The Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold

✖ Chapter 20 ✖

"I don't know." Sawyer shook his head softly as he looked down at me. I felt the heat radiate off of him as he continued, "It's not like friends call their friends man whores for some random reason."

"It's not random when it's true." The disbelief in his face was annoying. I was maybe a bit on the rude side but I was not a liar. I poked him with my finger, hoping he'd back away so his heat and scent would leave me the heck alone, but he stayed rooted in place.

"Did you know that the walls of the girls' restrooms are a shrine to you and your..." As I trailed off I glanced down in the general direction of his crotch, without staying there to take in any details. "And who knows how many more mentions you have? If that's not peak hall of fame womanizer I wouldn't know."

"What?"

His shock didn't convince me one bit.

"What? You think just any regular guy gets that VIP treatment?" I snorted. "That's only reserved for someone who sleeps around."

"I don't sleep around." He rolled his eyes.

"Then what do you call what you did with Lexie Cooper?"

The question hung between us, heavy like a fog. I was aware that we were not alone. That kids came and went through the entrance and that even despite the dim lights, anybody who knew us could see that we were standing very close together. And even though I wanted to pull away, to run like I'd thought of doing earlier, I was rooted to the spot as though my body had taken that failed attempt as a surrender against him.

Did he just get closer?

He must have, I realized, because I heard his whisper loud like a scream as he said, "This is why we can't ever be friends. You see, friends don't get jealous of who their friends sleep with only the one time."

I spluttered. "I'm not your friend or jealous!"

"Oh yeah?" he asked, smiling as if he'd hit the jackpot.

My brains scrambled to see if I'd somehow fallen into a verbal trap, and just as I'd been about to have an epiphany, he stole my breath. And every brain function that could have resulted from oxygen.

In a motion I didn't see coming, he closed the remaining distance and tilted my head back so he could kiss me. I registered this with some shock. I'd been under the impression so far that I was doing a good job at pushing him away, but maybe that last accusation did make me sound jealous.

Because I was.

Because a bunch of unknown girls had got to kiss him and more, and all I'd ever got was that sudden taste last summer. The one that had caught me by surprise, as much as this one. The one that had given me a hint that maybe Sawyer Logan felt something for me, and it wasn't friendship. The one that also told me I definitely felt something back.

The one that scared me enough to pull away from him before I had a chance to explore.

It must have been a split second as I debated whether to do the same now. I had every right to. It wasn't like he asked if he could kiss me and I said yes. In fact, I didn't even know what I'd have replied if he'd ask. But my belly was doing flip flops, my heart was drumming to a beat I didn't recognize and my arms moved of their own accord and wrapped around his neck, which only served to pull him closer. Sawyer responded to that with renewed enthusiasm. Gone was every semblance of personal space. He molded me against him with one arm as his opposite hand tangled in my hair. There were so many sensations everywhere, so much heat, that I gasped.

I felt his lips take advantage of it and work against mine, his tongue sweeping a shocking caress that sneaked its way past my defenses. My legs turned liquid as I felt the heat of his mouth against my own and I was glad that he was keeping me up because the suction started a shutdown of my systems. All that seemed to work were my nerves everywhere he touched me. My hands grabbed onto his shoulder, onto his neck. This somehow made him kiss me with renewed fervor and I felt his chest rumble with a groan against mine. I didn't care about breathing anymore. All I wanted was for him to not let go. All I wanted for him was to let go. So that I could go back to being myself without him. So I wouldn't know what I was missing.