Avoiding Decisions (Avoiding #1.5)(10)

Too soon, the movie ended.

“I think I have to go home and study. I’d like to stay, but I think that philosophy paper is calling my name,” she said, standing and stretching.

“That’s all right. Maybe you can come over tomorrow?” he asked.

“Sure. Sounds good.”

She put her shoes back on and grabbed her purse, and he followed her to the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said. She had a smile on her face when she turned back to him for their obligatory good-bye hug.

When she moved forward to wrap her arms around him, his hand found the smooth shape of her jawline. She stopped when he touched her and stared up into his eyes. He was sure that he saw surprise written on her face. The last time she had tried to kiss him, he had backed off.

“Jack,” she said, her voice coming out breathy and needy.

It was addicting. He wanted to keep leaving her breathless.

He pushed his fingers up into her hair, and her eyes closed of their own accord. His other hand moved to circle her waist.

“Lex,” he whispered, hearing the urgency in his voice.

Tilting her head up to him, he bent down and kissed her mouth. She tasted like strawberry lip gloss and every addictive substance on the planet. He couldn’t get enough.

He pulled her hard against him and angled his mouth, so he could trace his tongue across her lips. She moaned into him and opened her mouth. As their tongues connected, he wondered why he had waited this long. Their kisses were urgent, like they had both been waiting too long for this. Still they weren’t rushed as their lips melded together and moved in uninterrupted unison.

Lexi drew his bottom lip in with her teeth, and he nearly lost it. In that moment, he was using every ounce of self-control to stop himself from just grabbing her, throwing her back against the wall, and taking her right then and there.

He kissed her deeply, hungrily, like how a starved man devours food. He could never and would never get enough of the way she tasted and felt.

How he pulled back, he didn’t even know.

When he kissed her now swollen lips one last time, she was putty in his hands. She wrapped her arms around his middle as much to steady herself as to hug him good-bye…and he really, very seriously considered keeping her here. She didn’t really need to study today…did she?

“Jack,” she whispered.

“Yeah, Lex?”

She sighed pleasantly like there was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be. “I like when you call me that.”

“Then, I’ll never stop.”

Jack smiled and drew her in closer. He didn’t care if everything seemed to be spinning off axis. He only cared that he was hopelessly falling for her. And all he wanted was to stay exactly where they were with his arms wrapped around his girl. Because when he was with her, there was nothing and no one else.

“I think…I think I have to really go this time,” Lexi muttered.

She hugged him mob!ilism tighter and then released him. He kissed her one more time on the lips, and then she opened the door.

With a sad smile, he watched his Lex walk out the door. He had this strange feeling creeping through his chest. It started at there and blossomed out to his extremities. She had ignited something in his body that he would never forget—just like he would never forget the way her hand fit perfectly in his, those soul-searching brown eyes, the taste of her pink lip gloss, the intoxicating nature of her presence.

It reminded him of his parents, and it scared him shitless. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He couldn’t let himself feel this. He couldn’t let it sweep him away. But she swept him away.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he reluctantly shut the front door before he answered. “Hello?”

“Jack?” Danielle called into the phone. Her voice was shaky and cracked when she had said his name.

He could hear her tears through the line. She sounded like she had been crying for a while. He wanted to be angry with her. She had been bitchy after all, but just the way she had said his name sounded pitiful.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Jack, baby, oh my God, what did we just do? I’m so, so, so sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say anything like that to you. I never want a break. I love you. I love you so much.” She broke down into tears again, and he waited for her to recover herself. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. You’re my world. I can’t live without you.”

“Danielle…” he said awkwardly, thinking about Lex’s lips on him all over again.

“Please, please, please, Jack! I could never live without you. Ever. I’ll come up this weekend and visit. I don’t care if I have to be all alone most of the time. It will all be as it was. Don’t force this break for no reason!” she blubbered. Her tears came heavier, and he sighed. “At least, let me talk to you in person. You owe me that much, Jack.”

“Danielle…”

“I’ll come up on Friday. We should talk about it. Please, Jack!” she gasped out.

“All right. All right. We’ll talk,” he groaned, hating this whole thing.

He hated when girls cried. Danielle knew he hated it, and she was using the waterworks to her advantage.

Danielle continued to talk in his ear, but he barely heard her. What was he doing?

He was pretty sure his future had just walked out that door.