Page 64 of All I Ask
My fingers wrap around his neck, holding him close, not feeling an ounce of cold…it’s all fire.
He consumes me, burns me with each lick of his tongue, turning my bones to ash.
All too soon, he pulls back, his blue eyes filled with passion. The way he looks at me causes my stomach to clench.
I open my mouth to say something—anything. There have to be words to make me wake up from this dream. This is…reckless. Here on the streets of our hometown and half-drunk isn’t the way this should’ve happened.
His hand pushes against my cheek, cupping it so I have to see him. “Ask me.” I hear the words as a tear rolls down my cheek.
And with those words, the dream is over and I awaken. “I really have to go.”
And just like that, I walk away.
Chapter Twenty
Teagan
Present
My head is pounding and I feel like I ate a jar of cotton. It’s like the Sahara in my mouth.
Somehow, I get myself out of bed and pop two Tylenol and chug water. Today is going to suck. It’s a Saturday and I have to work downstairs, although thankfully it’s off-season and slow, which means I might be able to nap.
Chastity’s door is still closed and I’m beyond grateful. She’s way too smart to see through any possible lies I could come up with about what happened last night.
I sit in the kitchen with a death grip on my coffee, head on the table because it’s so heavy, and try to stop replaying that damn kiss.
The kiss that I’ve wanted for so long and yet, I stopped it.
I really am an idiot.
Or am I smart for putting an end to it? Our first kiss should’ve been because we had some big epiphany of our relationship, not because we were drunk and flirty. It feels like a huge letdown and yet it wasn’t. It was…everything.
I sit back up and groan.
The store buzzer rings, alerting me someone is here.
I can’t people today, but if someone is at that door it means it’s either Nina or my mother. I pray for Nina because I might lose my shit on anyone else.
“Hey,” I say as I open the door.
Nina smiles and then when she actually looks at me it shifts. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m just saying, after a first date most people don’t look like they rolled out of bed after lying in the barn. Oh! Or maybe you did get freaky in the barn? Yes? Sexy time on the hay…that would itch though.”
I sigh and lean against the wall. “No sexy time on any hay.”
“Sad,” Nina says wistfully. “So, why after your date do you look like a hot mess?”
“If I went on a first date maybe I wouldn’t look like this.”
She turns her head to the side and purses her lips. “I’m pretty sure we forced you to put makeup on to go on such a thing.”
“You did, but he bailed on me last minute.”
“No!” she yells and when I wince she apologizes. “So you got drunk alone in the bar?”
