Page 56 of Until We're More
Brooklyn and Chelsea exchanged a look. At Chelsea’s nod, Brooklyn backed away. Since making a scene in front of all these people wouldn’t be good for the gym, I kept the lid I’d slammed on my boiling-over temper in place, walking briskly into the locker room and jerking the door closed behind us.
Then we were alone. Finally, yet a bad idea at the same time.
The simmering heat I’d held inside escaped in a hot puff of air. “What the fuck was that?”
A couple seconds of tense silence hung in the air.
“Well?” I flung up my hands. “What’s with the ring girl stunt?”
Chelsea crossed her arms, emphasizing her cleavage and her indignation at the same time. “I was…being assertive. Doing something bold.”
“Why don’t you be assertive and bold somewhere else besides the cage, especially if you’re going to be wearing so little clothes?”
“Fine. How about right here, right now? And also, you can’t tell me what to do.”
My irritation spiked higher, along with frustration and a dozen other emotions I couldn’t sort through, but I didn’t like them, that was for damn sure. “Which one do you want to focus on? That I can’t tell you what to do? Or being assertive right here and now? Or is that you trying to be assertive? Because I gotta say, babe, the delivery needs work.”
Her mouth dropped, and fire flared through her big brown eyes. “Stepping into that cage in front of all those people, dressed like this, took a lot of courage, and I’m proud that I went through with it. So why don’t you ask yourself why you’re so pissed off about it?”
I growled. This wasn’t going to take us anywhere good, so I turned to gather my stuff. “Let’s just cool off and talk about it later.”
“No,” she said, but it came out weak.
I turned, only to see she was closer now, nearly close enough to touch. I took a step toward her. “Still not assertive enough. When you said no, you didn’t make me believe it.”
“Oh, maybe I’ll just be like you and stare.” She narrowed her eyes, and with the added edge of her actually being angry, she nearly pulled off the intimidation. I was intimidated as hell by the girl, just in all the wrong ways, and she was pushing me toward the brink of giving in to my baser instincts. “Now”—she jabbed a finger to my chest, tapping it with each word—“why did it piss you off?”
“All those guys staring at you. I…” I raked a hand through my hair and growled again.
“Were you jealous?” Her tough facade broke, vulnerability rushing in. “I need to know, Liam. I need to know if there’s any attraction at all.”
The full impact of her words hit me, flattening my lungs and making it impossible to take a breath. She wanted to know if I was jealous. If I was attracted to her… I was afraid to move and afraid not to.
She covered her heart with her hand, as if she might have to protect herself from my answer, and everything inside me crumbled.
“Of course I’m attracted to you, Chelsea.Lookat you.” I gestured to her and got caught up in staring at her smooth skin and her red hair and her legs and her lips and as I was trying to decide on my favorite part, a healthy dose of lust pumped through my bloodstream.
“But when I hit on you last weekend, you brushed me off.”
“You were drunk. I was trying to be noble.”
She shoved her hands against my chest. “Well, be less noble!”
The thread on my control snapped, and I backed her up against the wall. I braced a palm next to her head and pressed closer, teetering on the edge, a mere breath away from welcoming the free fall. “This is what you want?”
She nodded.
I caught her chin between my thumb and index finger. “Is that your idea of assertive? A second ago you demanded I let you be bold, so don’t back down now.”
That fire flooded her features again, and God help me, it turned me on, taking me from hard to rock hard. Her body was soft and warm and pliant underneath me, too, and the word “mine” flashed through my head like a neon sign. But I needed her to cross some of the lines. Needed to be sure it was what she wanted, too, not just me being selfish and pulling her into my messy life in a way I knew I shouldn’t.
Her hand fisted the front of my shirt, and with surprising force for such a little thing, she jerked me to her and planted her lips on mine.
Like a match to a fuse, the kiss burned through me fast and then blew everything inside me apart. I pressed her harder against the wall. “Don’t stop there. I’d hate for your lesson to be incomplete. Right now you’re looking at a C, maybe a B minus.”
“Are you purposely pissing me off?”
“Maybe.” I brushed my lips across hers, using up every last ounce of my self-control not indulging in the urge to take another taste quite yet. “After all, that’s what your stunt earlier tonight was about, right? Pissing me off?” I ground against her, reveling in the moan it ripped from her throat. “Or maybe I’m just finding out which button to push to help you reach your goals.”
