Page 26 of Tainted Romance

“Don’t you even think about it, babe.” He tightened his grip on my hand.

Zane looked mildly disgusted and, for some sick twisted reason, I was happy about it. I hoped he felt guilty. I wanted him to be jealous, and I was sure I would be going to hell for it.

“Fine,” I gave in.

“Come on, let’s go get some good seats. Good luck with your speech tonight.” He patted Zane on the back before guiding us across from room towards the hall.

While I wasn’t enjoying holding Taylor’s hand, I didn’t hate it either. To be honest with myself, I did like affection. Blake never showed it as he didn’t like public affection.

When I told him what Taylor and I were up to, his exact words were ‘that is never going to work because you will end up killing him by the end of the week.’

So right now, as Blake was staring at us with this blank look on his face, I was proud. See, Blake, I hadn’t killed Taylor, he was sitting, standing, and breathing. Blake’s blank expression soon turned into an impressed one, and I watched as he and Chase shared some words about it.

“So, do you normally come to these things?” Taylor asked me, as we took our seats in the middle row.

“Every single one,” I said bitterly.

“Why haven’t I noticed you before?” Taylor asked me and all I could do was shrug my shoulders in response.

I might as well have been invisible.

The pack meeting started like normal. Boring, followed by more boring, and even though this was perhaps the most boringness meeting ever, it was perhaps the only meeting I had ever felt so alert.

Taylor had brought my hand to his lap, and he hadn’t let go of it. He was slowly drawing circles on the back of my hand, and it was driving me mental, but it wasn’t the mental I would expect.

My stomach was flipping around, and my heart was beating slightly faster, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the small circles he was drawing! It felt so, well, good and it killed a part of my pride to admit it.

Taylor must have felt my eyes on him because he slowly turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow at my blank expression.

He leaned down to my ear. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I swallowed hard and tore my eyes away from his face.

“It’s boring, isn’t it?” Taylor’s hot breath swirled around my ear; his voice so low, that nobody else but I could hear him.

“Yes.” The corner of my lip twitched up slightly, and for the first time in my life, I was smiling at Taylor. “I hate these things,” I whispered up into his ear.

“They do tend to drag on, don’t they,” he agreed, while still drawing those sweet circles on the back of my hand. “Are you cold?” he asked, his eyes running up my bare legs. Sure, the shorts might look good, but they weren’t keeping my legs warm.

Goosebumps covered my skin. “A little.” I nodded my head. While our blood was meant to run hotter, I had always found that wasn’t the case for me.

“Here.” He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me to his side. Then he slowly let go of my hand and pulled his jumper off. He placed it over my lap, tugging the sides under each of my legs. “There, don’t say I never did anything for you.” A flirtatious grin captured his lips, causing a wave of butterflies to wash through me.

“Thanks.” The feel of his warm jumper was more than welcoming. I hadn’t realized just how cold I was until now.

He took my hand again. “Surely this thing will have to end soon.” He spoke to me, but his eyes were on the stage.

“Do you have plans after this?” I asked. This was the first conversation I wasn’t forced to have with him. When he began to draw circles again, a feeling of relaxation crept over me.

“Nope, you?”

I shook my head while yawning.

“You’re tired.” He smiled at me while I covered my mouth.

“Yeah, I am. I just wish this would end so we can go home.”

“I have a very comfy shoulder,” he offered.

---