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Chapter 16
Teagan
My plan to hit the gym after school seemed like the perfect stress reliever – until I realized I wasn’t the only one with the idea.
"We need to talk, Thorn." A deep, husky voice hissed from behind me and I momentarily tensed before running through the foyer of the Henderson Hotel in the direction of the elevators. The gym was underground so that was where I was going, if he would just disappear…
The elevator doors opened and I rushed inside only to pale when he followed me.
The doors closed and I was trapped.
Trapped with a guy whose car I destroyed with paint. A guy who riled me up more than anyone else on the planet. A boy who looked entirely too tempting in sweats. A boy who'd seen me naked.
I swallowed deeply.
Oh shit…
"If I didn’t know any better I'd swear you were trying to avoid me," Noah said dryly as he dropped his gym bag on the floor and folded his arms across his chest. "What are you doing here, Thorn?"
"What do you think I'm doing here, Noah? I'm here to work out…oh, but don’t worry, I'm here for more than just thereleaseof punching the crap out of things," I sneered as I purposefully avoided looking at the way his t-shirt was glued to his chest, or the way his black tattoos looked fucking fabulous against his tanned skin.
"What the hell is that?" Noah demanded, pointing his finger accusingly at my chest.
"It's called asportsbra," I spat. "You should learn the word. It's what people do for fun…they take up asport."
"You're not gonna get over that anytime soon, are you?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
"The fact that you beat people up for money?" I shot back sarcastically. "No…I'm afraid not."
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hit him or throw myself at him and the memory of him kissing me did little to calm my frazzled nerves. I needed to keep my guard up with this one. I knew that, now all I had to do was make my body understand.
"So this is the way it's gonna be between us?" he asked in a level tone. "Ugly?"
"Looks like it," I shot back.
"Fine." Reaching over Noah pulled the strap of my sports bra before letting it snap back against my skin. "So are you working out or goingworking?"
"You know what, screw this." I was either going to scream or cry with temper. Suspecting the latter I made a decision. I shoved past Noah and slammed my hand on the keypad. "Keep your bloody gym. I'm out."
"Stop pressing it," Noah snapped. "It's already moving. Teagan, stop, you're going to jam us…"
"No," I roared, pressing all the buttons just to piss him off. "I won't stop.Youstop – stop telling me what to do. I want out of here, Noah. Now."
"Teagan," Noah warned as he moved towards me and tried to shoo my hand away from the keypad. "You're going to break it."
The words weren’t out of Noah's mouth when the lift suddenly jolted, causing me to press up against him.
A few seconds later everything went dark and I didn’t need a jolt to press against Noah; I practically climbed up his body.
"You just don't listen to a damn thing anyone says," he snarled, wrapping his arm around my waist. "I goddamn told you not to press them all at once."
"Oh shut the hell up, Noah," I hissed, wrapping myself around him like ivy, squeezing his neck for dear life. "This is your fault."
"Myfault?" he demanded in outrage as he clamped his hands on my thighs – which were currently wrapped around his waist – and held me tighter. "Please tell me how you came tothatconclusion when you're the one who went nuclear on the goddamn keypad?"
"You touched my bra," I snapped, flustered.