Sophie Jordan - Tease

I stopped at my door. “Good night.” And I might as well have said good-bye because that’s what this felt like. I’d done what I set out to do and pushed him away. I should be patting myself on the back.

He didn’t move away. Just stared. Looked down at me with an unreadable expression. His eyes roamed over me. He wasn’t touching me but it felt like he was. All over I felt him. My breath slipped in shallow spurts from my mouth.

“You know what the most frustrating thing about you is?”

I moistened my lips, and even though I told myself to say nothing, to not ask, I did. “What?”

“You don’t know what you want.”

That wasn’t true. I knew what I wanted. I wanted him. I could admit that much to myself. I just wasn’t going to let myself have him.

He continued. “I could walk away if I really believed there wasn’t anything between us.” It was like he was saying this more to himself than me. He lifted a hand to touch my face, but he stopped, his hand in midair, inches from my cheek. He lowered his head until our foreheads touched. “If you didn’t look at me the way you’re looking at me now, I could just go.” His breath brushed over my lips and I couldn’t help myself. I came up on my tiptoes and pressed my mouth to his, a betrayal to myself, but I couldn’t help it.

It was like a wire snapped. His hands slid around my back and hauled me close. My head rolled back against the door, my throat arching beneath the onslaught of his lips on mine. Hot and devouring. His tongue parried with mine, stroked and tasted. My hands flattened against his chest, fingers digging into the solidness of his flesh, hating the fabric separating my skin from his.

So much for convincing him that I didn’t want him.

In that moment, I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. There was only craving. Only need. If I could crawl my way inside him, I would.

“Fuck, Emerson,” he mumbled against my mouth. “You taste so good.” His hand slid down my back to cup my butt and lift me against him. Instantly I felt him. His hardness prodded against my belly and my stomach clenched with need.

A loud throat clearing penetrated dimly. Shaw lifted his head and I had to stop myself from diving back for his mouth. It took me a moment to focus my gaze on Georgia, standing there looking amused.

She waved, her eyes going back and forth between me and Shaw. “Hi.”

“Oh, hey, Georgia.”

Shaw stepped back from me, putting much needed space between us. I tucked my hair behind my ear, my hand shaking.

“Hey,” she echoed.

I motioned with a still shaking hand toward Shaw. “This is Shaw. Shaw, my roommate, Georgia.”

They shook hands. “Pleasure to meet you, Shaw.” Georgia’s smile was blinding, and I knew she was enjoying my discomfort a bit too much.

She motioned to the door. “Sorry to interrupt. I just needed to get something from my room, so if you two—”

“No worries,” I said quickly. “Shaw was just dropping me off.”

“Oh. Great.” Her voice didn’t sound like she thought it was great though. In fact, she looked a little disappointed. Like she regretted interrupting us if it meant our making out was coming to an end.

Shaw looked at me steadily, and I knew if Georgia wasn’t here he would definitely be saying something more. Or, actually, maybe nothing at all. We’d probably still be lip locked.

I forced myself to meet his too perceptive brown eyes. “Thanks again.”

He nodded. “Good night.” His gaze skipped to Georgia. “Nice meeting you.”

“You, too.” Georgia’s bright smile was back in place. We stood rooted to the floor in front of our room as he headed down the hall and stepped onto the elevator.

“Wow,” Georgia murmured. “I thought I was going to have to get a fire extinguisher for you two.”

My cheeks burned as I turned and unlocked our door. Stepping inside I tossed my bag on my bed and fell down beside it.

“That’s Shaw? Forgot to mention just how beautiful he is.”

“Pepper and I said he was hot.”

“There’s hot and then there’s that.” She waved toward the door.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” I reminded her.

She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I’m blind. But more important, you don’t have a boyfriend, so—”

“And I don’t want one.”

She sank down on her bed across from me. “So you and he are just—”

“Nothing,” I cut her off. “We’re nothing.” I rubbed the center of my forehead where a headache was forming.

“That looked like something to me. It looked kind of intense.”

I bit back the unkind reply that anything would look intense to her given that Harris was her barometer for passionate kisses. The guy seemed more inclined to kiss his image in the mirror than Georgia. I kept my opinion to myself. It wasn’t my place to judge. What did I know about relationships anyway?

Deciding to change the subject, I asked, “Are you heading to Harris’s tonight?”

“No. He’s studying.”

I frowned. “You said you just needed to get something from the room—”

“Well, yeah, I wanted to give you your space. I would have just grabbed some books and headed to the library or something. You were clearly in the middle of something, and I didn’t want to ruin it. Thought I’d give you two privacy.”

I smiled. “Thanks, but unnecessary. Remember? I don’t have guys stay over the night.”

“There’s always a first time, Em.”

I shook my head. “Nope.” Those were my rules, and I wouldn’t bend them.

Georgia rose and started to change. She kicked off her jeans and slipped a pair of comfy-looking pajama bottoms over her shapely runner’s legs. “So, you going to see Shaw again?” she asked as she slid a knit T-shirt over her head.

I shook my head. I didn’t plan on it, but then something told me I hadn’t seen the last of him. And that fired both excitement and panic through me. I really needed to get a grip.

Tugging off my boots, I rose and shrugged out of my jeans.

“You dropped some money.” Georgia pointed to the carpet.

Bending, I picked up a crumpled twenty, deducing that it had fallen from my pocket. Where I had not put it.

“Damn him,” I muttered.

“What?”

Just then my phone buzzed. I dug through my bag and read the screen.

Shaw: It was a date

With a growl, I flung the phone on the bed. The guy didn’t play fair. I was always in control.

Except around him.

“What?” Georgia repeated.

My eyes snapped to her as determination rushed through me. “No. No, I’m not going to see him again.”

Whatever it took, I had to get him out of my life.

My phone buzzed again. I glanced down, fully expecting another message from Shaw, but no.

Annie: You’re in

I frowned, confused. I typed back three question marks and waited, watching as she typed.

Annie: The kink club. I’m a member now. After tonight, honey . . . of course, I am

Me: Congrats

Really. What else could I say?

Annie: You’re my first guest, girl. You better bring your game

My fingers hovered over the keys, unsure how to respond. I didn’t especially want to hang out with Annie anymore. And the idea of the kink club might have sounded fun at first. But now . . . I wasn’t that intrigued.

“Who is it?” Georgia asked.

“Annie.”

“Ugh. Her.” Georgia whipped her long golden hair into a messy knot on her head. “Let me guess. She trying to get you to go out?”

I nodded. “Something like that. She got into that kink club.”

Georgia’s eyes widened. “Really?” Her lips quirked. “Not surprising, I guess.”

I nodded slowly, thinking. “She invited me to go with her next time.” I lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Whenever she goes again. She’ll get back to me with all the details.”

Georgia’s amused smile slipped. “You can’t.”

I sat up straighter on the bed. “Why not?”

“Well . . . Shaw . . .”

I bristled. Clearly I was doing something wrong if my own friend thought I was so involved with a guy that I couldn’t carry on as normal and go to a kink club. She wasn’t hearing me when I said there was nothing between us. Okay, and maybe going to a kink club wouldn’t exactly be my normal. It would be a first for me, but I had always been the kind of girl who would have embraced an opportunity like that. At least before.

“I’m going,” I declared with a shrug. “Why not?”

Georgia looked at me warily, disapproval lurking in her eyes. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Em.”

Of course I did. I was taking control of my life again.

WHEN THE UNKNOWN NUMBER popped up, I was in the process of stuffing my laptop into my bag. Sometimes my hair salon called to confirm appointments and they didn’t always use the main line I had plugged into my phone. Zipping up my bag, I answered. “Hello?”