Page 21 of Love Collided

He smiled down at me, making me lose track of what he was saying, his dark hair and eyes only inches from me, and I couldn’t figure out how he smelled so good. It should only be chlorine, but somehow it was still that clean musky scent that made me get a little too lost to the world around me. I was a little to lost to it all until he grabbed my chin, gently turning me around.

I looked out over the pool, the lights from it shining enough to see Jesse on the other side. Chase was right. Jesse wasn’t hiding how much he was staring at a girl in a small bikini, her big boobs nearly spilling out. Not only was he staring at her boobs, but he seemed more engrossed in their conversation than he had with me in months.

It made me mad the first thing I did was look down, noticing how small mine were in comparison. It’s not like it was the first time I’ve seen Jesse noticing other women, but it was the first time someone else had called him out for it to my face. The fact that Chase was the one seeing how much my boyfriend liked other women made this so much worse.

“It’s not like I’m one to talk when I’m in here alone with you,” I said.

“Is being alone in a room with a man really crossing a line in your relationship?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I may have my issues with Jesse, but those are none of your business.”

“No,” he said, shrugging, as his lips curved into a devious smile. “But you seemed pretty high up on your fucking horse, so I thought I would help you down. Plus, I can’t figure out how the guy has you. If he wants to fuck around, why have a girlfriend like you?”

I couldn’t catch my breath. The way he made it sound like I was worth so much more made my chest tighten until it ached.

“Why do you think?”

He shrugged again. “I’m guessing it’s a ‘have his cake and eat it too’ type of situation, which leads me to one conclusion.”

“Which is?”

“I may be a wasteful jerk, but he’s one of those tried and true jerks. At least I don’t date a girl only to cheat on her.”

“He’s not cheating on me,” I said. The word ‘yet’ hung unspoken in the air between us. “And it doesn’t matter what, or who, he is. You’re a jerk who wasted money someone in this world needs.”

He rolled his eyes and leaned back towards me. “When I sober up, I’ll donate a hundred dollars in your honor to some food for kids’ organization.”

“Three hundred,” I said, making him stop and stalk back over to me.

“Excuse me?”

“Donate three hundred. One for my wasted one you burned, one for wasting my time, and one to convince me youmightbe a step above Jesse on the being a jerk scale.”

He stepped back, his jeans falling a little lower on his hips. “Fine, damn, I called it when I called you a downer. Bringing me down so far, I need to remember to wake up and donate money to some charity.”

“And send me proof. Maybe then I’ll keep helping you with your car.”

“You drive a very hard bargain, and you should be thankful I’m drunk enough not to fight back. As an almost-lawyer, it’s pretty much my nature to negotiate, but I’m giving you this one.”

“Good. That means you will leave me alone for the night. Go off and find another girl to bother.”

“It only means I would rather go get a beer than watch you go fawn and cry all over your boyfriend about how mean I am. Why would I need to find another girl when I already found one that issomuch fun?” He pulled on my braid, my head going back as his nose ran up my neck.

Heat and pleasure moved up my spine, my thighs clenching together.

“Pretty sure you’re crossing a line now,” I said, using every ounce of sternness I had in my tone.

His chest rumbled, and the heat of his breath on my neck made me shudder. “I like crossing lines. According to you, I like crossing lines before I’m supposed to. Isn’t that all this is?”

“No, this is you being a rich jerk, and thinking you can do whatever you want.”

“And yet, you’re not telling me to back up.”

The heat of him was conflicting with the slight chill from the window behind me, and it wasn’t doing anything to help convince me to tell him to back up. If anything, it was making me want to lean in and steal the warmth.

Finally, I caught my breath, my hands meeting hard stomach as I pushed him back.

“Okay then, back up.”

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