CRUSH (13 page)

She lifted one and studied it with a small
smile before reaching for the next one in the pile. “These are really good,
Hunter. You’re quite the photographer.”

I held still, my heart racing, knowing if she
continued far enough she’d see what I’d been doing. I would totally come off as
the jealous boyfriend—something I didn’t want at all. She made her way
through until she reached the images that were facing down.

“Those are the bad ones,” I said, moving to
stop her. “I’m just going to put them in the shredder.”

“Don’t do that.” She placed her hand over mine,
stilling me. “Let me see them first. All the others were so good.”

I was desperate, racking my brain for a way to
distract her from continuing. “Cami . . 
. ,
”
I let my voice trail off, and she glanced up at me expectantly.

“Yes?”

I closed my eyes for a second. “Forgive me,” I
whispered when I looked at her again. I grabbed her cheeks and pressed my lips
to hers.

Sparks exploded at the simple contact between
us, and I found myself sliding my hands down to her shoulders so I could pull
her closer. I wrapped both of my arms around her back and pressed against her,
walking slowly forward until she was pinned against the door. Her fingers move
upward, locking around behind my neck. She opened her mouth, allowing me
access, and I happily invaded, licking and tasting what she offered. It was
heaven.

She made a soft moaning sound in the back of
her throat—or maybe it was me—I wasn’t sure anymore as her hands
made their way up into my hair, digging in as she kept me pulled tightly to
her. My palms moved lower, cupping her bottom and lifting so she could wrap her
legs around me. She did so as if she’d done it a thousand times before, and I
moved to trail kisses across her face and down her neck.

She tossed her head back, arching. “Finally,”
she breathed out as her hands traveled over me.

Seventeen!
the
warning voice
shouted in my head, and I leaned away so quickly I almost dropped her.

“What is it?” she asked, panting, hanging onto
my shoulders.

I can’t
do this,
I thought. “We’re moving too
fast,” I said instead, not wanting to make her feel bad.

She looked hurt anyway, staring into my eyes
for several seconds before she released her legs from around my waist, and I
helped set her upright again. We both stood there—each watching the
other—not knowing what to say. She finally broke the awkward silence
surrounding us.

“I’m sorry if I’m doing something that’s
upsetting you, but I liked kissing you. I don’t think it’s too fast.
Well . . 
. ,
I
mean . . . that was a pretty hot kiss, so yeah, I can see where
you might construe that as moving fast. But still . . . I liked
it . . . and if that’s how we feel then that’s how we feel,
right?” She blinked. “I mean unless that’s not how you really feel. Is it?”

She was rambling, and I couldn’t help myself. I
started laughing. “I have no idea what you just said.” I couldn’t stop looking
at her mouth. It was a little swollen, and I wanted to kiss her again and
again, over and over until she couldn’t breathe properly anymore. My libido had
kicked into overdrive, and I wasn’t having any problem imagining all the things
I’d like to do.

“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked plainly.

“Yes,” I replied with an exasperated sigh. “Too
much, in fact. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“You just keep kissing me like that, and let me
decide how much is too much.” Her fingers were against my mouth, tracing my
lips. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kiss these.”

“While I’m happy to know you dream of kissing
me as much as I do of you, I think we should probably try to keep things a
little more cool between us.”

She rolled her eyes, clearly balking at the
idea. “Why?”

I shrugged. “Just trying to keep things a bit
safer. If that was our first kiss where do we go from here?”

“Let’s find out.” She leaned forward, pulling
my mouth back down to hers and pressing her lips to mine once more.

I was helpless to resist her—like a fly
caught in her seductive web. The more I struggled the more tangled I became. I
quit battling and gave in, succumbing to all she wanted. I kissed her hard,
aggressively, too aggressively, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t get enough. She
tasted so good, and I loved the way she clung to me with desperation. I knew
she felt the same.

There was a knock on the door, and we broke
apart, both of us breathing heavily.

“You
about done
in
there, Hunter?” Mr. Adams voice asked.

Cami grabbed up
her books. “Meet you at your car.”

I nodded and watched her sneak through the
exterior door.

“Yeah, I’m done,” I answered, taking a deep
cleansing breath as I tried to calm my raging, hormonal body. I gathered up my
things, and headed into the classroom. “Sorry I took so long.” I went to my
desk, carefully slipping the images I didn’t want anyone to see into my binder,
and set the others to the side while I zipped it up.

“Let’s see how your pictures turned out,” Mr.
Adams said, coming over and picking them up. He flipped through them casually,
smiling before handing them back. “They look good, though you may want to take
less pictures of Cami next time.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I got a little carried away.”

He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “She’s
a pretty girl. I’m sure that’s easy to do.”

I cleared my throat nervously. “I better get
going. My uncle is going to start wondering where I am.” I grabbed the items
off my desk. “See you later, Mr. Adams.”

“Goodnight, Hunter.”

Hunter-

My music was blaring as I sat at my desk with
my head buried in my hands. Pictures from today were spread all over in front
of me, but I wasn’t seeing any of them. All I could see was Cami—her
hair, her lips, her skin, her sweet body wrapped around me as I kissed her over
and over again in my car, ravishing her until she’d finally pulled away,
putting some much needed-distance between us.

I’d driven her home in silence, as my thoughts
overwhelmed me. We were explosive together—combustible—and I
should’ve never crossed this line. I had no idea it would be like this. I’d
never wanted a girl as much as I wanted her. I shuddered to think what might’ve
happened in that darkroom if we hadn’t been interrupted. I’d lost all
restraint.

I slammed my fist down against the pictures.
What the heck was happening? Where was my carefully maintained restraint? I’d
been confident I could withstand anything thrown at me when we’d come here. Now
I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t in control at all. I was playing around with a chick
I was hot for—one that could cause me a serious bundle of trouble. This
was completely unacceptable.

My phone buzzed, and I saw it was a text from
Cami.
R we ok?

I stared at it—almost afraid to touch
it—as if acknowledging her would make me combust all over again. I
shouldn’t reply. I should walk away now and look like the jerk Clay had told
her I would be. She’d cry, I was sure, and it would burn her in a big way, but
she’d get over it eventually. She could forget about me and move on with her
life. She’d be safe.

But would I ever get over it?

I picked up a picture I’d zoomed in on and
stared at it. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t walk away from her now. She’d
gotten under my skin, and I wanted more . . . a lot more.

Chris was right when he said I’d be walking a
tight rope. I hadn’t realized at the time how tight it would be. I wasn’t sure
what was going on yet, but things were starting to unravel in my mind. I ran a
hand over my mouth as I tried to figure out what to do.

Sighing, I picked up my phone to text her back.
I was going to take the plunge and make an executive decision. From now on the
role of boyfriend was going to be played by me. It was definitely crossing a
line, and I hoped I wouldn’t cook my own goose while I was at it. I wasn’t
lying to myself anymore. I
wanted
to
be with her, so I was going to live my time with her to the fullest and be
happy she was part of my life, even if it was for a short while. Man, I felt
like a sick bastard.

Hey gorgeous,
I
replied, laying it on thick.
Haven’t
been able 2 stop thinking of U.
That
was the absolute truth.

U were really quiet earlier.
Thought
U were
having regrets.

More
regrets than you could begin to imagine,
I thought.
Cami, this
afternoon was like, wow, but
kinda
scary wow, if U
know
what I mean.

Yeah. I
kinda
attacked U.

Really?
I chuckled. That wasn’t how I remembered it at
all.
I liked it,
I replied honestly.

U did?

U couldn’t tell?
I
laughed out loud, even though she couldn’t hear me. She was kidding, right?
Didn’t she realize how close we’d come to sealing the deal right there? Just
thinking about it was getting me all worked up again.

Haha
. Maybe.

I shook my head. I still didn’t have a clue to
the way girls thought.

Well, if U can’t tell whether or not I liked what
went down today then U and I have some serious problems.
More like I would be having some serious
problems.

Ur a good kisser.
She put a little smiley face after it.

I groaned. She had no idea what she was doing
to me.

Haha
. Thanks. U 2. What
ya
doing tonight?
I was desperate to change
the subject.

Homework.

Me 2.

Well, ok. I’ll let U go then. Just wanted 2 make sure
we were cool.

We R so much more than cool.
U
have
no idea.

Another smiley face.
Talk 2
U at school 2morrow.

Do
U want a ride?
I knew
now that Clay had been her transportation.

That
wld
B nice.

Gr8. Pick U up at 7:30.

Sounds good.

I was smiling when I tossed my phone down. I
grabbed my leather jacket, putting it on before I slipped the weapon I
occasionally carried for protection into its hiding place. A guy could never be
too careful. I grabbed my digital camera and car keys and headed out the door.
Time to see if I could score a little celebratory refreshment.

I leaned my head against the leather seats with
a sigh before rubbing my eyes. The smoke filled the car around me, but I didn’t
really care at the moment. Derek sat beside me, taking a drag off his joint.

“I’m glad I finally caught up with you, dude.
I’ve been craving some of this for a while.”

He chuckled. “Anytime, man. There’s more where
this came from. I thought you’d gone all preacher on me now that you’re dating
Cami.”

I frowned a little. “Yeah, she’s made it plain
that she doesn’t want me to do this stuff.”

“I’m guessing you don’t care what she thinks?”

“I do. I’ve decided to try and be clean while
I’m hanging around with her. The rest of the time is fair game.”

“Gotcha. Glad you got it all worked out.”

“I do. Hey, can you get your hands on some meth
for me?”

He looked at me pointedly. “It’ll cost you, but
yeah, I can try to scrounge some up.”

“Cool. I appreciate it. Sometimes I just need
something with a little more oomph—know what I mean?”

“I do, man, I do.”

“So what’s the problem with the best friends
today?” Russ asked, elbowing me and pointing to where Cami and Clay sat far
apart, not talking to each other, in Chemistry lab.

“Me, apparently,” I replied with a grin.

“You?” Russ seemed puzzled.

I leaned over so I could whisper in his ear.
“Clay’s a little angry because he thinks I made out with Cami yesterday.”

Russ’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “And did
you?”

“I don’t kiss and tell, man.”

“You did, didn’t you?” He gave a silent look of
appreciation between Cami and me. “So was it like a onetime thing or are you
headed back for seconds soon?”

I shook my head. “I’m headed back for thirds
and fourths . . . heck even tenths. I like her. She’s super
chill.”

“You don’t have to convince me. I’ve always
thought she was hot. I’m just not as brave as you are.” He laughed. “You aren’t
the first guy to want her,
ya
know. Outside her geeky
little circle of friends, I mean.”