Page 19 of Unwrapped

“I was going to say show up to a party like this, in that dress.” I nod toward her tits. “Not to mention that snarky little attitude you’ve developed.”

She follows my gaze, then meets my eyes again with a smile that’s half-amused, half-challenging. “To be fair, I’ve always had the attitude; you just never had the pleasure of experiencing it.”

“Is that so?” I shake my head, the tension between us growing so thick my cock is begging for attention. “Damn shame on my part.”

“The tits are new, though; they grew in during college.”

“Fuck me.” I laugh, dragging my hand down my face, hers glowing red. “I take it back; you are absolutely able to hold your own at this party.”

“Honestly, though? I’m not that comfortable with all of this. But I’ve learned that pretending to be confident sometimes works just as well as actually being confident. Fake it till you make it or whatever.”

“You fake it, huh?” I shake my head, clicking my tongue. “I never would’ve guessed.” She tilts her head, giving me this look like she’s assessing whether that was an innuendo or not. “And yes,” I continue, deciding to leap past any and all professional boundaries I was second-guessing a moment ago. “I meant that exactly as you’re thinking I meant it.”

She looks at me for a few more seconds, that flush from her cheeks reaching down to her neck. I watch her throat constrict as she swallows and I want to reach out and wrap my fingers around it. She’s contemplating on taking the bait, on taking it further.

“It’s all an illusion. Smoke and mirrors. Or in this case, a little black dress.”

“You know, I like this side of you, Ivy. It’s… exciting.”

She raises an eyebrow, that playful spark still in her eyes. “Of course you do, it’s designed to excite you. Biology.”

“Mmm, God, I love nerdy talk then because biology has me very,veryexcited.” I laugh.

“Trust me, if I started in with the hardcore nerdy talk you’d be gone before I could say thermonuclear dynamics.”

I smirk, leaning in just a fraction. “Well, you do have a way of charging up my ions.”

“A cation.”

“A what?”

“That’s an ion with a positive charge, a cation.” She flushes, and it’s hard not to feel a thrill at the way her cheeks go pink, but the real thrill is hearing her laughter fill the space around us. “And what about you, Asher? You’re not exactly what I expected either.”

That catches me off guard, and I can’t help but tilt my head, intrigued. “Oh yeah? How so?”

“I thought you’d be—” She pauses, and I watch her search for the right words. “I don’t know, more… full of yourself.”

I wince dramatically, but I keep the grin on my face. “Ouch. I’m not sure if I should be offended or flattered you felt you could be honest with me.”

“Maybe a little of both?” she teases, and there’s something in her smile that makes me want to keep this conversation going, to dig a little deeper. “I just didn’t expect you to be… real, I guess. You were always so put together in high school, like you had everything figured out. And obviously, you and Zane have done some pretty incredible things in the ten years since we graduated.”

I shrug, feeling a touch of something I rarely let show when it comes to my personal life—honesty. “Turns out, I’m realizing that most of that was just an act. It wasn’t that I didn’t like playing football or being involved in everything, I just never gave it a second thought. The pressure was there and I just fell into the trap of living up to it. Guess we’ve both been faking it, huh?”

“Maybe.” She leans back against the wall beside me, and the warmth from the Christmas lights dances across her face, making her look even softer, even more… tempting. I try not to get too lost in the way she looks right now, like she’s someone I could spend hours talking to and never get bored. The reality is, we don’t know each other anymore and never really did. She’s a reminder of home, of that small-town life when things felt so much easier.

There’s a pause between us, just the faint hum of the party and the soft glow from the tree filling the space. For the first time tonight, I’m not thinking about all the people I need to impress or the business associates I’m supposed to schmooze. I’m thinking about Ivy and the way she’s looking at me, like she’s waiting for something.

“You know,” I say, almost without realizing it, “I always wondered what you were reading back then. When you sat in the bleachers during football practice. You looked so… focused.”

She blinks, and for a moment, she looks surprised—maybe even a little shy. “You remember that?” she asks, her voice softer, almost like she can’t believe I paid attention.

I nod, my eyes not leaving hers. “Yeah, I remember. I used to think you were reading something profound—like Tolstoy or Nietzsche. Something serious and poetic.”

She laughs, and the sound is light, almost like music. “Oh God, no. It was definitely not Tolstoy. It was probably some mystery novel or maybe… fantasy. With dragons and sword fights.”

I can’t help but feel delighted. I didn’t expect that answer, but it fits her in a way I didn’t realize until now. “Fantasy, huh? Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

She crosses her arms, but there’s a hint of a smirk on her lips. “What can I say? I’ve always liked stories where the secretly fierce heroine wins in the end.”

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