Page 61 of Stick With Me
“Well, Volk thought you’d stay Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected, even with King over here trying to steal your girl. But even you have your limits.” Fox looks smug as he leans back in his chair.
“Why don’t you take your winnings and get us a round, moneybags,” I quip, but he waves my request off.
“Didn’t you hear, King? They’re dating,” Fox announces.
Oh, sure, now he tells him. I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak without making a fool of myself… again.
I’m still not sure if telling Fox and Volk about our fake dating was a smart move. I haven’t exactly filled Hannah in on that little detail, and the look she shoots me says,How do we play this?
Beats me,my returning gaze says.
I’ve never had an actual girlfriend, let alone a fake one. Are we pretending just for social media? Who are we really trying to convince in real life? It’s not like Knolls is here to witness us together. For the first time, I almost wish he were. At least then, I’d have an excuse to touch Hannah the way I’ve been dying to.
Practice, my brain reminds me.
Fox continues to eye us, almost as if he’s egging me on, daring me to prove his statement true.
I lean in, closing the small gap between us, and speak into her ear. “Want to practice?”
She shivers in my arms—I can’t seem to let her go. When she looks back, her eyes hold mine as she nods. My gaze drops to her mouth as she licks her lips. Her cheeks flush, and the moment between us lingers.
A wave of desire rushes through me, and I suppress a full-body shudder.Stop hesitating.
“If it wasn’t clear, I’m going to kiss you,” I whisper, pulling back enough to gauge her reaction. “Unless you tell me not to.”
Her head is still turned toward me, lips only inches away. Her shallow pants of breath are the only response I get. Taking that as my answer, I close the distance, pressing my lips to hers.
My intention is for it to be a chaste kiss. I don’t want to share this moment with an audience, which is ironic since that’s the point of this whole thing. But when Hannah gently bites my bottom lip, all my plans go out the window.
My dick strains painfully against the fly of my pants. She turns her body toward me, and I pull her impossibly closer as she grips my jacket tightly in her fists, just as desperate as I am. I’m so lost in her that I forget about our surroundings, until the sound of someone clearing their throat snaps me back to reality.
I pull back. Fox’s hoots and hollers filter in, along with Volk telling us to get a room. When I look over at my friends, they have shit-eating grins, except for King who’s trying to look anywhere but in our direction.
When my gaze returns to Hannah, we’re still so close that our noses touch. I speak against her mouth when I ask, “Want to get out of here?”
Her lips brush mine as she nods.
TWENTY-FIVE
The kiss wasnota fluke.
So much so that we’ve both been in a dazed silence since leaving the bar to head home.
I’m hyper-aware of the small point of contact where Ryan’s hand rests on my lower back, guiding me into the house. When he breaks away toward the kitchen, I feel the loss of his touch.
I head to the living room and sink into the deep cushions with a long exhale, hoping to release the tension I can’t shake. Without the audience and the guise of practicing, I think we’re both at a loss for how to navigate this. I know what I want, but I’m so far out of my comfort zone that I’m frozen, battling the voice in my head telling me this is a bad idea.
Unlike after our kiss in Florida, I want to keep kissing him. Okay, I wanted to keep kissing him then, too, but I was more steadfast in my conviction that Icouldn’t. Tonight, though, taking a risk doesn’t hold quite as much fear.
But with Freddie as our only witness, I’m not sure how to make that happen. I scratch his fluffy head until he gets tired of the attention and curls up in his favorite corner of the sofa.
Ryan steps into the room and hands me a cold bottle of water, but it does nothing to cool the heat coursing through me.
“Want to watch something?” I blurt, still buzzing with energy and not ready for the night to end.
He nods, surveying the couch with much more concentration than is needed to pick a seat. He finally eases down, his movements overly controlled, into the cushion next to mine. His back is unnaturally straight, and the apprehension radiating off him is palpable, filling the small space between us. Is he battling the same internal war as me? The thought that maybe he didn’t like the kiss flits through my mind, but I quickly dismiss it.
It was a great kiss. Perfect, even. The chemistry between us is undeniable, not even his tendency to overthink could convince him otherwise. We fit together like pieces of a puzzle, like we’ve been kissing each other all our lives. His lips applied just the right amount of pressure, firm yet gentle. His tongue moved with purpose, each stroke sending an electric zing straight to my… I shake my head, trying to clear the direction of my thoughts.
