Taste (Cloverleigh Farms, #7)(31)

It wasn’t fair, how he could still get to me. He didn’t play fair.

Not when we were kids. Not tonight. And certainly not in that closet.

I could still smell the cedar.

Scowling, I spit and rinsed out my mouth, wiping my lips with the back of my hand.

Then I closed my eyes, remembering how he’d dropped to his knees in front of me.

My breath caught.

I was scared—not that Gianni would break the rules, but that he wouldn’t even have to. The truth was, I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted it so badly, I could hardly stand it—and I hated myself for it.

Why should I want him to kiss me when he’d done nothing but torment me my entire life? When he’d made a sport out of kissing girls at school? When he obviously didn’t care about anything or anyone but himself? Why should a guy like that be the one I secretly dreamed about? The one I thought about at night? The one I wished more than anything would whisper to me in the dark?

And speaking of dark.

He brushed one hand over the curve of my left hip.

He touched the inside of my right ankle and slowly dragged his fingertips up the inside of my leg. When he passed my knee, I trembled, whether in fear or anticipation I wasn’t sure, but his hand stopped short of my inner thigh.

My shirt was slightly cropped, and I could feel his breath on my stomach—and then his lips. He planted a row of three devastatingly soft and gentle kisses across my belly.

Every inch of my skin was tingling. I almost dropped the act, fell to my knees and crushed my mouth to his right then and there.

But I didn’t. I didn’t.

He rose to his feet and moved behind me, one hand skimming across my stomach where his lips had just been. With the other hand, he moved my hair aside, and kissed the back of my neck.

My entire body shivered—I couldn’t help it. I almost expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. Keeping one palm on my stomach, his lips moved from the back of my neck to the side of my throat, his tongue warm and soft on my skin. My head tilted to one side without my permission. His arm tightened around my waist. My heart was beating out of control, and my head was spinning. I licked my lips.

Then I turned to face him, breathless, helpless, desperate. “Okay,” I whispered. “Kiss me.”

His lips were so close. All he had to do was drop his mouth to mine. All I had to do was rise on tiptoe.

“Ten second warning!” came the shout from outside the door.

“You want me to kiss you?”

“Nine! Eight! Seven!” Our friends began chanting.

“Yes.” I could feel the tension in his body—he wanted it too. I know he did.

“Six! Five! Four!”

“Gianni,” I said, more impatiently. “Kiss me. Hurry up.”

But instead of putting his mouth on mine, he let me go and stepped back.

“Three! Two! One!” The door opened, light streaming in.

I raced out of the closet and went straight for the bathroom, where I stared at myself in the mirror, furious about the way I’d given in—given him exactly what he’d wanted. Now he’d probably tell everyone about how he made me want to kiss him and then wouldn’t do it. They’d all laugh at me.

“Ellie!” Winnie knocked on the door. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” My voice sounded surprisingly normal. I took a couple breaths and let her in.

“What the hell happened in there?” She was breathless with excitement.

“What did Gianni say happened?”

“Nothing. He just came out and started playing air hockey again.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “So what happened?”

“Nothing.” I looked in the mirror and fussed with my hair. Adjusted my skirt. “We argued and then nothing.”

She crossed her arms. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“He didn’t even kiss you?”

I shook my head as mortification at being rejected pulsed through me. I was so embarrassed I couldn’t even tell my best friend. “Nope.”

And now here I was, alone in the bathroom at the Pineview Motel, reliving it.

The knock on the door made me jump.

“Ellie?”

“Go away.”

“You can’t stay in there all night.”

“Yes, I can. I’ll sleep in the tub.”

“I have to use the bathroom.”

I swung the door open and swept past him, careful not to let any part of my body touch his. “Fine. I’m going to bed.”

He watched as I stuffed all the empty chip bags and candy wrappers into the trash and the uneaten snacks back into the plastic bag.

“Do you want this?” Without looking at him, I held up the toothbrush and toothpaste he’d bought at the gas station.

“Oh. Yeah.” He came toward the bed, but instead of risking our hands touching, I dropped the items onto the mattress. Exhaling, he picked them up and went into the bathroom.

As I was plugging my phone into the charger, I saw that Winnie had texted me.

I’m dying. Can you talk?

Dropping onto the bed with my back to the bathroom, I listened carefully for a moment and heard the water running. He was probably brushing his teeth, but I didn’t think that gave me time for a call.