All I've Never Wanted(94)

“Well,” I murmured, pulling away and taking several slow steps back while keeping my eyes trained on his. I stopped when I felt the bed hit the backs of my thighs, and I sat down, leaning back so I was propped up on my elbows. I made sure to keep my legs crossed. Flashing him was not part of the plan. “Talking isn’t high on my list of things to do right now.”

“Really?” Roman’s eyes darkened even more. “Funny, we agree on something for once.”

Then, he did something that totally shocked me. He started taking off his top.

My jaw dropped. Uh-oh. “Wh-what are you doing?” In my panic, I completely forgot about my seductress voice.


“Since you’ve changed into your…outfit for the night—“ Roman tossed his shirt carelessly on the floor, and I nearly drooled when his lean, muscled torso came into view. It was every bit as beautiful as the one other time I’d seen him shirtless, after I fell asleep in his room. “—I figured I should do the same.” He gave me a wolfish smile as he began unbuttoning his jeans. “Did I forget to mention I sleep in my boxers?”

The room suddenly turned into a sauna. “I believe so,” I croaked, silently cursing Carlo with all my might. This was all his—oh my. Roman stepped out of his jeans. The temperature rose another ten degrees, at least.

He eyed me hungrily, and a swarm of butterflies immediately invaded my stomach. I unconsciously licked my lips.

Bad move.

Before I even knew what happened, Roman was on the bed. More specifically, he was on top of me on the bed, his legs straddling my hips. The only thing that kept the entire length of our bodies from pressing against each other was the fact he had propped himself up with his hands.

My breathing became shallow, even as I dimly realized the tables had totally turned. I wasn’t teasing him, it was more like he was teasing me.

Although is it still considered teasing when he’s about to kiss me?

As I lay there frozen, unsure what to do, his mouth began its descent to cover mine. The majority of me was yelling abort! Abort! but there was another, shameful part of me that wanted the kiss to happen.

Then, in what had to be either my stupidest or smartest move of the night, I blurted out, “Thank you.”

Roman froze, his face so close to mine I could count all the individual gold flecks in his eyes. “Thank you?” His voice was strangled.

“Yeah.” I fought to retain my calm. “I wanted to see the effect this lingerie has on the opposite sex—practice and all—so thanks for helping me out.” I shrugged to the best of my ability, considering I was pinned down on the bed.

Confusion clouded his features. “Practice for what?”

I said the first thing I could think of. “For when I wear this for Carlo later.” The minute the words left my mouth, I wanted to hit my head against the wall. Wow, I just keep digging myself into deeper holes.

And just like that, the passionate, lustful Roman was gone, replaced by one I knew so well. Only, not really, because even though he roughly pushed himself off me, he wasn’t scowling at me like I expected him to. Instead, his face was a stony mask and completely unreadable.

“Glad I could help,” he finally said coolly.

I swallowed, sitting up straight and involuntarily grabbing a fistful of the comforter in my hand. This wasn’t what I expected. Angry Roman, I could handle. But this one, the cold, detached one? I had no clue how to handle him.

He walked over to the other side of the bed and grabbed a pillow off of it.

“What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

“I’m sleeping in the living room tonight.” Roman turned his back to her. “Maybe that way you could pretend Carlo’s sleeping next to you later.”

I watched, slightly stunned, as he disappeared into the living room.

If I didn’t know better, I would’ve sworn he was hurt.

I should probably feel triumphant right now, but the only thing I felt was lost.

* * *

“I want to call it off.”

“What are you talking about?” Carlo kept his voice low as we stepped out of the open-air Jeep. “According to what you told me, you did well last night. Better than I expected, really.” He looked like he was trying not to laugh.

I frowned at him. “Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “Honestly, Carlo, this whole getting revenge thing isn’t me. I can’t handle another night like last night.”

“You don’t need to,” he said. “We finished phase one. We need to move on phase two.”

I was curious despite myself. “Which is?”

“Jealousy, of course,” he answered flippantly.

I shook my head frantically. “No, we can’t. It’s—“

“Shh.” Carlo shushed me as we stopped into a clearing. I gasped at the sight before me, all thoughts of the plan flying away for the moment.

Wow. We had given Zack his gifts earlier, and luckily, he had loved the photo canvas I’d given him, with a collage of his favorite photos that he’d taken (I had to thank Adriana for helping me out with that one).

Now, it was time for the real celebration for the twins: a giant carnival-style party.

As I took in the spectacle in front of me, I couldn’t help but wonder how much time and money went into planning this party. I also couldn’t believe how many famous people the twins were friends with, and how many of those famous people flew all the way to Hawaii to celebrate two high schoolers’ birthday.