Aiden
I really wish I could say I feel guilty about kissing Leila. My stomach should be churning, riddled with guilt. I should pull away and tell her I can’t do this. It should feel wrong, bad. But the last thing I feel is guilt.
It’s hard to feel bad when her pink, plump lips meet mine in a soft kiss. The way she allows my mouth to move over hers, so in sync, letting our lips get tangled as she returns the kiss. Holy fuck. I bite back a moan when her tongue swipes over my lip, sliding in my mouth.
My hands press deeper into the floor, leaning into her, tempted to pull her flush to me. I want to feel the way her breath gets caught in her lungs; I want to slip my hands into her hair and feel her body close to mine. I want to slide my tongue inside her mouth and taste her. I want to deepen this kiss, but before I can do any of that, I feel her pull away from me.
“Wha—”
I open my eyes, suddenly reminded of the circle of people surrounding us that just watched that kiss. I was so lost in the moment I completely forgot we had an audience.
My fingers reach up, grazing against my lips, still feeling her on them, still tasting her. Shit. That was a good kiss.
“Well.” Grayson clears his throat. “That was something.”
“I’ve had better,” Leila replies, her eyes on the ground.
I’ve had better?
I let out a bitter laugh, running my tongue over my bottom lip. “That’s bullshit.”
Her head snaps up, red coating her face. There’s no way she didn’t like it. I know she felt as affected as I did by that kiss.
She shrugs. “You’re a bad kisser, Aiden. Hate to break it to you.”
Whispers fill the room as I process what she’s telling me. “I’m a bad kisser?” I ask her in disbelief. “Never had any complaints before.”
She rolls her eyes at me. Fuck, why do I find that so sexy? “That’s because they just wanted to hook up with the captain of the basketball team. A bunch of yes men telling you what you want to hear. I’m not one of them.”
Yeah, I can see that.
This is going to be so much harder than I thought.
She turns her head to face her friend. “You owe me,” she says, her friend snickering when Leila stands. “I need a drink.” She doesn’t even acknowledge me when she walks out of the room.
My mind is spinning. Who sent me that text? What do they want from me? I look around the room, but no one is looking at me, too invested in the game still going on. Fuck this. I lift myself off the ground, stepping closer to the door.
“You okay, man?” Jordan asks, landing a hand on my shoulder.
I nod. “Yeah, I’m good. Just thirsty.” I push the door open, leaving the crowded room and heading to the kitchen.
“Pierce.” A guy I’ve never seen before claps my shoulder. “Tough luck, man,” he says
“Uh, yeah, thanks.” My face falls at his disappointment. One game. I lose one game and everything changes.
I squeeze past the people dancing in the kitchen, trying to find a flash of green. That tight green corset top she’s wearing has engrained itself in my mind. But I don’t see it anywhere. I don’t see her long brown hair flowing behind her back; I don’t see those black denim jeans clung to every dip and curve in her body. I don’t fucking see her.
Where did she go? Did she leave?
“Hey.” I feel a soft hand run down my arm and turn my head. A blonde girl I’m pretty sure was in Jordan’s bed last week, shoots me a smile. “Aiden, right? I’m Valerie. I’m in the Kappa Gamma house on Greek row,” she says like that’s any sort of relevance to me. Her hand leaves my arm and pulls out a piece of paper from her jean pocket, holding it out to me. “You should call me sometime.”
I take the piece of paper from her, scanning it when she leaves my side. My eyebrows lift at what she wrote beside her phone number. 34D. No name, just her bra size. I shake my head, crumple it up and stuff it in my jeans.
My head lifts, trying to see where the hell Leila went. She’s not down here. Is she upstairs? I grip the railing, climbing up the stairs until I see a flash of green against a wall. Can’t see much of her, though; another guy’s body is in the way.
I cross my arms, leaning against the wall while listening to her laugh. It’s not the laugh I’ve heard before, though; it’s strained and tense, almost uncomfortable.
“You know I can make it worth your time.” My eyebrows lift, wondering what Leila will say. Does she like this guy?
“The first time was more than enough.” So she’s slept with mystery dude before. Interesting. “Just let it go.” Her hand presses against his chest, pushing him back.
“C’mon,” he growls, stepping closer to her. “It was good, right?”
“You know,” I start, approaching them. The guy turns his head around, eyes widening when he sees me there. “When a girl pushes you off her, it usually means she isn’t interested.”
“Oh shit, Pierce,” the guy says, letting out a strained laugh. “Tough game last week, huh?”
My brows furrow. “What were you two talking about?”
He laughs. “Crazy thing. I forgot where your bathroom was. I was just asking this girl here.” What a load of bullshit.
I hear Leila scoff and look up to see her roll her eyes at him. I don’t bother acknowledging him when I take a step closer to her, noting how she swallows when I get close to her.
I cock my head. “You okay?” I ask her.
“She’s fine. I really was just lost.”
“There’s a bathroom downstairs,” I cut him off. “Go.”
I don’t even bother turning around to check; the way her shoulders sag in relief tells me he’s long gone.
“What was that about?”
Her eyes meet mine in defiance. “He wanted to know where the bathroom was.”
I find it amusing how she’s relentless in going against everything I say. “Please,” I scoff. “We both know that was bullshit.”
“You really think you can do whatever you want, don’t you?” she asks me, her eyes burning with that fire I’m used to seeing from her. “You just tell people to leave and expect them to listen.”
I shrug, leaning into her. “It worked, didn’t it?”
She nods. “You’re right,” she says before shaking her head. “But it won’t work with me. I don’t see what the appeal is. You’re all the same.”
“And who do you want me to be?” She doesn’t answer, though. Her head turns to the side, away from me. I trace her face with my eyes and see she’s biting down on her bottom lip. “Why did you leave?”
She looks back at me, her throat bobbing as she swallows. Her mouth parts as a shaky breath escapes her, which makes my eyes dip down to her lips again, and she instinctively licks them. “Are you thinking about that kiss?” I ask her.
“You mean how bad it was?” she retorts. “Yeah, can’t forget it.”
I laugh; it’s impossible not to. “Cut the shit. The way you slipped your tongue in my mouth says the opposite.”
Her face heats as the words slip out of my mouth. She clamps her mouth shut, knowing I’m right. She liked it. She fucking liked the kiss we shared.
I wonder if it had gone on for longer if she would have grabbed my face, moaned into my mouth, sucked on my bottom lip. Fuck, I’m getting off track.
“Can I get your number?” I ask.
Her face contorts with laughter. “Why would I do that?”
I reach up, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “So I can see you again.”
She shakes her head, looking down at the ground between us. “Sorry, I’m not interested.” She’s such a liar, can’t even look me in the face when she says that. The way she kissed me tells me she’s very much interested.
I take a step back from her. “You know, this playing hard-to-get thing you’ve got going on isn’t cute anymore.”
She looks up, narrowing her eyes at me as she crosses her arms, making her cleavage pop up through that bright green corset top clinging to her body. God. “Then stop playing,” she replies.
I lift an eyebrow. “So you admit it, you are playing with me.”
She sighs, turning her head to the side. “I didn’t say that.”
“So you’ll give me your number?”
Her head turns back to me, brows furrowed once again. “I didn’t say that either.”
“Alright,” I relent, laughing. “Then what are you saying?”
Her eyes lift. “I’m saying if you really want something, then maybe you have to chase it a bit.” She drops her arms and pushes past me, and I let her. Watching as she walks away from me, I press my fist to my mouth to stifle my laugh.
She wants my attention?
She’s fucking got it.
