Page 17 of When love and Hate Collide

A moment passes between us and when he slowly lifts his eyes, all I could do is gaze into them utterly enthralled. The wordyeslingers at the tip of my tongue, but I force myself to swallow it. “As enticing as a kebab sounds right now, I actually came here with my friend, and I can’t just up and ditch her.” I explain, swallowing thickly when he inches close enough that I could smell the woody and citrusy scent of his aftershave up close and personal.

He sucks in a slow breath and slowly exhales a second later, “Moral as well as beautiful,” he croons, brushing the back of his fingers along my jaw. “Fuck, if you’re not becoming more and more attractive by the second.” I smile coyly and lean into his touch, my eyes closing when his lips start to descend upon mine. “How do I change your mind?” he whispers, his lips brushing mine lightly as he speaks.

“You can’t,” I breathe, my lips readily parting for him. A sudden clatter and shattering of glass reverberates from the direction of the kitchen, rudely interrupting the moment. We pull apart and I inwardly wince at the disappointment that spreads right across my chest.

“I beg to differ.” He counters taking a step toward me when I start slowly backing away from him.

“Do you now?”

His tongue darts out and I watch almost fanatically as he drags it across his lower lip, his eyes narrowing wickedly while he continues to advance on me. “Mhm, your lips may be saying no, but the impetuous look in your eyes is telling me a different story, Angel.”

My brows furrow, “And what story is that?”

“That you’re putting on a façade to appear impervious, but you’re not fooling anyone, baby. Definitely not with the way your pupils are dilated, and the way you keep staring at my mouth and licking your lips. Those are all evident signs that you’re craving another taste of what we shared last night,” he declares, reaching over and curling his long fingers at my nape and drawing me up against him again.

My heart nearly springs through my chest thinking he was going in for a kiss, but instead he lowers his head and presses his forehead to mine. “Just as desperately as I do,” he bald-facedly states and the wayward promise in his eyes ignites an irrepressible inferno deep in my gut—andnether regions.

“I can’t.” I murmur, swallowing thickly when I feel the warmth of his breath against my lips. “My friend…”

“Isn’t around,” he interjects. “We’ve been out here for the last twenty minutes, and she’s not come looking for you yet.” I open my eyes and look up in time to see him smiling. “If she’s as pretty as you are, I assure you one of my boys are already keeping her occupied enough to not notice you’re gone.” I quickly swallow the moan that almost permeates past my lips when I feel the softness of his breath dragging along my jaw while he speaks to me in a low sensual tone.

I already know Ash isn’t with one of his boys, there isn’t a soul in that house that will deflect her attention from Shane—in fact I’m sure she’s got him on his knees doing all sorts of immoral things to her I’ll no doubt have the pleasure of hearing all about tomorrow.

I can’t lie though, I feel my self-control slipping the closer his mouth is getting to my ear, and when he finally gets there, I will fold quicker than a wet newspaper. “Well, you do make a valid point and I am getting hungry. I suppose there’s no harm in going for a quick bite to eat.” I sigh when he nips at my ear, and my stomach does a somersault when I feel him smiling against my cheek.

When he draws back and our eyes meet, the devilry lingering behind his gaze and the grin makes me shiver inwardly—not at all in a creepy way, but in a manner that causes every nerve in my body to heighten and tingle with anticipation. “Shall we then?”

I nod and narrow my eyes before pressing my index finger against his strapping chest and jutting my chin to look up at him, silently hoping I’ll come across unambiguous. “You can bear that sexy grin all you want. There will not be a repeat of last night. I’m not sleeping with you again.” I state straight-forwardly, and he lets out a low throaty chuckle at my candour and wets those full lips.

The fingers he has curled at the nape of my neck come forward and he brushes the loose strand of my hair and tucks it gently behind my ear, “No sleeping, roger that.”

“You’re incorrigible,” I chuckle when he smirks boyishly back at me and holds his hand out. I lower my gaze to his hand and take it, following him out the back door and down the street to his car.

I stop walking when I see the black Lexus parked up. This isn’t the car we left in last night. No, this car is identical to the one that almost ran me over yesterday.

“Wait, I thought you drove a BMW? Whose car is this?” I question, turning to eye him warily.

“This is my car. The BMW is my mates,” I pull my hand out of his and he looks down and back up at me, his brows fusing, “Something wrong?”

“Oh my God,” I gasp, staring at the gold L badge on the grill of the car. “I couldn’t make out your face because it was dark, but the car, the car I will never forget.” I utter and turn to look up at him. “You’re the guy that almost ran me over yesterday!”

For a moment he stares at me with his dark brows bunched together tightly until realisation dawns on him and his eyes widen. “Oh fuck,” he chuckles lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. “That’s why you seem so familiar to me. You’re the girl that jumped in front of my car and then called me a colossal asshat.”

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him irritably. “I didn’t jump in front of your car, I was trying to cross the road. You would have seen me had you not been doubling the speed limit.” I bite back hotly, and he grins back at me, further adding to my annoyance.

“Doubling? I was barely doing thirty, and you’re standing there chewing me out when you’re the one crossing the road while texting and not looking where you’re going.” He justifies with a shrug while I continue to glare at him.

Okay fine, maybe he does have a point. I was texting and may not have been paying attention as I should have, but he shouldn’t have been speeding on a residential road.

“Whether I was texting or not is irrelevant, because as far as the Highway Code goes,youas thedriverhave the obligation to protect pedestrians and I need to tell you, I wasn’t feeling particularly protected with you almost running me down and then criticizing me on top of it.” I point out, and scowl when he laughs.

“Criticizing you? You’re one that called me blind, I’ll remind you,” he points out, resting his arms on the top of his car and staring at me all cool and unfazed.

I roll my eyes incredulously, and take a step toward him, holding up my index finger. “First of all, I didn’t call you blind. Iaskedif youwereblind.” I elucidate and hold up my middle finger. “Secondly, what sort of person almost runs someone down and doesn’t even have the courtesy to get out of their car and check if they’re okay and apologise for scaring them half to death?”

I scowl and force down the aggravation teetering at the surface when he nonchalantly shrugs again, “Well, you seemed perfectly fine, enough to stand there and hurl insults at me at least.”

I exhale slowly and count to ten in my head to calm myself before I take off my shoe and beat the beautiful buffoon with it, “You know what, I think this about concludes our evening. Try not to kill anyone on your drive back.” I utter snidely and spin on my heels to walk off toward Shane’s house when I feel a warm yet firm grip on my wrist and I’m hauled back against his strong frame, my back pressed against his brawny chest.

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