Beguiling (Tempting #2) (9 page)

“Give that to me!” she all but yelled, lunging at me.

And considering that I was like a foot taller than her, I lifted the paper above my head and started to read.  

Well, well, well. What the hell had I just stumbled upon?

“
G
ive me that
,” I demanded, jumping up for the paper.

“Are all these purple marks recent?” He squinted as he held the paper well above both of our heads.

“Give it back, Leo.” I all but growled as I tried to jump again.

“No way.” He pulled the paper closer to his face as he mouthed what he was reading. I took that opportunity and laid a hand on his chest, fingers finding one of his nipples and squeezing as I twisted it.

He made a loud yelp and brought his arm down instinctively, giving me a chance to grab it out of his hands and step back, so that the island separated us.

“A titty twister, really? It’s like middle school all over again.”

As I folded the paper quickly and neatly, I shook my head. “No, because I actually didn’t think you were an ass in middle school.”

“Just high school then?”

“More like
since
high school.” I tucked the paper in my back pocket and picked up my empty glass of water so I could refill it.

“What’s with the list?” he asked, leaning on the island as I drank my second glass.

I ran a thumb over the water that had collected on my cupid’s bow and didn’t miss the way his eyes followed its path. “It’s just a stupid bucket list. It was Liza’s doing. That…” I gestured my hand in a circle, feeling completely embarrassed by it and by the fact that he was turning my brain off by leaning over the counter, his biceps practically exclamation marks on his arms.
Look at us!
they said.

He mimicked my hand movement, circling his hand, “And…?”

“It’s just a bucket list,” I repeated. “Come on, don’t tell me you don’t have one.”

He pursed his lips, eyes narrowing as he thought. “Oh, sure. Hunter and I, we sit around in our underwear and braid each other’s hair and make adorable bucket lists with glittery purple pens practically every weekend.”

“Do you really think girls sit around in their underwear to chat?”

He grinned lasciviously. “I want to think that. Especially if they’re as hot as the little white number you wore last night.”

I would
not
blush. “Don’t be such a dick.”

He came around the island and I backed away before my back was stopped by the wall. “You
do
remember what happened last night.” There was no question on his face, instead there was heat. A whole lot of heat.

I placed my hands on the wall behind me as he leaned into me, not wanting to throw myself at him as wantonly as I had the night before. “Some of it,” I quipped. “But what I can’t remember,” I swallowed, “is if you used protection.”

At that, his eyes cleared and the arm he was bracing beside my head against the wall tensed. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, finally feeling like I had a little more control with what was going on. “Did you forget to wrap it up?” I spun my finger in his face and looked down near his belt area to illustrate my question.

“A little hard for me to remember protection when you were practically climbing me like a rabid monkey.”

I scoffed. “That’s a stupid excuse.”

“It goes both ways, Scarlet. You didn’t say anything either.”

He was right, but that didn’t mean I was going to tell him that. “Well? Any diseases I should know about?”

“God,” he pushed away from the wall, finally giving me some breathing space. “No. Fuck no. You really think I’d fuck you if I carried something?” When I just shrugged, his annoyance flared. “Yeah, well what about you? How do I know you’re clean? No offense, but you didn’t exactly seem inexperienced yourself last night.”

My cheeks burned and I pushed off the wall, into his face, so that he was backing all the way up to the island. “Because I’ve had sex one other time and he used a condom.”

Leo’s eyes cleared again as he stared at me and I realized I’d given him a very interesting piece of information. “Only one other time?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I clenched my jaw. “When was the last time you got tested?”

He crossed his arms over his chest, bringing his muscles right in my face. “Every six months. But.” he seemed to be choosing his words carefully, “I haven’t had sex since my last clean test.”

My shoulders dropped in relief. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been stressing over that until that moment. “Thank God.”

“But the clap isn’t the only thing I could’ve given you, if—you know—I’d been infected with it.”

“You’re gross.”

“You know what else is gross? Babies.” He gave a pointed look at my stomach. “Are you on birth control?”

“Yes, thankfully. We wouldn’t want to populate the world with a bunch of little assholes.”

“You’d be
lucky
to procreate with me.” He flexed a muscle, perpetuating his football superstar status, and did it so comically that I couldn’t help but laugh at the image.

“Procreate. Big word for you.”

“I’m learning. A little hard to fit academics in my brain, you know, with football always running on a loop and all.” He pointed to his skull and I frowned slightly. He seemed a little tender over that at the moment, so I decided to move on.

“Why’d you come over?”

“To see if you really remembered what happened.”

The fact that it had bothered him so much surprised me. “I...” I took a deep breath. “I remember a lot of it.” I thought of the begging and winced a little. While looking him in the eyes, I said, “Sorry I was so out of control that night. Begging you and all…”

He smirked. “Are you seriously apologizing for that?” When I said nothing he said, “Come on. I’m not
that
nice of a guy. It wasn’t a pity fuck, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

It
was
what I was thinking, but I knew my cheeks were hot pink in my embarrassment. “I don’t know what came over me.”

His lips twitched. “You were drunk and horny. Pretty sure that’s what did you in.” He tapped his temple. “I’m keeping that up in here, for future reference. ‘Scarlet loosens up with a little bit of vodka, Leo. Remember that.’”

I rolled my eyes, but then immediately turned around to the sink, suddenly needing a lot of water again, since my face must have been covered in a bright blush. I put my hands in the cold water, needing to lower my temperature, but a second later I felt him behind me, all that rock hard muscle resting against my back. I froze.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said against my shoulder. His warm breath tickled my skin there and I felt it all the way down to my bare feet. A hand touched the curve of my shoulder and slid across skin and over the strap of my tank until it reached the part of where my shoulder met my neck.

I couldn’t be embarrassed when he
said
that, while he
did
that, because I couldn’t think at all, except of how clearly responsive my body was to his touch. I knew it was improbable, but I swore I stopped breathing when his lips met my neck.

Just slightly, I leaned my head to the left, stretching the skin that was available to him as his hands came to my waist, cupping the curve there. His thumbs pressed into my back, rubbing at my spine and I could have groaned from how incredible it felt. But I’d stopped breathing, so I made no sound, not even when one hand came down and down.

“Hey—” I started when his hand dipped into the waistband of my yoga pants. I spun around just as he stepped back, holding the bucket list up like a flag of triumph.

“We’re not done talking about this,” he said as he waved it.

“Ugh,” I groaned, giving up when he unfolded it. “Remember I was young when I made it.”

“‘Get a fake ID,’” he quoted and raised an eyebrow.

“That one could’ve been crossed off.”

“Whoa. Pastor Jennings’ daughter was once in possession of a fake ID?”

I leaned against the island and grabbed an orange from the fruit bowl in the center. “She was,” I said, rolling the orange fruit between both my hands. “But don’t tell my parents.”

“You’re of the legal drinking age now, what are they going to do about it?”

I leveled him with a
come on, you know who my parents are
look.

He nodded. “Right, they’d probably force you to take over the Sunday school again.”

I shuddered because it was a punishment they’d given me before. “Poor decisions make mistakes,” my mother had said. “Next thing you know, it’ll be drugs and teen pregnancy.” To say my parents were the kind of people that were prone to dramatics was an understatement.

“Wait. You’ve never masturbated?” Leo asked, looking up from the list. “No wonder you’re so uptight.”

I tossed the orange at him hard enough to hit his chest, but he caught it deftly, giving me a charming smile. “Thanks, I wanted a snack.” He set the list on the counter in front of him as he began peeling the orange, oblivious to my annoyance.

“‘Have sex’…wait, have
GREAT
sex.” He pointed to the purple hearts Liza had drawn around it. “Is this why my name is doodled with purple ink?”

There was no way I could not be embarrassed about that. “Liza’s idea of a joke.”

“So the first time you had sex wasn’t great? Because I know you weren’t a virgin last night, but this addition of ‘great’ is in purple pen. I think I can safely deduce that all the purple marks are thanks to me.”

“You’re a regular Sherlock, aren’t you?”

He ignored me, biting into a section of orange.

“Let’s see what she crossed off. Hm. ‘Have an orgasm,’” he put his arm out, curled his fingers in a fist and pulled back, like he was congratulating himself. “‘Have oral sex,’” he grinned at me and I thought of his mouth. “‘This should be crossed off.’”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t give Liza every minute detail.”

“I wouldn’t call that minute.”

Considering it was my first orgasm, I wouldn’t have either, but if I had to suffer through Leo reading off my all my immature goals—many of them embarrassingly sexual—I wasn’t going to stroke his ego any more than he was already doing himself.

“She crossed off, ‘Have a one-night stand.’”

I shrugged. “I certainly didn’t expect it to happen again.”

“Didn’t expect it to happen again,” he asked, pausing, “or didn’t want it to happen again?”

There was a difference and I knew my answer was important to him for some reason. “Like I said, I didn’t expect it to happen again.”

He nodded, content with my answer, and turned back to the list. “Let’s see: have an orgasm,” he did that little arm pump again, “get drunk—oh, that’s crossed off in purple pen too. Interesting.”

It was terribly difficult not to roll my eyes at his tone when I knew he was essentially congratulating himself for his major skills.

“‘Give oral sex, shoplift, ride a rollercoaster, ride a motorcycle, get a tattoo, get a piercing,’” he said, stopping there and looking at me. “Where would you get the piercing?” His eyes lingered on my chest and I crossed my arms.

“My ears, perv.”

Shrugging, he returned to the list. “‘Sex in public’?” His voice was a little louder, as if he was shocked.

“What’s so surprising about that?” I asked defensively.

“Well, you go from preschool shit like ear piercings straight to the rated R, having sex in public.”

“I didn’t exactly have any organizational strategy when I wrote that list.”

“Clearly, because you put ‘fake ID’ before ‘have sex.’”

“Are you done humiliating me yet?” I asked, extending an arm for the list.

“Not yet.” He moved the list out of my reach, “Just a few more.” He popped a segment of the orange in his mouth.

“Great,” I replied without a trace of enthusiasm.

“‘Road trip, sext someone, break someone’s heart…’”

“Give me the list,” I said, pulling it from his hand. I grabbed a nearby pen and drew a line through the last one, shaking my head.

“You broke someone’s heart?”

“No,” I said firmly.
I’ve never even been in love
, I said to myself.
How could I break anyone’s heart?
“I just don’t want that on the list anymore.”

“Scarlet.”

I pushed the bucket list away, not needing to touch it now that Leo knew many of my bigger secrets. “Yeah?”

“This list?” He raised an eyebrow. “Is some sad, sad shit. Like, I want to talk to a therapist about it. For you.”

“Shut up, Leo.” I rolled my eyes.

“I’m serious. You have a lot to do before you go away to vet school and spend the next several years killing yourself with studying.”

“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Think about it.” He laid a hand on the list, pulled it across the granite with a swish sound toward us. “You have this summer, right? Before you’re off, ripping tiny animals open and examining their guts—wearing a super gender-neutral, and probably too large, lab coat and goggles that swallow your face. I doubt there’s going to be a whole lot of romancing happening then.”

“You’re really great at painting a picture,” I said, but it wasn’t a compliment.

“Thanks. But I’m serious. You have one summer to live out your preschool and R-rated dreams. And be honest, you know that fun is kind of my thing.” He held his hands out and open, nodding for me to agree. “If anyone can help you loosen up and live a little,” he pointed his thumbs at his chest, “it’s this guy.”

“I don’t know, Leo.” But I wouldn’t lie and say it wasn’t a tempting offer. There was no doubt that when I wasn’t hating his guts, I was wanting him. As annoying as he was, he had a point. I’d thought I’d spend the summer before vet school saving money and spending time with Liza. That didn’t necessarily mean I couldn’t also spend time with Leo.

I stood up, turned to grab that water I always seemed to need when I was in his presence. “Just think about it, Scarlet. I gotta run.”

I turned around after I heard the door close and knew I wouldn’t be able to think of
anything
else.