Page 18 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

I shout back to her. “There will be no details!”

I shut the door, and a voice sounds behind me. “Details about what?”

I let out a small scream and turn around. “Jesus Alaric. I thought you went to your room.”

He doesn’t respond, so I reach down and take my heels off. I walk toward the kitchen to clean up the mess we left behind. Alaric just follows me in. I start throwing away all the cups and putting the drinks back in the fridge. I look over to Alaric. “If I threatened to tell my dad you bailed on us tonight, would you rub my feet?”

He just stares back at me. “Wow. I’ve underestimated you. You’re more evil than I thought”

I take a small pretend bow. “Thank you. Thank you” I look back up at him. “So?”

He just laughs. “Please, your dad asked for a picture every hour. He wouldn’t let me let you out of my sight. He’s not going to leave me alone until you are tucked safely in your bed.”

I laugh. “Does that mean you have to tuck me in?”

I feel his eyes scan down my body. “Yes.”

Neither one of us is acknowledging what happened at the bar. I throw the last cup in the trash, and then I grab my shoes off the counter. “Alright. I’m going to bed. Night.”

I start walking toward the door when I feel his hand grab my elbow. “Emory…”

I turn and look at him, but he doesn’t say anything. I just continue to stare at him. Finally, he opens his mouth. “I....I just…”

He can’t figure out how to address it, so I just suddenly blurt out. “Why did you kiss me!”

He pauses then smirks. “Uhm…pretty sure you’re the one who kissed me.”

I step closer to him. “You kissed me back!”

He leans down into my personal space. “You kissed me back!”

I can’t dispute that. He was a great kisser. I narrow my eyes at him. “It was a dare.”

He just glares back at me. “Exactly. Just a dare.”

I scream back at him. “Good! So we’re good then. Nothing left to talk about.”

He gives me one of his devilish smiles. “Nope. I guess not.”

I really should turn and leave now. There’s no reason to continue to stay here. My feet won’t move though. I am just glaring back at him, and his eyes never leave mine. All I can hear is my heartbeat and the sounds of my harsh breaths as I try to calm down from all the yelling.

Alaric’s eyes move back and forth between mine like he is trying to find some kind of answer on my face. Then he shakes his head back and forth at the ground and shouts under his breath to himself. “Fuck!”

His hand grabs the back of my head, and my lips are slammed against his. I immediately respond. My fingers grip into his hair, and my body presses up against him. His one hand continues to hold my head in place while his other presses against my back pulling me against him.

His tongue brushes against my lips, and I let him in as he pushes me against the nearest wall. His hand comes around and cups my jaw while his other digs into my hip. With the wall behind me, he can fully press himself against me, and oh God does he feel good.

His right hand comes underneath my thigh, and he wraps my leg around his waist. He moves his lips down to my neck as he presses himself against me more. Now that his mouth is not on mine, I have a moment to think. “We can’t do this. This can’t happen.”

He just bites down on my neck with his teeth and growls out, “Shut up.”

I do shut up as I let my head fall back against the wall and look up to the ceiling and moan. I feel Alaric’s fingers rising up my legs under my dress when his phone starts ringing obnoxiously loud. He pulls back away from me so fast like he was just caught doing something he shouldn’t have been. He turns around and throws his arm down at his side. “God dammit.”

He turns around and looks at me, and his eyes are still heated. He watches as I pull my dress back down. Then he closes his eyes for a second and takes a breath. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and answers a video call.

Alaric grits out into the phone. “I told you I’d call when we got home. Do you not trust me?”

I hear my dad laugh back. Oh shit. My dad. “I know. I know. It was just getting late, and I hadn’t heard from you in a while.”

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