Believing Lies (25 page)

***

We stepped onto his front porch, and he fumbled with his keys before turning the lock. Adam pushed the door open and moved to the side to let me in first. I walked directly to his bedroom, flipping on the lights as I went. I pulled off my heels and tossed them to the corner. My poor feet cried out in relief.

I stood at the footboard of his bed, surprisingly calm and relaxed. On the walk over, I’d been a bundle of nerves as I replayed the events of tonight and then speculated as to what would happen next. But now that I was here, I wasn’t nervous at all. It felt as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I smiled at the thought.

I felt Adam’s presence behind me before I felt his fingers graze my spine. I gasped and a tiny shudder shook me as I waited for more.

“You need to take this dress off,” he insisted, his voice dangerously low.

I spun around, smiled coyly, and lowered one shoulder of my dress down slowly and pulled my arm out of the sleeve. When I went for the other sleeve, he stopped my hand gently with his. My eyes flicked to his, and he gave me a playful smile.

“I didn’t mean I wanted you to undress for me.” I furrowed my brow at his words. “Wait. No. I mean, yes. Dammit.” He ran his hand down his face. “I
want
you to undress for me, but I’m not going to let you.”

“Huh?”

He let out a small laugh. “This dress is kryptonite. You in it is not going to help me behave tonight, so I meant that you need to change clothes.”

I looked at him disbelievingly. “You want me to change my clothes?”

“Yes.”

“Instead of taking them off?” My eyes narrowed in skepticism.

“Yes.” He exhaled loudly, his smile gone.

My face fell, and my confidence plummeted. This was beginning to feel an awful lot like rejection.

“Fuck,” he said under his breath before asking, “I’m messing this up, aren’t I?” He pulled one hand behind his neck. “Sex isn’t a good idea tonight.”

I pulled my arm back into my sleeve as embarrassment spiked through me. “Look, if you’re changing your mind again, just say it. I’m a big girl. I can handle it, but at least have the balls to tell me outright instead of skirting around it.” My lip was trembling. I moved to the corner and snatched up my shoes. I didn’t know why, since it wasn’t as if I had a way to get home at the moment, but it seemed like a way to make a statement.

Adam whipped me around and put both his hands on the wall, his body trapping me into the corner like a caged animal. “Why is it that everything I say to you gets lost in translation?”

“So translate for me,” I clipped out.

He leaned in even closer, effectively intimidating and turning me on all at once. A dirty grin pulled the corners of his mouth. “How’s this for a translation, Princess? I want to fuck you. Hard. Rough. And repeatedly.”

“I . . . uh . . . yeah,” I stammered, transfixed.

He let out a low laugh and shook his head. He softly kissed my forehead, my cheeks, and finally my nose. “But I’m not doing any of that tonight because tonight is about me showing you I want more than sex from you.” He brought his lips to mine, and I closed my eyes as I received the sweetest, softest, most breathtaking kiss. I blinked a few times when he pulled back. I stood there in a kiss-drunk state while he went to his dresser, opened his drawer, and shuffled through some clothing. He pulled out a white V-neck T-shirt and held it out to me. I didn’t take it.

“I get it now, and thank you, but I wouldn’t be here if I thought that was all you wanted from me. I want you, all of you . . . and I don’t want to wait. So I appreciate you trying to be a gentleman, but it’s not necessary.”

One-by-one, I pulled my arms out of my sleeves as seductively as possible, given the bundle of nerves I was. Thankfully, the open back of the dress made it easy to look smooth. His eyes were trained on my every movement. He didn’t blink—not even once. I let go of the fabric, letting the top half of my dress drop, and squared my shoulders. He inhaled on a hiss and looked straight up in the air. He was mumbling a long, unbroken string of words under his breath. By the time he brought his gaze back to me, I had shimmied the dress down and stepped out of it, standing before him in only my barely-there panties.

“Come here,” he commanded, his tone dark and guttural.

I win
. My inner vixen did a quick victory dance. I bit my lower lip and casually closed the short amount of steps that had been separating us, stopping directly in front of him.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, almost reverently. His expression was so intense and possessive that it truly made me feel like the most beautiful girl in his world. He leaned down and kissed me slowly. I slid my hands up his chest, feeling the smooth, hard body under the thin fabric of his shirt. He took a step back and said, “Arms up.” It was more of a command than a request.

I obeyed without hesitation. My inner vixen was now grabbing popcorn and getting ready for what she hoped would be an amazing show. I was so sexually wound up that I failed to remember the T-shirt he held in his hand. Before I could object, the cotton was falling down my arms. When he tugged the shirt down over my head, I was scowling at him. He pressed his lips together in an effort to contain his amusement. I smacked him on the chest, and his laugh burst out.

“I’m never stripping for you again,” I taunted, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Yes, you will,” he said confidently. “Just not tonight.” He picked me up and laid me on his bed. “This is for me as much as for you, so please stop trying my willpower,” he said, his words sounding so much like a plea for mercy that I conceded.

“Okay,” I sighed. I crawled under the covers. The smell of his bedding was a million times better than the pillow I’d coveted over the past several days.

As he stripped down to his boxer briefs, I questioned if
I
had the willpower to sleep next to him without mauling him. He turned off the bedroom light and crawled into bed. He pulled me flush against him and wrapped me in his arms. The feel of his body against mine, even with the shirt between us, was out of this world.

“Am I doing this whole big spoon, little spoon thing right?” he asked into my hair. I let out a slight giggle. “Did you think that I didn’t catch your reference to spooning Courtney tonight? Well, I did, and I must admit it makes a nice mental image.”

“We don’t really spoon. It’s just an ongoing joke,” I clarified.

“I figured as much.” He pulled me tighter to him. “Sweet dreams, Princess.”

“Hey, Adam.”

“Hmm . . .”

“I secretly like you calling me Princess,” I admitted.

“Good. Cause I lied when I said I’d stop.”

I smiled in the dark and was probably still smiling when I fell asleep.

***

Bright morning light filtered through the window and shone directly on my face, blinding me. I pulled up my arm to shield my sensitive eyes. As soon as the recollection of last night entered my mind, I instantly looked to my left, only to find an empty bed.
Not again!
My eyes quickly darted around the room.
Holy Mother of Mercy!
He had a pull-up bar in his doorway, and I had a glorious view of tattooed back muscles flexing as he pulled his sculpted body up.

“Good morning. I must say this is a pleasant way to wake up.” My voice was still scratchy from sleep.

He dropped and turned around, walking to the bed with a panty-melting smile on his face, which made my heart speed into overdrive. His whole body vibrated with sex appeal. He crawled onto the bed and propped himself above me with his arms. “I needed to get rid of some tension, so I did pull-ups. It was that or wake you up and have my way with you.”

A Cheshire Cat smile spread across my face. “I’m awake now.”

“I’m still not having sex with you.” My smile fell. He peppered kisses on my now slightly frowning lips until I was smiling again. “But I don’t have the control to not touch you.”

“Sounds like you have a bit of a dilemma, Mr. Korbell,” I said, my tone slow and inviting.

His knee slipped between my thighs, opening them. “Hold onto the headboard. Don’t you dare let go.” His voice was absolute.

My lips twisted. “I think you like pushing me around.”

“And I think you like it when I do.” He winked. “You touch me, and I quit.”

“Quit what?”

He pushed up the T-shirt I was wearing and placed a single kiss on my bellybutton. He slid down my body, pulling off my panties with his fingers, and softly kissed my inner thigh.
Holy shit! That’s what!

My hands never left that headboard.

Chapter Twenty

“And after all of that, he still won’t let me touch him. I’m going nuts!” I banged my head theatrically on our living room coffee table.

Sophie laughed so hard she missed her nail and got red polish on the top of her toe. “Now look what you made me do!” she chastised. “It looks like a kindergartener did my nails. You’re lucky I didn’t get it on the rug.”

“It’s not my fault you laughed,” I retorted. “This isn’t funny, so I don’t see why you two keep acting like it is.” I was getting irritated that they found everything I said hilarious and kept bursting into fits of giggles. Especially when I said the word “nipple.” Apparently, nipple was a very funny word, and I just hadn’t gotten the memo.

Courtney held up her zebra print nails and wiggled them. “Pretty awesome, right?”

I sighed exasperatedly. “I don’t know why I even try to talk to either of you.”

Courtney smiled sweetly. “Because you love us.” She made kissy lips at me.

“Not right now, I don’t,” I said, although the small smile on my face contradicted my words. I leaned against the couch and brought my legs under my arms. “I’m having a sexual crisis and neither of you are helping one bit.”

Sophie finished wiping off her botched paint job. “Sexual crisis? You’re joking, right?” She picked up an unopened nail polish and shook it. “You’re super-hot boyfriend has gone down on you basically every day for a week, he won’t let you return the favor, and you’re complaining?” She shook her head disbelievingly and rolled her eyes.

“No kidding. You should totally not be complaining,” Courtney agreed. “You’re living my dream fantasy right now. Daily orgasms as long as you keep your hands on the headboard. Gee, where do I sign up?”

I gave her the stink eye. “Of course I’m not complaining about that part. It’s just that I’ve had sex a total of
one
time in my entire life. I’d like to increase that number. I just don’t get why he won’t sleep with me again?”

“He told you why. Personally, I think it’s really sweet.”

Courtney nodded. “Sophie’s right. It is sweet. I think you should look at this as a positive thing.”

“I guess. But it’s been a week now. Maybe he’s not sleeping with me because he’s not sure of us.” I started to panic a little. “What if he really doesn’t want to be with me, and that’s the reason?

“Now you’re just being stupid,” Sophie stated bluntly. “You and Adam have been joined at the hip all week. The boy has little hearts in his eyes when you’re around.”

“Plus, when you all helped me move my stuff into the dorms yesterday, he not only stared at your ass the entire time, he looked like he was going to murder every other guy who stared at your ass.”

I quirked my brow at Courtney. “Huh?”

She giggled. “How do you go through life this oblivious? That poor boy’s eyes were glued to your butt every time you picked up a box. I figured that you were bending at the waist, instead of the knees, on purpose just to torture him.”

Now that I thought back, he had been pretty grabby with my butt yesterday. I didn’t know why I was being so insecure. Heck, he’d been around a dorm full of girls, and I couldn’t remember him paying attention to a single one of them.
Maybe they’re right, and I’m just being paranoid
.

A slow smile spread across my face as I took in this new information. “I wasn’t trying to stick my butt in his face, but I’m glad to hear that he liked what he saw.”

Sophie snorted. “I think he more than liked. He was practically salivating. The best part was when you pinched your finger.”

Courtney burst out laughing. “I almost forgot about that. Damn, even I went a little lesbian at that one.”

I glanced between my friends, trying to figure out what I was missing. “What on earth are you two talking about?”

“Remember the cartoon where the wolf sees a hot girl, and his tongue rolls out onto the floor?” Sophie asked. “That’s what Adam looked like when you pinched your finger.”

“Still not making sense,” I chided.

Courtney looked at me disbelievingly. “Okay, sparky, let me spell it out. As soon as you pinched your finger, you shut your eyes, stuck it in your mouth, and sucked on it really hard while moaning and bouncing up and down just enough that your boobs were jiggling.”

“Even Conner looked a little dazed,” Sophie said, laughing.

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “Oh my God! I must have looked like a floozy.”

She waved her hand, dismissing my comment. “A little, but it was fun to watch their reactions.”

Courtney grinned. “Sienna, if we hadn’t been in the room, I’m pretty sure Adam would’ve screwed you right then and there.”

I joined in on their laughter. “You assholes should have left the room then. From the sound of it, I missed a golden opportunity.”

“Next time we’ll go stand outside the door and wait,” Sophie said sarcastically.

Courtney’s phone buzzed. “Will you check that?” she asked me, flashing her newly painted fingernails. “I don’t want to mess these up before they dry all the way.”

I hadn’t been in the mood to paint mine, so I didn’t have that problem. I glanced at the text on Courtney’s phone.

CASSIE: b dorm in 30 with bro. u b there n ready 2 help me move

I translated instead of reading that mess verbatim. “Cassie and her brother will be at your dorm in thirty minutes, and she wants you there to help her move in.”

Courtney looked at her nails and pouted, “There’s no way that my pretty nails will survive now. Oh well. Text back that I’m on my way.”

I typed her message and put her phone in her purse.