I wondered if she was a virgin, and my neck broke out in a sweat at the thought of anyone else kissing her like this.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” I whispered against her mouth. “All the times I’d see you next door…it drove me crazy.”

She opened her mouth wider and dove in for more. Yeah, we weren’t leaving here for a while.

I wasn’t about to make love to Tate for the first time on a lab table—not that she’d let me—but I wasn’t letting go of her yet, either.

Unfortunately, she had other ideas.

“Don’t…” She ripped away from my lips and pulled back.

What? No.

I opened my eyes, breathing hard and suddenly very empty.

I searched every inch of her face, wondering why the hell she’d made me stop. Her mouth had been molded to mine, totally kissing me back.

She’d wanted that.

But not now. Her blue eyes narrowed angrily, and she looked like she had on invisible armor. Her body wanted it, but she didn’t.

She didn’t.

So I backed off. “Then I won’t,” I replied coldly.

She stared at me, looking a million miles away. “What are you up to?” “I want us to be friends.” I let out a bitter laugh.

“Why now?”

Jesus.

“Why so many questions?” I retorted.

“You didn’t think it was going to be this easy, did you?”

“Yes,” I lied. “I was hoping we could move forward without looking back.” I knew it was too much to expect, but I let myself hope that Tate would see the bigger picture.

That with all of the anger and damage, with all the distance and misunderstanding, we still fit.

“We can’t,” she shot back. “You go from threatening me one day to kissing me the next. I don’t switch gears that fast.”

Me?

“Kissing you? You kissed me back… both times,” I pointed out. “And now you’re off to the school dance with Madoc. You might say I’m the one with whiplash here.”

She blinked, and her face faltered for a moment. “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she replied pathetically.

“You shouldn’t go.”

“I want to. And he asked me.” She returned to her work, signaling the end of the discussion.

No fucking way.

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 520