Always Remember (Memories) (2 page)

“
Not really… But I hope you’re wearing a jumper over that jacket.”

“
I haven’t. Why?”

“
Because there’s two inches of snow in London, and when I left this morning, it was still going.” I grin.

“
You’re kidding?”

“
Absolutely not,” I throw her words back at her.

“
Fuck a duck,” she curses, reaching forward to turn the heater on. “Could have told me before I got in the flippin’ car.”

“
Where’s the fun in that?”

She grunts, and I chuckle quietly to myself. Yeah, this journey is
gonna be as fun as it will be sexually frustrating.

~

I sigh and look at my phone. Dead battery. “Is your phone working?”

She huffs like extracting her phone from her Mary Poppins size bag is such a chore, and it probably is.

“You bringing the kitchen sink back with you? Is yours broken?” I motion towards the bag.

“
Nope.” She rifles through it. “But there’s a high chance I’m considering keeping a blender in there for your balls.” She pulls her phone out triumphantly.

“
Why would you put a blender in there for my balls?”

“
Because you’re the most infuriating person on Earth. As you well know.” She holds the phone out, and I look at her. “Take it then!”

“
Why can’t you do it?”

Her blue eyes narrow at me.
“I have no idea why you want a phone, Bing. You never told me.”

Twat.

I take the phone and do a quick Google search for a nearby travel lodge, B’n’B, anything that could get us apart. Five hours of being next to her in this car watching the scenery change from green to white has felt like a fucking age. I catch her crossing one of her long legs over the other and tapping her knee out the corner of my eye, and I purposely look at the phone. I don’t really see anything. It’s more of a blur on a white page as I imagine what...

Nope. I
’m stuck in the middle of nowhere and have no idea where we’re going to go tonight until the roads are ploughed. I am not going to fantasize about the crazy ass blonde next to me. Fuck knows I’ve spent enough time doing it since our almost kiss at Dad’s party last year.

“
Anywhere?”

Yeah... The walls, the car bonnet, the... Oh.

“What?” I blink, and look at her. She frowns.

“
Have you found anywhere to stay tonight?” she asks me slowly.

“
You don’t need to talk to me slowly, Jen, I’m not deaf.”

“
No, but you are stupid, so you could always misunderstand.”

“
Keep it up, and we’ll be sleeping in the back seat of the car,” I threaten.

“
I’m not sleeping anywhere with you.” She laughs. “That’d be like social suicide, you do realise that? I have a bad ass reputation to keep up and it doesn’t involve staying in even the same room as London’s playboy.”

“
Unfair,” I flinch slightly anyway. “I’m nowhere as bad as I used to be, and you know that. Call Mum and get her to find us somewhere to stay.”

She tilts her head towards me.
“You’re not as bad as you were, I’ll give you that, but you’re still like a dog on heat sometimes.”

“
You realise it’s the females that have heat, right?”

Her lips curve into a smile.
“That’s the point I’m making, Samuel.”

I lean over the gearstick
, putting her phone in her hand, brushing her fingers with mine. Her face is inches from mine, her eyes focused on mine. “Anytime you feel like letting me prove you wrong,” I say in a low voice. “I’ll be more than happy to oblige you, Jen.”

Her fingers tighten around the phone, and her eyebrows shoot up.
“I’m sure you’d be more than happy to try, Sam, but I’m unsure if you could satisfy my needs.”

I laugh, moving even closer. I can feel her breath across my mouth, and the urge to close the gap and take that breath from her is stronger than ever.

“Believe me, Jen, I could satisfy every need you have and then some you didn’t even know about.” My eyes flick down to her slightly parted lips and back up. “So don’t push me into proving it.”

“
You wouldn’t dare,” she challenges.

“
It’s not a secret I’m as attracted to you as I am annoyed with you. I’m just better at hiding it, so yes. Yes, I would dare, and I’d enjoy every fucking second of it.”

Her eyes are full of warring emotions, and she finally settles on anger. They narrow, and she yanks the seatbelt out. I lean back, smirking smugly with the knowledge I
’ve got to her.

“
I don’t even have a word in my giant repertoire strong enough to scream at you right now,” she hisses, pushing the door open.

“
The only word you need to be screaming at me is my name, babe,” I reply, watching her climb out of the car.

She gets out, stops, and turns to me. She opens her mouth for a second, shakes her head, then closes it again, apparently settling on giving me the finger instead. I grin as she slams the door.
I win that round.

“
You have got to be kidding me.” I lean over the counter in the travel lodge. “One room?”

“
I’m sorry, miss, that’s all we had available when the phone call was made. The lady I spoke to assumed you’d rather have one room than none at all,” the receptionist says, his eyes scanning my body.

I clench my jaw, turning to face Bing.
“Fine, but you’re sleeping on the floor.”

“
We’ll see.” He smirks.

I hold my hand out to the guy behind the desk. He looks down at it then up at me questioningly.

“Key,” I demand. “I want to go to my room.”

“
Oh, of course.” He grabs it from the back rack and gives it to me. I take it from his grip, spinning with the elegance of a ballerina. Bing is glaring at the guy.

“
If you’d rather stay here in reception, Samuel, its fine with me,” I throw out as I stroll past him.

“
Stay out here when I finally have you in a bedroom all to myself? Not a chance,” he responds.

“
I see you’re still dreaming.” I step into the elevator.

“
Oh, didn’t you know?” He steps in after me and raises his eyebrows. “I can see the future.” He winks and it does funny things to my stomach. God dammit, it is way too cold for those butterflies to be fluttering about and flirting with my insides.

“
Then your eyesight needs checking.” I slide the key into the door. “Because your perception is as screwed as a prostitute at a stag night.”

“
So is your sleeping alone plan.” He smirks and takes my suitcase from me, wheeling it into the room. “Double bed. Enough room for both of us.”

I suck my bottom lip into my mouth and glare at him and the bed.
“Fantastic. Not only am I stranded with Mr. Slaggy Pants, I now have to share a bed with him. Can it get any worse than this?” I shrug, kicking the door shut behind me.

“
Oh, come on, Jen.” Bing looks up. “Is it really gonna be that bad to share a bed with this?” He gestures to his body. I’m not surprised I have to force my eyes to stay on his. He’s not exactly hard on the ol’ peekers.

“
Maybe not, but it isn’t exactly gonna be all that great either.”

I shrug my coat off and sling it over a chair, looking around for the TV remote. The bed springs creak as Bing drops himself back onto it, and the room fills with the sound of the television. I spin, and he
’s holding the remote up.

“
How did you find that? All I can find is these stupid little pots of sugar and milk.” I frown at them.

“
I’m a male, gorgeous. If it’s woman, TV, or sport related, I’m on it faster than you can scream my name.” He grins. “You, however, are female, which means you naturally gravitate towards the kettle. Be a love and pop it on for me.”

I turn and launch the pot of milk at his head.
“Pop that on, prick.”

He laughs. I grab some pyjamas from my suitcase and lock myself in the bathroom to change and take a few deep breaths.

He’s so fucking infuriating. His smart arse comments, his winks, his little smirks... Just him.

“
Argh,” I growl under my breath and quickly change. I leave the door open on my way back into the hotel room and try not to stop as I notice Bing. He’s lying back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head showing ripped biceps. His top has ridden up his stomach slightly showing the darkened indent of a ‘v’ disappearing under his jeans.

He clears his throat, pleasure shining in his brown eyes.
“Checking me out, Jen?”

“
Not in a million years.”

His lips slowly curl up on one side.
“Sure.”

“
I wasn’t.” I clench my teeth together, and eye the bed warily. The prospect of sleeping next to him all night is as annoying as it is appealing.

“
Do you want me to bite you?” He grins wolfishly at me. 

“
You what?” I half shriek, secretly thinking how hot that could be...

“
I said, do you want me to bite you?”

I clear my throat, perching on the bed.
“Like I want a hole in the head, a stake to the heart, a bit of lego under my foot...”

“
Then don’t worry. You can move up.” He pats the bed. “I’m not going to seduce you.”

“
Why do I not believe you?”

“
Because you’re too intent on the thought of me seducing you?”

“
Never gonna happen.”

“
Then move up.”

“
I don’t particularly want to be next to you right now.” Liar, liar, thongs on fire!

“
Jen…”

I roll my eyes.
“Sam…”

He pats the bed more insistently, and I shake my head firmly.

“Not gonna hap-” I scream the last of the word out as he reaches over the bed, grabs my waist, and pulls me over. My arms wrap around his neck on reflex, and my head hits the back of the pillow.

It occurs to me that Bing is leaning right over me, his hands settled on my waist, and his face inches from mine. My knee brushes his thigh as I move it, and I feel his fingers dig into my skin a little.
I unlink my fingers behind his neck and let my hands drop a little, my heart pounding. The last time we were this close…

“
I told you I wouldn’t bite,” he whispers, and I feel the breath he lets out with each word flutter across my lips.

“
Get off me, you bloody great buffoon,” I mutter, shoving at his shoulders.

He rolls to the side, his fingers brushing across my stomach. My muscles clench, and I yank the covers from under me
. I slip under them, huffing, and roll over, putting my back to Bing.

“
Sleeping already?” he asks.

“
It’s either that or I hit you.” Or rip off your clothes. I’m guessing both wouldn’t be acceptable, so this is an all or nothing kind of situation.

“
Depends where you’re going to hit me.”

I flick my leg backwards, the heel of my foot making contact with his shin sharply.

“Ow! You bitch,” he hisses, and I feel the bed move as he rubs his leg.

I smile smugly to myself, snuggling down into the quilt.
“Not the place you were expecting, huh?”

“
That wasn’t a hit. That was a kick.”

“
What’s your point?”

“
Donkeys kick.”

I shrug.
“So I’m a donkey, you’re an ass. We’re even. Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”

The
tele goes off, and the mattress dips as he lies down. He moves a little closer to me, and I feel him move my hair from my ear.

“
And one of these days, Jennifer, I’m gonna ride that donkey right out of you.”

“
You absolute-”

“
Goodnight, gorgeous,” he whispers, shifting to the other side of the bed.

My lips twitch. Butthead.

~

I honestly thought that if I didn
’t get out of that bed, that room or that hotel this morning as soon as humanly possible I was gonna go bat shit crazy and jump on that annoyingly arrogant git.