Page 142 of The Bet
“You shouldn’t always believe what you read in the press. That’s what my brother always says, and I agree.”
“It was my mistake.”
“At least you’ve owned up to it.”
“I haven’t owned up to it,” she cried, slapping his arm lightly. “You were quite obnoxious when we first met. You were so full of yourself.” She reminded him of a few instances.
“That’s because I wasn’t used to being around someone who didn’t think I was god’s gift to women.”
She roared. “You see what I mean? You were so obnoxious.”
“You threw me for a loop,” he protested. “I wasn’t used to someone like you.”
“I’m not like the girls you’re used to.”
“No, you’re not.”
After a while, when he declined her second offer to come back to her apartment, they made out for a while, light kisses at first, until they deepened into long, wet ones. They held hands, touching, and exploring one another lightly, and the thrill of being outside, in a car, not having privacy but hidden under the darkness of the night, lent a touch of risk to their intimacy.
But it wasn’t comfortable, sitting with her body twisted inside the car. Sitting close and doing her best to avoid the handbrake. Making out like this wasn’t the most romantic way to end the evening, but when he kissed her, making her body tingle and spark, and crave for more, she soon forgot the discomfort and lost herself in the animal heat of the moment.
“Do you want to come in?” She wished they had gone to his place instead, and part of her wondered why he hadn’t. Cara would be in, and she would get talking to Xavier, and they wouldn’t have the privacy they’d have had at his place.
“This is fine, for now,” he said, his hand on her waist, his fingers squeezing her flesh gently. They were face-to-face, breathing in each other, lips nuzzling, and moving over one another. “I don’t want you to think I’m after one thing,” he said, his face somber.
“I know you’re not after one thing.”
“How do you know?”
She shrugged. “I just do.”
He kissed her again, making her feel those same things again, turning her to liquid heat, as she arched her back anticipating good times. The very thing she had hated Xavier for, the way other girls turned into complete idiots, was the way she was behaving now. He’d touched her intimately, made her come, made her think of that moment over and over again, making her more aroused each time, until she could think of nothing but wanting him more.
“Pleasecome on in for a while,” she begged, kissing him across his jaw, inhaling his cologne, getting used to it.
“I can’t.”
“Can’t?”
“There’s no rush, is there?”
“No.” She’d been wrong. So very wrong about him.
“Maybe when you have a weekend free from exams and coursework, we could go away for a couple of days.”
“Like where?” Going away sounded like heaven. The only going away she ever did was to go back home, and that wasn’t the most relaxing of places.
“The Hamptons. We’ve got a place there. I love it. It’s private, but relaxing. I can’t think of any place nicer where we can be alone.”
Sweet.
So sweet.
