Page 72 of Playing with Fire

Just like now. As we moved along town streets toward the restaurant Sabrina discovered each man who passed by turned back to look at her again and again. She's completely clueless about everything going on.

Her ability to capture so much attention surprises me. She believes she understands how many guys approach her but barely half of the men who look at her try to talk to her.

The majority attempt to avoid my intense stare but other men defy me and approach her.

Those guys deserve credit for talking to her yet they are complete jerks. I understood Alec was in trouble when she lost all ability to look away from him.

He spoke horribly during the locker room discussion, yet I couldn't bring myself to say anything to her. She never bothered to spend time listening to what I had to say.

I have resumed my usual behavior which involves shooting daggers at the man. Many people don't pay attention to me while some people bow down to apologize. Idiots.

The moment when I noticed all these things remains a mystery to me and I am also unsure about when I started feeling concerned.

The bet requires us to work together and so I need her focus to stay on me instead of the clueless people who walk by her.

I decided to sit next to her tonight because that was exactly why I needed to do so. She shot me a glare, but I remained seated as if I hadn't noticed. The entire crowd of people engaged in conversation while we maintained complete silence.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet.

I moved my foot in a circular motion around her ankle to pull her closer to me. The distance between our seats made private conversation impossible because others could hear us.

Despite her kicking my foot away while trying to resist me I returned each time.

They fought silently until finally she moved close enough to whisper. Do you really want to move forward with this? I asked.

Her lips released a tiny chuckle. The lips that came close to kissing me just one hour earlier. I realized my mistake because I made the move. Her victorious smile widened as she pulledaway from me. I deserve this shame because I want to kiss her again. That night's visions continued to deteriorate as the day progressed.

The visions became so clear that I couldn't possibly ignore them. I can't tell if my brain is improving how I feel but discovering that required taking the obvious step. To kiss her again.

My encounter with her at the house demonstrated that I needed to improve my performance for future opportunities.

"Never been surer in my life." While maintaining eye contact, she taunts me directly.

The grin crosses my face before we both fall into silence once more and I realize she's been maintaining eye contact with me more frequently. I don't understand why things change quickly but it doesn't bother me.

I take a final glance at her before placing my ankle back over hers.

Game on Em.

"Sunscreen."

"Check."

"Chairs."

"Check."

"No fucks to give."

"Obviously." I sang while leading the two women out of the door. As we walked along the street, we talked about all our possible activities for the day.

Tanning made sense as an option because there were no parties to attend. Should our current plans grow dull we'd find activities within town to occupy us. Whatever—whatever

We strolled along the road at 9 am which ran between colourful beach houses along the coast. The view of the sandy hill we had to climb filled me with complete bliss as we made our way to the beach.

My feet, feeling the fine sand crystals brought a smile onto my face. This spot feels exactly where I need to be.

From sundown to sunup.

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