Page 14 of SKIN

By the time we made it back to my car, I had Emily squirming in her seat. She was doing her best to hide it. To pretend she didn’t want me. And maybe she would have been successful if I hadn’t studied her mannerisms. If I didn’t know everything there was to know about Emily Shaw.

“You missed the turn…”

“I’m taking you back to my place.” I kept my eyes straight ahead while catching Emily’s glare in my peripheral.

“No, you’re not.”

The fire was new. I hadn’t noticed it before. It was the wounded girl I’d analyzed, not the brat.

“I don’t argue facts.” It wasn’t the right thing to say. But my mask was slipping the more my blood rushed to my cock. Her mouthiness shouldn’t have been such a turn-on. It usually wasn’t. Like I said, I enjoyed all the broken parts of her. I was attracted to them. At the same time, the thought of her fighting me had me nearly feral.

“Neither do I. And the fact is, while I appreciated dinner, that doesn’t give you an open invitation to get into my pants.”

“Are you a virgin, Emily?” I knew she wasn’t. I’d done my homework.

“What? No!”

“Okay, then what’s the problem?” My eyes flicked from the road to her dropped jaw and back again.

“Your entitlement, apparently.”

I shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. I was entitled. To a certain life. To enjoy myself. To everything that body of hers had to offer me. I kept that bit to myself though. Slammed on the brakes and made a U-turn in the middle of the road.

“Where are you going?” Her voice was much more timid all of a sudden.

“I thought you wanted me to take you home? Or have you changed your mind again, Emily?”

“No…”

“No, you haven’t changed your mind? Or, no, you don’t want to go home?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Well, you better figure it out before morning, babe. Wouldn’t want you to miss class…”

“How do you know I have class in the morning?”

Oops, I was slipping again.

“Good guess. You look like a morning person.”

She wasn’t. Emily despised mornings. She could barely function before her second cup of instant coffee. A splash of milk and a packet of sugar—whenever she had it on hand. Otherwise she’d drink it straight black while scrunching up her nose in that way she did.

She was watching me. Studying my profile while I remained impassive. She didn’t need to know how much I wanted her right now. That would give her the upper hand. And truth was, I would have her either way… eventually.

“I’m not, you know.”

“Not what, Emily?”

“A morning person.”

“Hm, guess I was wrong.” I was never wrong.

Five minutes later, we were pulling up to her dorm. I slid out of my seat. Walked around the hood of my car and opened her door. She took my hand tentatively, almost as if she were afraid to touch me. She should be. Because her body betrayed her. Her breaths quickening and her chest heaving. It was sheer stubbornness that kept her legs closed. That and the slight friction it offered her with each step she took towards the door that was meant to separate us.

I punched in the code to her dorm, without giving her the chance to question me as I lowered my head and tugged her forward. Her lips parted on an almost silent moan before I slipped my tongue inside her mouth and finally kissed her.For the first time. And realized it would never be enough.

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