Page 18 of Unfinished

“Interesting.” She nodded thoughtfully.

“If your dad had my family’s money, what would you do?”

“Exactly what I’m planning on doing. Except I’d convince my dad to buy me a brownstone in NYC. I love the look of them.” Hannah smiled dreamily, and it made me smile too. I briefly imagined walking into a brownstone house with her, eating dinners, watching TV, and living an easy life together.

Scanning over the crowd, my eyebrows pinched upon seeing a familiar figure. Derek was standing off to the side with a couple of people talking and it irritated me that he was at this party too. I had a really bad feeling about that guy and hated that he was anywhere near Hannah, though I had no reason to believe he’d do anything to her.

“Let’s walk.” I stood and grabbed her hand, pulling her up and then continuing to hold her hand as we walked along the water.

“Fine, you’re good at ‘wooing,’ but I have to know what you are hoping to get out of this?” She asked the question I’d been mulling over since the moment we first met.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not looking for a summer fling.”

“I wouldn’t want just a summer fling with you,” I said and she tilted her head, so I clarified, “You are not a summer fling type of woman, you are a hold on tight and see where this takes you type of woman. Letting go of you would be the stupidest thing any man can do.”

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“You are fiercely independent. Not easily convinced of anything. You have no problem speaking your mind. Plus, you eat tacos like you may never get to eat them again.”

“Listen, Pittsburgh doesn’t have a lot of great taco places, so when I’m here I have to devour as many as I can.” She laughed and then continued, “So, you’re saying I’m difficult and that means I’m not a summer fling type of woman?”

“No, you aren’t difficult, you are far from difficult. There is no guessing game with you, everyone knows where they stand with you right from the start.”

“You still didn’t really answer my question, what are you hoping to get out of this?”

“I don’t have any expectations. Like I said, I want to hold you tight and see where this goes.”

We stopped walking when we could barely make out the fire and the party down in the cove. The only light we had was the moon shining down on us. Hannah seemed to glow under that light and when I looked down at her she looked up at me with a soft smile.

She seemed to have built a wall around her, like she was trying to protect herself from falling for the wrong person. I wanted to break down that wall and entrench myself in her. I wanted to pick through her mind and find out everything that made her tick.

“I don’t honestly know what is going on here, but I can feel that there is something here that I’ve never felt before and I’m craving it. You are something I didn’t know I needed and now that I’ve had a taste, I want all of it,” I stated and her eyes widened.

“You are arrogant, persistent, and a borderline stalker. Why should I give you a chance?”

“Not arrogant, confident. Persistence means I don’t give up easily, so I’m willing to go through the hard stuff. Borderline stalker, or eager to spend as much time with you as I can knowing we have this summer to prepare for whatever comes after it?”

Hannah laughed and it was a beautiful sound that I wanted to hear every single day. Was I already falling for her? Did she feel the electricity between us? Did she feel how strong this connection was?

I bent down and pressed my lips to hers. Hannah didn’t pull away, instead she wrapped her arms around my neck as her breathing grew heavier. I gripped her thighs and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist. With one hand spread across her back and the other gripping her ass, I held her to me.

I ran my tongue over hers and she pulled herself closer to press against me while running her fingers through my hair. Electricity ran between us and I needed to see if she felt it too. Breaking the kiss, I watched for her immediate reaction. She looked at me with hooded eyes. I grinned, knowing she was feeling this spark between us too.

“I know you feel that too and you want to hide from it because, like me, you don’t know what it means. I’m not going to tell you not to protect yourself or your heart, but don’t ever ignore what is between us or make me feel like nothing is there when we both feel there is,” I asserted and her eyes softened. I put her down on her feet but kept my hands on her hips.

“Fine, I won’t ignore it and I won’t try to tell you it’s not there. But, I’m not going to fall into some sort of insta-love. This gets taken slow. We take this one day at a time.” She looked up at me sternly but a corner of my mouth tipped up.

“We can take this slow.” I nodded my agreement. She may not want an insta-love, but I was already feeling something close to that.

Chapter 7

Hannah

Liam went home after the party at the beach after I told him he wasn’t spending the night. I was tempted to let him stick around, especially after that kiss, but I needed to take this slow.

I was hesitant to fully trust Liam completely until his true nature was revealed. Was he a wolf in sheep's clothing? According to Ashley, who gathered information about him from the local gossips, he was a kind person but reserved and introverted, which gave off an impression of arrogance.

---