Protection

Chapter 14

But he misses me, of course, and I am startled to feel his hand yanking me down with him when he lands in the water. We both go down, and I don't know what to expect until I feel his lips on mine underwater.

Mentally rolling my eyes at his strategy to get us alone, I kiss back anyway, leaning back towards the "he's the best" thoughts, rather than thinking about which way I should kill him.

When we surface, I am holding onto him, pouting. It gets him to chuckle and pull me closer, though I stop him when I look up and see everyone watching us from above, drawn by my loudness.

"You just wanted to kiss me," I whine. "We could have done that on the opposite side of the yacht!"

He shakes his head. "I can't help myself. Besides, this way was funner."

I splash him. "'Funner' isn't a word, idiot." After staying quiet for a second and focusing on staying afloat, I tell him, "I hate you."

"You love me," he jokes.

Yes, I do.

xXxXx

TOBIAS POV

This party is too fancy for me.

Even though I am dressed in an extremely nice suit that Tris bought me for my birthday a while back, I still feel out of place and awkward at this politicians' ball. Most of them haven't started dancing yet and instead stand around showing off and drinking. My father used to go to these gatherings with my mother a lot, and then by himself after they got divorced.

So that probably explains why I have a problem with these parties.

"There you are," Tris says as she walks up to me. She is clothed in a black dress that goes down to about mid thigh. Her hair is down and covers the straps on her shoulders, making it seem like she is wearing a strapless dress. I have never seen her wear high heels before, but tonight she is wearing them and damn...

"Take a picture. It will last longer," she teases, pressing on my jaw to close my mouth, which I didn't realize was open in the first place.

"You look...amazing," I tell her in awe. But that sounds stupid, so I amend my statement. "Beautiful."

As expected, a blush takes over her face. "You don't look too bad yourself."

I wrap an arm around her waist to pull her close to my side, and then I guide her through the crowd to find someplace where I can get her alone for a few minutes. A couple of people give us strange looks when they see how close we are pressed together, but other than that, we slip out of the main party area unnoticed.

The hallway we end up in is secluded, though we can still hear the music coming from the ballroom. When I decide that we are in the clear, I gently press her back against the wall and lower my lips to hers.

She sighs against my mouth in relief and grabs the back of my neck, right above one of my longest and deepest scars, which stretches across my back and up to the base of my neck. But I don't stop her; I will not let my past interrupt this, us. Instead, I kiss her harder in defiance.

I reach her neck, and she tilts her head back to give me better access. "Tobias," she hums in pleasure.

And I know I should stop because we are at a party and someone could walk in on us, but I can't stop because her neck smells like that perfume I like and her skin tastes sweet and—

"Excuse me?"

The anonymous man's voice causes Tris and I to spring apart and snap out of our moment of ill judgement. We turn to look and see that he looks disgusted by our display of affection.