heavier than I normally wore, the deep smoky eye bringing out my eyes, and somehow the nude lipstick seemed to do the same with my lips.
Dillon helped me zip my deep royal blue dress that was tight in the bodice before the silk cascaded to the ground. My shoulders were completely bare with no straps or jewelry. Only a pair of small diamonds that Theo had given me for my high school graduation dangled from my ears.
Dillon was wearing a hot pink dress that fit her body like a second skin, and she looked amazing. Her blonde hair stood out against her tan skin, and I couldn’t wait to see what her date thought of her.
I hadn’t met him, but she had met him at one of the fraternity parties. She went way more than I did.
Dillon and I laughed as we walked down the steps to the front door of our dorm, and even though I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this, Dillon’s excitement was enough for the both of us.
Theo and Dillon’s date were both outside the door as we pushed outside the door, but I could only look at Theo. His hair was pushed back and styled and looked perfect against the black of his suit. His white shirt beneath was a crisp white and a classic black tie hung down his chest.
He looked the best I had ever seen him, and it was impossible for my stomach not to flutter when he looked up at me.
“Maddy.” He said my name as his eyes roamed over my dress in awe. I could see him taking in the smallest details—the curve of my hip below the thin fabric, the swell of my breasts that peeked out of the sweetheart neckline. “You look gorgeous.”
He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I smiled up at my best friend. It felt weird that now that I was here, now that I was at the same college, it was the farthest I had ever felt from him. Even when we were a hundred miles apart, I talked to him every day. I felt like I knew everything about him.
But I was wrong.
And I missed him.
“Thank you.” I ran my finger over his tie. “You’re looking pretty handsome yourself.”
He smiled and took my hand in his as he led us toward his car. Dillon and her date climbed in the back seat as Theo held the front door open for me.
When we pulled up to the auditorium where the formal was being held, I was surprised by the number of cars that filled the parking lot. We had to drive around twice to find a spot, and I was cursing my choice of heels when I saw how far we had to walk.
Theo made sure to open my door again, and he wrapped my arm around his as we walked toward the auditorium.
“I can give you a piggyback ride.” He looked down at my heels with a smile.
“Do you know how high I would have to hike this dress?” I wagged my eyebrows. “We would be giving the entire campus a show.”
His brown eyes seemed to turn to fire. “We don’t want to do that.”
“No,” I agreed with him. “We don’t.”
The auditorium was decorated elegantly with black and gold and touches of red for school spirit. Theo was instantly bombarded as we walked through the door. Everyone wanting to talk about the game tomorrow night and their predictions of the score.
Theo entertained them all, but he never once let go of my arm as I stood next to him. He would look down at me every few seconds, and I knew that if I told him to, he would have walked away from everyone else completely.
“You want to dance?” Theo nodded toward the dance floor as one guy continued to ramble on about offense and defense and our opponent’s lack of one or the other.
“Yeah.” I grinned and tightened my hand around his bicep.
“Jake.” He patted the guy on the shoulder mid-sentence. “We’ll be back. My girl here wants to dance, and I need to show her off in this fi
ne-ass dress.”
I scoffed at his words and the way Jake seemed to notice I was standing there for the first time all night, but Theo was already pulling me in the direction of the dance floor. He swirled me, the tail of my skirt fluttering with the movement, and I laughed as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“You really do look beautiful tonight.” He moved me slowly to the music, matching the dance of everyone around us, and I knew that my chest was turning red under his praise.
“Thank you, Theo.” My fingers toyed with the collar of his suit. “They were all sold out of the puffy dresses I knew you were looking forward to.”
He laughed, the sound as smooth as butter. “It’s a shame, really.” His hand flexed against my back. “Now all of these guys get to see how hot you really are.”
“You saying I wouldn’t have been hot with the layers of tulle?”
“You’d be hot in anything.” He twirled me around again, and I watched the world spin around us in a swirl of lights and strangers.
We danced until my feet hurt and I was dying of thirst. I sat down at a table with a group of people I only recognized from his parties, and Theo kissed the top of my head before he moved toward the refreshment table to grab us some drinks.
“So,” the girl to my left said as she leaned toward me. “Are you and Theo dating?”
“No.” I shook my head. “We’re just friends.”
I hated the way her eyes lit up at my words regardless of the date who sat at her side oblivious to our conversation.
“That’s good to know.” She looked across the table to one of her friends. “I was disappointed when he didn’t ask me to the formal, but it’s good to know it was a pity date.”
I shifted backward as if she had slapped me. “It’s not a pity date. He asked me before school even started.”
“Oh. I didn’t mean it like that.” She smiled the fakest smile I had ever seen. “I just meant that it’s nice to know that he decided to still go with you out of pity when he’s been sleeping with me.”
Jealousy ran wild through every inch of me.
Theo wasn’t mine, but it didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t want to be his anymore.
I didn’t want him to be hers either.
Theo returned to the table before either of us could say more, and my back straightened as he set my punch in front of me and took the seat between us.
He started talking to one of the guys at our table, not noticing the tense air at our table, and I listened to him talk for a few minutes before I stood from my seat.
“Where are you going?” Theo smiled at me over his shoulder, and that simple look reminded me so much of the Theo I grew up with, the Theo I loved, and I knew that I couldn’t be mad at him when he’d been nothing short of an amazing best friend.
“I’m just going to the bathroom.” I hiked my finger over my shoulder, pointing in that direction.
“Okay.” He turned back toward his friends without noticing an ounce of my unease, and I ran my hands down my dress to straighten the fabric before I made my way to escape.
I was almost to the door, almost to the place where I could take deep breaths without anyone noticing, when a hand firmly gripped my bicep and stopped my advance.
“Fuck, Maddison.” I looked up at the sound of Easton’s voice, and I almost fell to my knees by the way he was looking at me. “You look so damn gorgeous.”
He said almost the same words that Theo had said earlier, but it didn’t feel the same.
Theo’s words didn’t make me feel like I was the only girl he could see.
But Easton’s did.
“Thank you.” I was breathless as I stared at him. He was wearing a black suit similar to Theo’s, but he wore a simple black shirt beneath with the top button unbuttoned. His hair was pushed back out of his face in tantalizing perfection and my hands ached with the urge to run them through it.
He looked dark and off-limits.
Completely untouchable.
And I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything else before.
“You look incredible.”
He smiled at my compliment and pressed his finger just below my chin to force me to look up at him.
“I wish you had come with me.” His warm breath caressed my lips, and I felt trapped in everything he was. Everything around us faded away, and I started to forget that we weren’t supposed to be together. That people weren’t supposed to know that we were more than what we seemed.
“Do you want to dance?” His voice was like a drug, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in and begging for more.
“Yes.” I nodded my head against his finger that still held my face captive.
He smiled, a full devastating smile, before he linked his fingers with mine and led me to the dance floor. No one looked at us as we passed, but my skin felt like pins and needles. There was an electricity around us, a rush about being with him when everyone could see us.
His fingers tightened around mine as he pulled me toward him, my body pressing against every inch of his, and he lifted my hands to his shoulders before he let his fall away.
His hand slid around my back and rested at the small ridge just above my ass and the other took a slower route—a slow caress down my arm. He traced every curve and angle before his hand finally reached my hip, and I couldn’t do anything except concentrate on breathing and not falling into everything that he was.
He leaned down and his voice was a whisper by my ear. “I missed you.” His lips pressed against my cheek before he slowly pulled away.
I told my heart to calm down. We had just seen each other last night. We had spent so much time together that we should be tired of each other, but my heart wasn’t listening. I was already missing him too, and it felt absurd the way I seemed to breathe easier when he was around.
“I missed you too.”
The scent of his cologne was addictive, and I found myself pushing closer to him when already there wasn’t an inch of space.
There were couples spinning around us on the dance floor, but I wouldn’t be able to recall any of their faces come morning. I was too busy staring at Easton, at the way his bowed lips silently mouthed the words to the song and the way he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me.
His fingers flexed against my back, my dress bunching under his touch, and my core tightened as those same fingers trembled as he tried to relax them again.
“Can I cut in?”
Easton’s body went stiff against mine as we both looked over at Theo, but I forced a smile on my face.
“Of course.” I let my hands fall from Easton’s shoulders, but his didn’t budge from me. Instead, they tightened, and I feared he was going to tell Theo. He was going to risk everything to tell the boy I had loved almost half my life that I was now falling in love with someone else.
Theo was staring at Easton’s hand on my hip and the skin underneath began to burn. I didn’t know if it was the way Easton’s fingers pressed into my skin or the way Theo’s eyes blazed in anger or the combination of the two. Either way, I knew I wouldn’t survive between them.
I gently pushed against Easton’s chest and his attention snapped back to me. I silently begged him to let it go, to remember why he told me we couldn’t be together in this way, and although his own burning gaze didn’t cool in the slightest, he finally released his hold on me.
“Save another dance for me.” He winked at me with a heartbreaking smirk on his face directly where Theo could see, and I couldn’t help smiling. Even if it was idiotic and childish, Easton laying any sort of claim over me where Theo could see turned me on.
Easton moved back toward the outskirts of the makeshift ballroom, and Theo didn’t hesitate as he pulled me into him and started moving me around the floor. His body was much stiffer against mine than before, almost robotic, and I followed his gaze that seemed to be glued to Easton’s every move.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I turn
ed us, forcing him to turn his attention to me.
“I’m fine.” His answer was clipped and gruff, and even though I knew it wouldn’t make the situation any better, I chuckled at his answer.
His brow scrunched in frustration as he stared at me. He wasn’t happy. Not with me dancing with Easton and not with me laughing at his irritation.
“Are you seriously mad that I was dancing with someone else?” I rolled my eyes good-naturedly and tightened my hand around his neck. “I didn’t realize this formal was an exclusive thing.”
He didn’t laugh at my joke. Instead, he looked over his shoulder before looking back at me. “Why him? I told you that I didn’t like him.”
“What exactly don’t you like about him?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. “He’s my friend, Theo. I’m allowed to have other friends.”
He shook his head in exasperation. “He doesn’t want to be your friend.”
His words ran through me like a hot iron. “Neither does your buddy over at your table.” I nodded in the direction of the girl who pissed me off earlier.
His brow scrunched in confusion. “What does Emmy have to do with this?”
Emmy. I hated her name as much as I hated her.
“Well, according to Emmy, I’m just a pity date since you’ve been fucking her and plan on fucking her once you leave here.”
He looked shocked. From what I had said or the fact that I had actually called him on something, I wasn’t sure, but it took him a moment to compose himself before he managed to say anything back to me. “You are not a pity date.”
Every single word was clear. Every single one honest, but I didn’t care.
“But you are planning to fuck her after you drop me off at my dorm, right?” I turned my head to the side and watched him as his strong, square jaw shifted.
“Is that really something we want to discuss?” He ran his fingers through his hair, and I was glad that it messed it up some. He looked too perfect before, too fake.
“I don’t know, Theo.” We were still dancing, still moving around the room as if we weren’t having the first real fight of our entire friendship. “You want to talk about how you would feel if I fucked Easton.”