Unbreak Me (Second Chances #1) (11 page)

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she panted.

“No, I’m sorry,” Austin groaned and ran his hands over his face. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

“No really, you don’t understand,” she slid away slightly. I just…” she began to stumble through her words. “I can’t do that. Sleep with you, I mean.”

Austin blanched and his head whipped around at her frankness. When Melanie saw the look on his face, she groaned and tried to turn away from his stare.

“That’s not what I meant,” she shook her head. “This isn’t coming out right.”

“Well, tell me. I don’t want to do anything to make you uncomfortable. Please, if this is going to work you have to be honest with me,” he cupped her cheek and moved his thumb back and forth.

“Well,” she glanced down towards her lap. “I was always taught that you were supposed to wait,” she peaked up at him though her lashes. “I know that may seem old fashioned, but when Sean and I married, I was a virgin.”

Austin nodded as she continued.

“I haven’t been with anyone since he died, and I don’t plan to. I mean if I get married again, then that will change, of course,” she looked up at him with pleading eyes, hoping that she hadn’t completely ruined whatever was happening between them. “I understand if you aren’t okay with this. Most men aren’t, I know.”

Austin sighed before answering, “Anyone who is unwilling to wait for you, doesn’t deserve you. You, Melanie, are the most beautiful, sweet, sensual woman I have ever met. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes.”

As Austin sat pouring his heart out to her, Melanie couldn’t help but read between the lines. Here he was basically telling her that he wanted to one day marry her. He was willing to wait for her. Her heart began to swell with love and the cracks that had been there for so long were finally beginning to heal. Austin Montgomery was patching up the broken pieces and slowly cementing them back together.

“I better go,” he leaned forward and placed a light kiss to her lips. He slowly stood and began to gather his things and make his way to the door.

“I understand,” Melanie blushed. She hadn’t intended on that kiss getting as out of control as it had, but she was glad that they had talked. She walked him to the door and offered a light kiss to the cheek. “Thank you again for tonight. Maybe next time you can come over here and I’ll cook for you.”

“Sounds perfect. Goodnight,” he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss to her knuckles, and then disappeared into the darkness.

Chapter 9

After Melanie and Austin had left, Katie began to let her nerves get the better of her. Going over to Hannah’s to watch a movie had sounded like fun. Now, knowing that she was going to be there with Zach and no parents, she was beginning to second-guess herself. She pulled out her cell, and checked to make sure that it was charged and that she didn’t have any unchecked messages. She glanced at the clock. Zach was late. He was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago to pick her up. Just as she was putting her phone back into her purse, she heard a knock at the door.

“
Coming!” she called. She stood and made her way into the foyer to answer the door, and to peek through the window to make sure it was, indeed, Zach. Upon seeing him standing there shuffling his feet, she pulled the door open. “I was beginning to wonder...” her voice trailed off when he looked up at her. She noticed a swollen red spot right on his cheekbone below his left eye. “What happened?” She reached up and tentatively grazed her fingers over the forming bruise.

“It’s nothing,” he pushed her hand away. “You ready?” he turned and began walking to his awaiting car.

“Sure, let me lock up,” she assured. “Is that why you’re late?” she pointed to his face.

“I don’t wanna talk about that, ok? Just drop it!” he demanded and stalked over to his car.

This was the Zach she’d heard about. The one that got into trouble, the one that would break her heart. She silently wondered where the Zach was that she’d been spending so much time with lately. Where was the Zach that she was falling for? She began to question whether or not going to this party with him was truly a good idea. What if he’d been in a fight? What if he got mad at her and took a swing at her? She stood chewing her nail as she contemplated those questions.

“You coming?” he glared at her.

She huffed and slowly nodded her head as she walked up to his car, a brand new Camaro. He jogged around to the driver’s side and jumped in. Once she was buckled in, he cranked the engine and tore away from the curb.

“Zach, you need to slow down,” Katie began to panic. “You’re scaring me!”

“I’m sorry,” he began as tried to get control of himself.

“You say that a lot you know?” she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she kept an eye trained on the road. She had a white knuckled grip on the door and dashboard, and she was holding her breath, offering a prayer that this wasn’t the stupidest thing she’d ever done.

“I’ve had a rough night. I don’t mean to take it out on you.” He glanced over at her and slumped in his seat. “Let’s try and have a good night, ok?”

When they arrived at Hannah’s building, they parked in the underground deck, took the elevator to the twentieth floor, and knocked on the door. The rest of the group was already there. They could hear laughter filtering to the outside. As they knocked on the heavy wooden door, Katie glanced around at her surroundings. This was one of the fanciest buildings she’d ever been in. When they had stepped out of the elevator, there was a large open atrium with flowers decorating a small table in the middle. The long hallways were filled with heavy wooden doors all lined in brass with nameplates adorning each one. As Katie stood glancing around, Zach had shaken his head and mumbled something unintelligible about rich people.

Hannah flung open the door, “About time guys. Hey we can eat now!” she shouted over her shoulder.

Zach grabbed Katie’s jacket as he removed his own and went to place them on the coat rack in the hallway. When he lifted his arms, Katie couldn’t help noticing the bruise that was visible from where his shirt crept up on the side. It looked a few days old, but was still pretty angry. She shuddered and averted her eyes before he noticed that she was staring.

“Nice,” he ran his finger over her bare shoulder. “I like this, a lot,” he whispered in her ear.

She shivered and turned towards Hannah. “You could have told me that your dad wasn’t going to be here.”

At hearing this, Zach wagged his eyebrows and a wicked grin crossed his face. “No parents tonight. Nice,” he ambled away.

“What does it matter?” Hannah raised her brow and shrugged.

“It matters to me,” Katie growled and folded her arms across her chest.

Hannah laughed as the three made their way into the kitchen to join Anthony and Sam. There were three pizza boxes on the table along with a stack of DVD’s.

“I wasn’t sure what everybody had seen, so I got a whole bunch. They had all the Halloween rentals marked down too,” she giggled.

Zach looked over at the stack and began sifting through them, “Sweet! You got Dawn of the Dead.”

Katie cringed, “Dawn of the Dead.” She glanced at Zach. “That’s not really my thing.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you!” he laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him.

The group joked around and stuffed pizza in their mouths for another half hour before moving into the family room to watch the movie. Katie became more stiff and ridged as the evening progressed. Every time Zach moved to place his arm around her or hold her hand, she moved away from his advances. She wasn’t sure why she was pulling away, but something felt off about the whole evening. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but Zach wasn’t acting like himself. His behavior earlier, along with the mysterious bruises, was gnawing at her, and the fact that they were essentially alone and soon to be in the dark watching a movie wasn’t sitting well with her either. She and Melanie had had “the talk” about waiting, but she hadn’t mentioned any of that to Zach. Were they even dating? Her head was filled with so many questions about him. Did he like her or was he using her? Was he only interested in getting in her pants? She hoped not, but here he was a sixteen-year-old boy wanting to spend a lot of time with her. At fourteen, she’d had boyfriends, but none as serious as whatever this thing was with Zach.

“I’m going to get the movie ready,” Hannah announced, bringing Katie out of her musings.

“Nothing ‘girlie’!” Anthony shouted as he trailed her with a piece of pizza still in his hand.

“Hey can I talk to you a minute?” Zach whispered in Katie’s ear.

“Sure,” she blushed.

“I’m gonna go…” Sam pointed in the direction that Hannah and Anthony had gone in.

“What’s going on?” Zach stood in front of her with his hands out, waiting for a response.

“What do you mean?” Katie crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive stance.

“I mean you won’t touch me. You won’t let me touch you. What have I done in the last twenty four hours that changed the way you feel about me?” he moved closer. “I thought you liked me.”

“I…I…I do. I mean...oh I don’t know what I mean,” she sighed. “I do like you. I’m just worried.”

“Worried about what? Have I done something that would lead you to believe that I’m not sincere with my actions?” he moved so close that there was no space left between them.

“No, no you haven’t,” she gasped.

“Then you need to trust me,” he leaned in and placed a soft kiss to her lips. She gasped at the contact and felt electricity course through her. He wrapped his arm around her lower back and pulled her tighter to his chest as he deepened the kiss, and a small groan escaped his throat. As soon as she heard this, she reached up in a pawing motion and pushed against chest. She forced herself away and gasped for air. Both were breathless and flushed with desire.

“This is what I’m talking about. It’s not you that I’m worried about. I’m worried about myself. Zach, I’ve never felt like this about someone before. I’ve had boyfriends, but none that I would consider serious feelings about. But you…you bring out a whole other side of me, and it scares me,” she shook her head and rubbed her face with open palms.

“Wow,” he uttered.

“I just bared my soul to you, and that’s all you can say?” she tapped her foot angrily.

He grinned, “There’s my snarky girlfriend. I’ve been waiting for her all night.”

“Wait, girlfriend?” she looked at him and her mouth dropped open.

“Well yeah. That is, if you wanna be,” he smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.

“But I thought you didn’t do the girlfriend thing?” she cocked her head to the side. “I thought you only hooked up.”

“Well, let’s just say,” he hooked his arm around her shoulder, “that you do something to me, too, and I’m willing to try something different.”

“Ok,” she smiled. “I’m willing to give it a shot,” she giggled and playfully tapped his chest.

“You two plan on making out all night, or are you going to join us in here?” Hannah called.

Katie turned a new shade of red and Zach snickered. “We’re coming,” they called collectively.

They turned and walked hand in hand into the family room. Hannah’s living room was set up with a couch and loveseat making an L shape, with the TV angled across from them. Sam and Anthony had claimed the couch and Hannah was sprawled on the floor. Zach guided Katie over to the loveseat and flopped down. She sat herself beside him and slowly relaxed into his side.

“Everybody comfortable?” Hannah called.

A chorus of yeses followed. Hannah reached around grabbing a remote that she pointed towards the lights. After pushing a few buttons, the lights dimmed until the room became dark and the movie started. When the credits started rolling, Katie groaned.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Zach rubbed her shoulder.

“I just don’t like scary movies,” she turned to see his eyes glittering with mischief.

As the sound boomed around them, Zach looked over at Hannah with admiration in his eyes. “You have surround sound too? How come I’ve never been invited over here before?”

“You’ve always been a jerk to me, that’s why. You’re dating my best friend, I can’t ignore you now,” Hannah rolled her eyes and flipped her hand in the air.

Zach slumped back into the loveseat, “I guess I deserve that. I’m sorry.”

Hannah glanced back over her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. It’s over and done with. Now shut up so we can watch the movie.” She smirked at him and tossed a pillow in his direction.

As the movie wore on, Katie found herself moving closer and closer to Zach. At the halfway point, she was practically on his lap. He didn’t seem to mind, so she continued to snuggle into his embrace. She had that butterfly feeling in her stomach, and she kept wondering if it was the movie or his muscular arms wrapped around her that was causing this sensation. She could hear his rapid heartbeat under her cheek as it rested on his chest, and his breathing seemed to be quite ragged. The rest of the group was too involved in the movie to pay much attention to what was going on over at the loveseat. Katie leaned her head in the crook of Zach’s neck and rested her hand on his chest. She could feel him stiffen slightly and then relax as her warm breath tickled his neck. She had no idea what she was doing to him. She meant for her touches to be innocent, but the light ghosting of her fingers seemed to be sending a different message.

Zach watched in wonder as she squirmed in his lap. He knew that she did not like movies like this, but he did for this very reason. It gave him permission to touch her in ways that she might otherwise object to. He liked that she felt safe and protected in his arms. As she placed her hand on his chest, he couldn’t stop his body’s reaction. She was setting him on fire. He silently wondered how far she would let him take things. When he heard her sigh and shift again, he noticed a shiver run through her. He looked to his left and saw a blanket draped over the back of the loveseat. He reached back and pulled it forward, wrapping it around them. The flannel felt nice and it now covered his lap hiding his state of arousal. He slid his hand under the blanket and placed it on her knee and rubbed softly. She shifted towards him more and softly sighed. He then slowly moved his hand upward towards the hem of her skirt. As he reached the hem he tried to move to her inner thigh, and then she stiffened and pushed him away.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “Too fast?”

She nodded, “I can’t…I mean I haven’t…”

He stopped her, “That‘s ok. You don‘t need to tell me.” He smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

“What do you mean, I don‘t need to tell you?” she turned and looked at him puzzled. “I thought…”

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” he whispered. “I’m not going to do anything to you that you don‘t want me to,” he released her leg and moved his hand up to cup her cheek.

She smiled and snuggled back into his arms. As the movie continued to play, Katie paid little attention to it. She spent more time contemplating what she’d just learned from Zach. St. Vincent’s ultimate player was not what he seemed. He had a soft, caring side. What was it about him that made him think he needed to put on a front like he did at school? She was determined to figure him out, and show him that he could be himself.

When the movie finished, the group cleaned up the pizza boxes and straightened the couches.

“This was fun, but I need to get home,” Anthony announced.

“We’ve gotta do this more often,” Sam chimed in. “Maybe I can host next time.”

“You ready?” Zach turned to Katie. “I know your mom wants you home by midnight.”

“Yeah, I’m set,” she smiled dreamily up at him.

He grabbed her hand and made his way to the front door. “In case I didn’t tell you, you look amazing tonight,” he grinned.