Page 14 of Abduction
“You don’t?” he asked, his voice dropping slightly, and his hand slid to the back of my neck. God, he was smooth. He knew just what he was doing, just how to touch me, just how to caress me to make sure I was putty in his hands. Was this a game for him? A game to see how many women he could convince to cheat on their significant others, just because he had shown them attention? If it was, it was clear he was pretty damn good at it, and I didn’t know how I was going to be able to resist...
I wished I wasn’t engaged in that moment. More than I had ever wished for anything in my entire life. I wanted to lean forward and kiss him, to give in to the needy want inside of me—the insecurity that had risen from the way Aaron was acting, a part of me saying I should just make the most of it. He would never find out about it, would he, if I just kissed this guy? He would never know. And what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him...
I tore my eyes away from Josh and looked down at my hands, at the ring glistening on my finger. He might never find out about it, but I would know, and I knew there was no way I could live with myself if I turned into the kind of person who fucked around on someone she was supposed to care about. I shifted away from his grip before I could do something I would regret.
“My fiancé is waiting for me,” I told him as firmly as I could manage, even though my voice was shaking slightly as I said it. I prayed he didn’t notice, couldn’t tell how close I was to just going along with this.
“Well, that’s fair,” he replied, moving a little to give me space. “But I get the feeling we’ll run into each other again.”
“Maybe,” I replied. I could feel the heat rising in my face, and I hoped he couldn’t see the flush to my cheeks right now. I didn’t much feel like explaining why I was blushing just after he had touched me. I wasn’t sure I had a good enough answer, even for myself.
I rose to my feet and turned away from him, hurrying toward the station so I could catch the train back to my place. God, I hoped that Aaron was back by now, because if he wasn’t, and I had just turned down the chance to actually have a little fun...I would be furious.
I tried to cool myself off as I walked, the cold whipping in from the lake almost enough to calm me down—but not quite. There was something about that man, about Josh, that drew me in. Maybe those gorgeous eyes of his and how I felt when they were trained entirely on me. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull him closer to me, to feel the pressure of his mouth on mine, even though I knew it would have been more trouble than it was worth.
Was he right? Were we going to see each other again, somehow? This city wasn’t all that big, and he knew where I studied...hell, he knew I lived in the suburbs, too, if it came to that. He didn’t strike me as the type who would keep pushing for the answer he wanted after he had already been turned down, but you could never tell.
I sure as fuck wouldn’t have expected him to hit on me the way he had, when we were in public, when he knew I was engaged, too. He was clearly used to getting anything he wanted, and I had to admit, it had turned me on more than I had expected.
I had never been the girl to fall for the bad boy. Never been one to let the overconfident, cocky guys anywhere near her. I rolled my eyes at them as I watched them hit on my friends, always bored by how confident they seemed and how much they acted as though they were owed something. But him? He was different. It wasn’t like he was asking; it was like he was taking from me, and I didn’t mind a bit.
I made it on to the train, but I could still feel the pressure of his hand against the back of my neck, how hot it had been to have him look at me as though he wanted to take a chunk out of me. I’d never been crazy about random hook-ups, but the anonymity and his naked want for me made it hard to resist him.
God, what was I thinking? I made it back to the train and pulled out my phone to check if there were any messages from Aaron. There weren’t, so I had to assume he was going to be home that evening like he said he was. He would have no idea what I had been doing all afternoon. As far as he was concerned, I had been studying, dutiful in my work the way I always was.
It made me a little uncomfortable how easy it had been to get away with meeting a guy the way I had. How easy it was for me to get lost to the way he looked at me, to the attention he paid to me. I knew I should have known better than to let it get under my skin, but maybe I had been drawn in a little more than I should have. Who was to say Aaron hadn’t felt the same draw, too...?
I put my phone away and stared out of the window. I needed to get back to reality. Yes, it had been fun and flattering to have some guy show me attention like that, but it was over now, and there was no way I was going to see him again, no matter what he said. I had a life, I had a fiancé, I had a home and a future with him to focus on.
And I needed to remember how much I had committed to that. And not let myself get distracted by some hot guy who happened to smile at me in just the right way.
Chapter Nine
Josh
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