Here is chapter fourteen! Hope you like it. Don't forget to comment and, if you feel so inclined, vote if you enjoyed it.
By the way, we are back to Teagan's POV.
--VIVKELLER23
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Teagan
Teagan woke up with a smile on his face.
It was a wish come true for him to be greeted by the bright morning sun after spending the night in the Ice Queen's huge, four poster bed.
Freak. Okay, so he didn't actually get to do anything besides sleep. Not that he was complaining. He wouldn't trade the hours he spent just talking and watching cheesy rom-coms on Netflix with her for anything. He'd gotten to see the real Rain Sullivan yesterday, and it had been nothing short of amazing.
Because she was amazing.
Effing smooth, Romeo. He couldn't help it. She inspired that sort of sap from him.
All joking aside though, Teagan had to admit that there was no other word to describe Rain. No other word did her justice.
She'd been attacked, and the harm to her person would have been much worse if he hadn't gotten through the door in time to beat her attacker into a bloody mess. Yet, she hadn't cried after the initial shock wore off. She hadn't done much of anything except stare at the ceiling and let him place her into the hot bath.
Something in the way Rain refused to talk about what happened had red flags going off in his head. The way Isa simply shook her head and fought off tears when he asked her to set out a towel and comfortable clothes for Rain, it wasn't normal. There was more here than just an overly aggressive visitor messing with the wrong girl.
For one, he couldn't believe that either woman had simply allowed that Jeffers fool to leave without calling the police. Despite what Rain had said, the bastard would have forced her if he hadn't been physically made to let her go. That was enough reason to lock him up.
Yeah, that's the reason.
Whatever. He knew for certain there was more. No matter, he could wait to get it out of Rain. After all, part of the challenge she presented to him was the mystery he was slowly getting to unravel the more he got to know her.
He sighed and turned to look at the sleeping woman beside him. She looked young and at peace in sleep, resembling a carefree, pretty girl rather than the rigid Ice Queen he usually got to see. He liked both, he could admit that much, but knowing there was an approachable woman who knew how to genuinely smile beneath the frosty exterior was a good thing.
She'd fallen asleep after watching a few episodes of The Vampire Diaries. For the longest time he could have sworn he had never enjoyed teen dramas about vampires and reincarnation, but after being talked into watching the show last night, Teagan realized he was down to watch anything with the Ice Queen so long as she snuggled up to him like she had before. She hadn't been concerned with keeping up appearances yesterday, and he'd gotten some new insights into what life as Rain Sullivan was really like.
Her father, the great Randolf Sullivan, did not return home until well after he and Rain had shared supper. At around eight at night, the man strode in whistling a merry tune after successfully closing a deal on a property. He hadn't even questioned the fact Teagan was there, chatting away with his daughter. Nevermind that Rain had been wearing her nightgown, a prim, pale yellow gown with a line of tiny buttons going down the front which he'd contemplated opening little by little. Her father had simply raised an eyebrow at them when he passed the family room they occupied, a slight smile on his face.
Was it wrong that despite knowing more about the man than he would have liked, he wanted to slam his fist in Randolf's face to help erase that over confident smile? Well, it wasn't necessarily a good idea.
There was a man he'd never understand. He had all the money and success he could possibly want in the world, but he acted like Rain hardly existed. Randolf Sullivan seemed to forget he had a daughter living under his roof, and last night had proved just how little he cared for her outside of the public eye. He'd spoken to Isa before heading into his Den to work some more, but he hadn't even offered Rain a good night.
No wonder she carried herself in a glass case. Who could blame her when there was no one to care in the slightest?
Tilden was going to have a field day when Teagan finally submitted his analysis on Gray's Ice Queen. There was so much more to the woman than what met the eye.
Teagan smirked as he reached up a hand to trace the smooth, rosy skin of her cheek. Miss Romero's attempt to help Teagan find purpose had actually been a window to help bring him into direct contact with the violet eyed beauty he couldn't seem to shake.
Her lashes fluttered as his finger brushed a strand of golden brown hair away from her eyes. She smiled, opening her eyes just in time to see him cross his arms over his chest. Those violet-blue eyes of hers studied him from beneath her lashes. "How is it you wake up early, but never make it to class on time?" she asked, a small smile on her lips.
She didn't even look surprised to find him in her bed still. Teagan stretched lazily, wrapping his hands around the top of the classic wood headboard before he turned on his side to face her directly. "I usually have more interesting things to do in the early morning than attend class, My Lady." He wriggled his brows at her to help get his meaning across.
She wrinkled her pert little nose at him. "You're so gross." But the little gleam in her eye contradicted her words.
"I think you're just saying that cause I haven't offered to do some of those things with you lately," he told her with a straight face.
He wasn't sure how it happened exactly, but in the next instant, Teagan found himself knocked flat on his back, the Ice Queen's fluffy pillow against his face. She had the quick reflexes of a cat.
A simple "no" would have sufficed.
With a mighty growl, Teagan reached up to pull the pillow away and bounced up onto his knees. It took him all of three seconds to catch her as she made a run to get off the bed. With one steady tug, he managed to pull her back into the warm white sheets and braced himself on his arms above her. He grinned down at the frustrated scowl on her face, using the pointer finger of his right hand to brush the hair on her forehead back. "Good morning, Rainy Day."
She huffed, glaring up at him. "Don't call me that."
He quirked an eyebrow. "You prefer Ice Queen then?"
"I prefer my given name," she clarified. Then with a smirk that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, she raised one knee by placing her bare foot flat on the bed, effectively turning the tables on him. Her knee was precariously close to his best friend- thanks to his spread knees on either side of her, and from the look she gave him, she meant to use the fact to her advantage. "Now get off me."
Checkmate. He knew when to cut his losses. With a deep chuckle, amazed that she would dare to threaten his very manhood, Teagan backed off. "Well played, Your Majesty."
Her laugh told him she wasn't the least bit sorry for having pulled such a, forgive the pun, low blow. Teagan had to work at keeping a straight face as he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the large bed.
He gave her a narrow look. "Is that any way to treat me after the way I sacrificed my time to stay with you last night?" he asked.
"It is when the first words out of your mouth are inappropriate," she returned, as she scrambled up on her own knees with her hands on her hips.
She lost a bit of her sternness with her faintly flushed skin and that flirty yellow nightgown. It wasn't the typical iron clad look associated with the Ice Queen, but it was equally alluring, if not more so.
"Technically, I didn't say anything indecent. It was you who automatically thought it," he pointed out, wagging his eyebrows at her.
"Don't you dare pin this on me!"
Teagan couldn't believe this was happening. He was actually sitting in bed having a conversation with a girl he would have never imagined talking to a few weeks ago. Not since before the party. Yet here he was, a lowdown flirt who was probably way too wrong for her, learning so much more about who she really was. He'd first laid eyes on her over a year and a half ago, and in that time he'd watched her, from a distance cause he wasn't a total creep. He had only seen what she wanted everyone to see, a cool exterior that couldn't be breached.
And it wasn't even the truth.
Teagan gave her a smile. "I'd rather pin you under me if you want the truth."
Rose blossomed on her pale cheeks, but she was quick to recover. She gave him her fiercest, most disapproving look and shook her head at him. "You're unbelievable," she muttered.
Ditto. "Aww, you're pretty amazing yourself, sugar." The end of his sentence caught in his throat as he yelped from the force of her pillow smacking him in the face again. "You have got to stop that. I know my face is gorgeous, but it's not indestructible."
Rain muttered something under her breath, but he was almost positive she said "pretty" instead of "gorgeous" which was just plain rude. He made a dash to catch her, but she was too quick for him and hurried out of the bed. He couldn't believe what he did next. He, Teagan Jedidiah Miller, who was notoriously known for having the girls come to him, broke his number one rule.
He got out of the comfiest bed he'd ever slept in to chase the girl.
xXx
Rain was one slippery fish.
After trying unsuccessfully to catch her by running around in circles, he finally managed to thrown himself across the bed to pin her under him. That would have been fun, too, but Isa happened to come in at the exact moment he'd planned on lowering his head to cut off Rain's angry words.
You're so lucky Isa didn't take a knife to your little friend, the honest, sometimes cruel voice in his head told him.
Teagan shivered at the thought, but pushed it away to focus on the meal placed in front of him. Yeah, he was lucky indeed. Lucky that despite having been caught in what could easily have been seen as a compromising position, Isa had still been kind enough to treat him to a continental breakfast. That didn't mean she wasn't staring him down while holding a skillet in her hand as if it weighed nothing.
Nope. I'll behave. Teagan gulped nervously as he picked up one juicy sausage link and bit into it. The grand meal table he sat at was large enough to fit a small crowd, but right now it just seemed to take up space. "So," Teagan began, chewing cautiously. Rain sat directly across from him, staring down at her food as if she thought the bacon would miraculously return to being the little piggy it once was. "I meant to let you know sooner, but stuff happened and it slipped my mind."
Rain glanced up at him, looking less than thrilled to have the subject of last night brought up again. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until after breakfast?" Though she formed the words into a question, she wasn't really asking.
Too bad, because he wasn't really listening. "No can do, sugar." He smiled at the glare she gave him. "I know you're like halfway in love with me by now, and all, but I think you should know-"
She threw her butter knife at him.
Being around her was definitely dangerous. But dang it all, he'd be lying if he said he didn't like it. "That's not how you treat your guests at the breakfast table," he told her, staring at her in mock horror. "And here I thought you were raised knowing simple manners."
"Isa can just pack your breakfast to go, if you insist on being trouble."
Now that one hurt. "Trouble? Me? Come on, Rainy Day, you know that's not fair."
She sighed, dropping her fork onto her plate. He didn't know why, but she suddenly looked aloof and more like the Ice Queen he'd first met so long ago. Her perfect mask was back in place and he didn't like it. "Fine. Why did you come by yesterday?"
He shrugged. "Cause I didn't like recalling the things I said to you, even if you did push me away first. I was out of line, but I wanted you to know that nothing you think you saw in that picture actually happened." He could see she was struggling to make up her mind whether to believe him or not, but in the end she nodded.
"It doesn't matter if you did or didn't do what Crue seems to claim you did," she said firmly. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. It's not like I didn't already know who you were before you started bumping into me. Besides, it's not like you owe me any sort of explanation. We aren't anything. We can hardly even be considered friends, if you think about it."
Why the hell did those words hurt more than what she had said to him before, when he hadn't even known about the picture Crue had sent? How could she be so cool and formal now when just half an hour ago, she'd been laughing up at him in her night clothes? Not friends? Yeah, right. "Then what would you call us after we spent the night together? Pillow buddies?"
"We didn't do anything."
Teagan glanced around the room, taking in the bare white walls and the high ceiling with its obnoxiously intricate chandelier. She had all of this splendor around her, but she wasn't really enjoying any of it. Why have all the luxuries if you were too afraid to live in all of it? "I think you and I both know that if circumstances had been different, that wouldn't have been the case."
The Ice Queen- well, Rain, but she was being very difficult right now- blushed furiously, her eyes widening to resemble purple jewels. "What makes you so sure of that?"
"You don't want us to be nothing," he told her, not really answering her question. He was making an observation. "I'll admit I was intrigued from the moment you waltzed into that party so many nights ago, but it was you who came onto me."
She shook her head furiously. "You're insane." She got up from her chair, quickly clearing the table despite having taken only a bite of the bacon.
Teagan watched her work, noticing the way her slender hands shook. He could still remember the way those hands had felt on him when she'd been less than sober. There'd been shadows in her eyes then, too, but she hadn't tried to hide them. It was that memory he had that made him retreat and try to bring out the Rain he knew lived under all the ice.
"Wanna know what I think?" he wondered.
"No."
He chuckled. Why did he even bother to ask? "I think you want me to make you feel like you're the only girl in the world. Like you're the only one that I'll ever love. Like you're the only one who knows my heart."
Her answering smile was enough to tell him that the Ice Queen knew her Rihanna songs. "You're so original. You're quoting Rihanna now?"
"I'm a fan."
She snorted, making him smile. "I doubt she'd be a fan of yours."
He shrugged. "Wanna bet?"
"Oh, Lord, even you cannot be that cocky."
You have no idea...
Teagan smiled. He had a few tricks up his sleeve, but she didn't need to know that. "If I can somehow meet Rihanna and impress her, you owe me anything I want." He was bluffing, of course, because the only way he could meet Rihanna was if he was loaded with money and ran in the same social circles. But he knew someone who did have access...
"You're on." Rain extended her hand over the length of the table, offering a shake to close the deal. "But if you can't meet Rihanna, or if you do, and she is not impressed with the whole Mr. Hot Tee act you got going on, you owe me. Big time."
He hadn't thought he could like her anymore without getting a taste of her, but Rain was proving wrong a number of things.
"Deal."
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