Page 40 of Matched

“Do you want to get some now?” Sophie’s hand moved from my shoulder back to my waist.

My gaze caught on someone else’s. Someone standing at the edge of the dance floor. Alone. Deep brown eyes beneath furrowed brows were fixed on me, glittering with something that looked a whole lot like anger, based on the set of his jaw and the way his fists were clenched at his sides.

I gasped. My head started spinning, and I couldn’t catch my breath. What was happening to me?

“I—I’ll be back,” I said, or maybe I just thought it. It was like I was in a daze as I tore myself away from Sophie and my friends, pushing through the crowds to get to Nate.

When I reached him, his hand shot out, his fingers clamping around my wrist in a tight, punishing grip. He said nothing to me, and I lost the power of speech yet again as I let him drag me away towards the corridor that led to the toilets. Shoving the door open with his shoulder, he paid no attention to the other people at the urinals and sinks as he pulled me towards the row of stalls. We reached the furthest one, and he let go of my wrist, only to place his hands on my chest and push me inside.

The door slammed shut somewhere behind us as he pressed me up against the wall, a metallic clink dimly registering in my brain. The lock. We were locked in this stall. Together. And Nate’s whole body was pressed up against mine, torso to torso, his harsh, fast breaths skittering across my throat as he lowered his head.

“Nate—”

“Shutup,” he snarled, and the venom in his voice had me recoiling because Nate Glover didnotsound like that. Ever. Not in my experience, at least. He pressed against me even harder,the flimsy stall wall creaking behind my back as it took the weight of both of our bodies. “Shut. Up. Fucking. Fuck—you—fuck!”

I swallowed hard.I couldn’t even think. I could barely breathe through the intensity.

Nate.

He was lighting up all my nerve endings, setting me on fire, making my entire body respond to him like no one else ever had before.

“Fuck,” I whispered, my head falling back against the wall. Nate followed me, his mouth going to my throat.

His mouth. My throat.

I stilled.

His body tensed, and then he exhaled against my skin, so slowly, like a soft breeze. “Charlie,” he murmured, and then his lips were brushing over my pulse point.

“Nate! What the fuck?”

His head shot up, and he tore himself away from me, his pupils so wide and so dark. His chest was rising and falling as he panted, his fists clenching at his sides.

“Fuck. Do you even fucking know?” he ground out, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Kn-know what?”

“How it feels. To be jealous of your own fuckingsister.Do you know how fucked up that is, Charlie?”

I reeled back, jerking my body away from his. He’d never raised his voice to me before. Never been angry with me.

Words flew from my mouth, words I hadn’t even known were inside me until I spoke them aloud. “Yeah? You feel jealous? What about me? When she kissed me, I felt guilty for days! Because ofyou!”

My final words were shouted into the space between us. A space that suddenly felt impenetrable.

Nate’s eyes widened even further, his jaw dropping open. I swore under my breath, spinning away from him and resting my forehead against the door. I was vaguely aware of the cool, laminated wood, but my harsh breaths and pounding heart filled my senses. It took me a few seconds to even realise that I’d been pulled back around, and a hand was tightly gripping my jaw.

“Charlie.”

“Nate.”

I arched towards him at the same time as his mouth came down on mine.

15

Charlie’s hand wrapped around my nape, drawing me impossibly closer, his thigh slotting between mine. I was so fucking hard, and so was he. Even if he denied it, I could feel the evidence against my leg.

Our mouths connected again and again, kissing harder and deeper until his tongue was sliding against mine, and I couldn’t think of anything but him.

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