Part of Your World(23)

She tipped her head up again to look at me. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?” she asked.

“What?”

“You’re sweet. You’re thoughtful. You’re not hard to look at, and the sex is…why don’t you have one?”

“The sex is what?” I beamed.

She propped herself on her elbow, our hands still clasped between us. “Well?”

I propped myself too. “I was seeing someone up until a few months ago. It wasn’t serious.”

“Why wasn’t it serious?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t ever see her past a day I guess.”

“What does that mean?”

“I never envisioned her in the future. I only ever wanted to see her the day I wanted to see her. You know how when you like someone, you want to make plans with them? I never wanted to make plans with her.”

“But you want to make plans with me next weekend, huh?”

I grinned. “Busted.”

She laughed. “I get that whole day thing,” she said. “At the end I couldn’t even see my ex past a minute.”

“Oh yeah? What was he like?”

She gave me a one-shoulder shrug. “Arrogant. A surgeon.”

I felt myself deflate. So I’d been right about the kind of men she liked. Educated. Accomplished.

The opposite of me.

Surgeon. Maybe that’s what she did for a living?

“Are you a surgeon?” I asked.

Her smile fell a little. “That’s four guesses. But no.”

There was something a little tight about the way she said no. I didn’t know how to respond, so I did the only thing I could think of to fill the silence. I leaned forward and kissed her.

Turns out, it was the right move.

I’d had chemistry with other women, but I’d never experienced animal magnetism before. It’s the kind of thing that’s unmistakable when it’s happening—and it happened with her. The same as last time, only stronger. The sexual tension between the two of us was like a sunflower turned to the sky. I’d felt it even when she was gone, I realized. Like my body was looking for her even though I didn’t know where she was. It was a shift in gravity. Two bodies in a hammock, or an old mattress that dips in the middle. I could feel us rolling toward each other.

It’s the kind of pull that’s easier to give in to than it is to get out of.





Chapter 10

Alexis



We’d just gotten home from the drive-in. He’d chased me giggling up the steps, and I had my back pressed against the door of my room.

“That was fun,” I said, biting my lip. “I love The Princess Bride. I think we could have paid better attention though…”

Daniel closed the space between us, and his body heat bore down on me. “Inconceivable,” he said, crushing his lips to mine. His kiss was warm and wet and perfect, and a rock-hard boner pressed into my stomach.

I broke away, breathless. “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

He laughed, and firm hands slid around my waist and down my back.

Oh, my God…

I’d made out with a boy in the bed of a truck.

We probably would have done a lot more than that if Brian hadn’t been in the projection room and we’d had a condom.

I’d reverted back to sixteen years old—only I’d never done this stuff at sixteen. At sixteen I was taking AP chem courses and volunteering at the hospital. I was not making out with good-looking small-town boys in the beds of trucks.

Daniel pulled away an inch from my mouth. His hot breath rolled over my lips. My underwear was drenched.

“Good night,” he whispered.

Then he pushed off me and started down the hall.

I stared after him in shock. “Wha—you’re not…?”

He turned to look at me. “Not what?” He blinked at me innocently.

“I thought…I mean…you’re not going to stay?”

“Oh, for that? I want to. Obviously.” He gestured to the front of his pants and made a face like any other idea was ridiculous. “But I can’t. That was my grandparents’ bedroom. I wouldn’t be able to do the things I want to do to you in there. Wouldn’t feel right.”

“Well, there’s three other rooms…”

He shrugged. “They’re not made up.” He put a thumb over his shoulder. “Of course, we could always go back to my loft.” He smiled. “I can’t really think of a single thing I wouldn’t do to you in my own bed. All night. As many times as you want.”

So that’s what this was about.

I crossed my arms. “You really want me to spend the night with you, don’t you?”

“I want you to do whatever you’re comfortable with. And you could always come back here to sleep later.” He put a hand up. “Unless I make you too tired to walk the short distance from the garage to the house. Which you should know is my goal.” His dimples popped. “Also, this place is haunted. I wouldn’t sleep here alone.” He made a fake scared face.

I laughed, and his eyes sparkled, and he knew he had me. Not because I believed in ghosts, but because he was too adorable to refuse.