Page 39 of Challenge
“I’m not the one who started,” I murmur.
He swallows and presses his forehead against mine, further separating our mouths. “You’re always the one to kick it up a notch, though.”
My eyes widen. “That seems unlikely. Who’s the virgin here?” I ask, laying it all out there in my lust-induced state.
He laughs and pulls his head away from mine, glaring at me through his lash-framed eyes. “It’s the innocent ones that are the most dangerous.” His jaw muscle ticks as he appears to be pondering something while tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Maybe you should blow off your friend tonight after all.”
His caress on my face is so sweet that I almost forget he’s a slutty footballer. Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “I really can’t. Belle is my best mate. We have to go dancing at Club Taint for our Tequila Sunrise tradition.”
He moves out from between my legs and crosses his arms over his chest. “This sounds interesting.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just can’t bail on her. It’s her night, too.”
“Which is…?” He waits for me to fill in the blank, and I can tell by his expression that he’s not going to let this go.
Exhaling, I try to come up with a way to funnel this philosophy down as much as possible. “It’s our thing. Our jobs at the hospital are anything but typical. My drama at work isn’t someone eating my labeled yogurt out of the company refrigerator. It’s the fact that I’ve had to call the time of death on three patients and I’m only twenty-four-years-old.”
His face falls at the sharp turn this conversation has taken.
“I don’t mean to be a downer, but we see death or immense sadness every single week. A terminal diagnosis, telling a wife she lost her husband, a kid in a horrible car accident. The entire gamut of emotions all happen inside that hospital. So outside, we make it count. We have fun. We act our ages.”
“Tequila Sunrise,” he finishes.
I shrug. “Tequila Sunrise.”
A look of respect is evident on his face. “So…tomorrow then?”
I nod my approval, a flurry of excitement and possibility overcoming my insides. He’ll be my most exciting adventure so far.
His smile suddenly falls. “But you’re sure you don’t want something more, right? I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I’m someone I’m not, because I don’t do girlfriends. I do casual and safe. But never girlfriends…Except for a girl in fourth grade who kicked me in the balls and told me she’d do it again if I didn’t agree to be her boyfriend.”
“Oh my God, is that true?” I ask, poorly concealing a laugh, which makes him laugh, too.
“Yes. I cried real tears and was so afraid of her that we stayed together for a whole year. Eventually I convinced myself that the pain couldn’t have been that bad, so I broke it off with her. But I did it in the car with her mum there just to be safe.”
I laugh so hard my side hurts. I’m not sure if it’s the story that’s so funny or the tiny bit of horror I can still see in his eyes as he retells it. “That’s awful.”
“It was. Ruined me forever I’m afraid.”
“Well, you’re safe with me,” I add after my fit has subsided and I can breathe again. I slide off the counter, using his shoulder for balance. Patting him in a matey way, I assure him, “I have a plan all worked out and latching myself on to you isn’t a part of that. This is a one-night thing. I promise. My adventures in life have only just begun, Cam.”
He loses a little brightness in his eyes and looks down.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Nothing.” He looks toward the door. “Right.” He purses his lips and leans in, dropping a kiss on my cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Then he leaves without a look back.
My Penis List is finally going to start.
Tequila Sunrise, baby.
“SO YOU’RE SURE YOUwant it to be that Harris footballer? Not one of those blokes over there?” Belle asks, gesturing across the sea of people grinding against each other and waving flirtatiously toward the guys we just left.
“Yes I’m sure,” I almost growl, but hold back. We’ve been dancing with the same two guys since we arrived at Club Taint. They are cute and nice, and I’m trying to be fun because this is Belle’s night off, too, but all I have is Camden Harris on my mind. The more I moved my body, the more I thought about his pressed up against mine back at my flat.God, I bet he would be an incredible dancer.Before I knew it, I was feeling flush everywhere and didn’t want the guy I was with to get the wrong idea, so I told Belle I needed to cool off.
More like hose off.
“You look hot enough, you could get pretty much any guy here,” Belle adds. “Even the gay ones.”
