Maneater

Chapter Fifteen

    "Kiss me? For what?"

    Austin shrugged. "Your lips just look exceptionally juicy tonight. And fuck-buddy arrangement consideration aside, I'd still want to kiss you just to see how it feels."

    She narrowed her eyes at him. "When you talk to women like this, it actually works for you?"

    "I rarely have to say much," he said with a smile.

    Rolling her eyes, she turned to face the projection screen.

    "So that's a 'No,' then?"

    "A 'No' would've been a no," she clarified for him. "Me completely ignoring you? Is a 'Hell no.'"

    "I'm sorry that you feel that way," he said quietly, following suit and turning his attention to the screen. He raised the remote and took the movie off of Pause so that the still characters came to life.

    He's sorry that I feel that way? she wondered, sneaking a glance at him. No name-calling? No shouting at me because he couldn't get his way? Her eyes lowered to his lips, which had to be looking every bit of the juicy he'd claimed hers to be. He wasn't the only one who was curious, but there was no way she would allow herself to get played by Austin Gaines. He was known around Hollywood as fucking everything with a pussy and a pulse, known for having a harem of women at his beck and call. He embodied the very type of man that she attempted to take down. The fact that she was even here, sitting next to him while watching a movie, went against her standard protocol. She didn't make friends with dogs. She broke their hearts and then exposed them. That's how it worked. Austin already had her acting out of character, and she didn't like it.

    His thigh brushed against hers again, but his eyes were focused on the screen. He gave no indication that the movement was intentional.

    She shifted in her chair so that her thigh was slightly farther away from his, and tried to focus on what the actors on the screen were saying and doing - but she was way too aware of Austin sitting next to her. Rather than focus on a movie she'd seen before, her eyes would rather focus on just how strong his shoulders looked and how defined his arms were, or how thick his thighs were. Whenever he chanced a look at her, her eyes wanted to take in how beautiful his eyes were. Sitting this close to him was unnerving. All of the rules and regulations she'd drawn up for herself flitted to the edges of her mind, out of reach.

    Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman's characters were arguing about getting too close and too intimate.

    "See, that's the exact problems with setups like this," Crystal said, gesturing towards the screen. "Someone always ends up falling for the other person, or feeling more than they should. It fucks up the entire situation."

    "Between the two of us, I'd be able to keep my feelings in check," Austin said, studying her. "Are you worried that you'd end up falling for me?"

    Her eyes widened. "Whet? Pfft. As if." She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away. "There would be no risk of that happening."

    He chuckled as if he knew otherwise.

    That chuckle tap danced on her last nerve. "What makes you so sure that you wouldn't fall for me?"

    "Nothing against you, baby girl," he said, raising a hand to her hair and touching it lightly. "But a serious relationship just isn't in the cards for me right now. Not with where my career is. Maybe once it slows down, I'd have the time it takes to nurture a relationship."

    "And that's the excuse you use for the hoes that come stomping in and out of here, or the hoes that you fly out whenever you're on tour overseas?" she demanded. "Because you don't have the time to nurture a relationship?"

    He placed his index finger and thumb near his temple, an amused smile spreading across his face. "Are you going to challenge every single thing that I say?"

    "Maybe," she said defiantly.

    Shaking his head, he told her, "I don't tell myself excuses to justify my behavior." His eyes lowered and he seemed to consider his next words before allowing them to leave his mouth. "People all around the world have these...perceptions of me. Perceptions of who I am as a man. If I wanted to, I could get sucked into that, lost in how they think I should walk, talk, and operate. But I don't. If I did, I'd lose who I really am. The choices that I make...people won't always understand them, because they won't have access to the reasons behind why I do what I do. Not everything is for them to know. But...everything that I do is calculated. Everything I do is for a reason, trust me. That includes the... hoes, as you call them, who prance on and off my property. They serve a purpose in my life. Sometimes that purpose is to please me. Sometimes that purpose is for me to have someone to please. Sometimes that purpose is just for the sake of keeping up a certain rap image."

    She wrinkled her nose.

    He mocked her and wrinkled his nose, too. "What's running through your mind right now? How fake I am to even consider trying to keep up a rap image if it's not one hundred percent genuine?"

    "If I know you'd fake something like that, how would I ever know when you're being real?"

    "I don't make it that difficult to figure out," he said cryptically. "But...knowing that there is some fakeness about me, maybe that will help keep you from falling in love with me."

    "As if there was any chance I would have fallen in love with you," she muttered holding up one hand.

    His fingers toyed with the armrest while his eye were locked with hers. "If there's no chance that you would fall in love with me, then kiss me."

    "No," she said quickly.

    "Why not?"

    "Because you've given me no reason to want to kiss you."

    He leaned in close to her and asked, "Who needs a reason to feel good?"

    What? It took a moment for her to grasp the words he'd spoken and even longer than that to try breaking down their meaning.

    Not caring to give her time to understand the meaning of his words, he swiftly moved his face closer to hers and pressed a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth.

    She drew away from him, staring at him like he was crazy.

    He stared back boldly and without apology.

    Curse words were on the tip of her tongue, until her eyes honed in on his lips again. Those perfectly sculpted lips, which did look guaranteed to please her. Her heartbeat quickened. She raised her gaze to his face again.

    This time, he leaned in a lot more slowly, giving her time to move away from him.

    She didn't.

    He planted a kiss full-on her lips, starting off slow and gentle.

    Being who she was, it was tough for Crystal to truly admit how skillful of a kisser Austin was. When a man knew how fine he was and had an idea of how good he was in bed, the last thing he needed was a stroke to the ego. For that reason, she kept her facial expression impassive and attempted to act like his lips weren't seconds away from causing her toes to curl.