“So, art school, huh? That must be fun.” Oh, the way his knuckles moved.
“It’s okay. A lot of hard work though.”
He nodded. “So, one day you’ll be a household name like Picasso or something?”
“Something like that. Maybe a bit more sexy.”
I gave him my sexy eyes, not full strength but the warm up sex eyes. I had to build up to full strength. No man could handle that straight up. Only, my flirting got cut short when I noticed Chad at the bar, watching my every move. I didn’t know why that worried me. I could flirt with a sexy guy without it meaning anything. It wasn’t like I was having sex with the guy. I didn’t even have any intention of sleeping with him. Even if I didn’t have sex with him, it was nice to know I still had it.
I looked at Luke and tried on my semi-sex eyes again but they’d gone. I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t get the right amount of voltage behind the look. The look has to have the squirming feeling coming all the way up from my stomach, laced with a bit of the action going on between my legs. You had to have all that going on then channel it through your eyes. I couldn’t dredge that up for Luke though. Instead of sexy, the look ended up being a little bit freaky and weird as far as I could tell. Luke didn’t seem to notice though. He thought he was halfway to the sack already.
I turned my head so I couldn’t see Chad, not even from the corner of my eyes. Even then, I could feel him behind me. That just made me all weird inside. His eyes were on me and suddenly, my laugh sounded too loud and my words didn’t ring true. Even the swishing in my stomach turned to stone. Damn Chad. He had to ruin everything.
The champagne in my glass had gone flat but I didn’t want another one. I kinda just wanted to go home. Maybe I was overtired. I had gone from doing nothing all day to an intense week of work. That couldn’t be good for me. I turned back to the bar to let Chad know I wanted to go home but he wasn’t watching me at all. The bastard. He was talking to Rebecca Forsythe. I wanted to spew.
“So, tell me more about that work project,” I said to Luke. I leaned over to pinch a speck of lint from his jacket. “It sounds fascinating.”
Take that, Chad. He could hang out with poxy Rebecca all he liked. I had Luke to entertain me even if his story about his work meeting wasn’t actually entertaining. What was he doing at a student bar anyway? That seemed a bit sleazy to me when he wasn’t actually a student. I wouldn’t turn to check on Chad again. I would listen to this story and laugh at the appropriate moments. That’s exactly what I’d do.
“So then, when my boss went to the manager the manager told him we had to get our ducks in a row…”
What the hell was this guy even talking about? Ducks? What did I care about ducks?
Oh shit, I accidentally turned my head. Just for a second. And poxy Rebecca had gone. Chad was walking my way with two drinks in his hands.
Luke laughed, so I laughed along with him then play-punched him on the arm.
“That’s a good one,” I said. I hoped that was an appropriate response.
Chad sat down at the table and Luke shot him a questioning look. Chad put a glass of wine down in front of me. Well, he didn’t just put it down, he put it down in that way guys do that is pretty much like a dog cocking their leg to mark their territory.
“I’m Chad,” he said and held out his hand to Luke.
What the hell was he doing? It was like he totally wanted to cock block me. Why would he even do that? He’d not get his money doing that. I was perfectly capable of cock blocking myself. I called it steely resolve.
Chad gave Luke a laser beam glare that soon had Luke running off like a little bitch.
“What did you do that for?”
Chad didn’t look at me. He stared at his beer and shrugged.
There was some kind of weird mental games going on with him and I didn’t want to play them. I could kick his arse at Monopoly and I could kick his arse at this too. But mainly, I just wanted to sleep.
“Let’s go home,” I said.
“You haven’t finished your drink.”
“I don’t want it. I didn’t ask you to buy it for me.”
“Fine.” Chad chugged down his beer in one mouthful.
“You could’ve given it to Rebecca Forsythe instead.”
“Let’s go,” Chad said, banging his empty glass down on the table. He still didn’t look at me. His nostrils flared and he kept tapping the edge of his glass against the table.
God, he was a moody bitch.
“I’ll tell Jayne and Tristan I’m going. Or you could just sling me over your shoulder like you did that other time.”
He turned to me then, his eyes like shards of glass.
“Don’t push me, Lucy.”
Seriously.
I found Jayne with a heap of pool winnings. None of the guys would play her again and she was getting annoyed with them.
“I’m going now,” I told her.
“But I was just coming over to talk to you. Who was that guy you were talking to? He looked a bit skreevy.”
“Oh, just some businessman. Then Chad came over and was all weird.”
Jayne looked at a guy on the other side of the table, pointing at him and then herself then the pool table. He shook his head and she gave him an exaggerated shrug. Then he nodded with seeming reluctance.
“Ha, there’s one born every minute. I’ll be eating soufflés tonight,” She gave me a short hug. “I’ll call you over the weekend. Let me know if you need help with anything.”
“Have you seen Tristan?”
“I think he’s in the toilets.” She gave me a wink so I had no mistake about what he was up to in there. “I’ll tell him you said goodbye if he surfaces.”
I tried to get back around the room with my crutches but man, people can be so annoying when they are drunk.
“Maybe I do have to carry you out of here.” Chad surfaced beside me.
“You could just clear a walkway and make sure no one knocks into me.”
Chad swept me up into his arms. Not over the shoulder like he had before but cradling me in his arms like he had the night of the accident. I wanted to protest and beat my fists on his chest but it was much easier to be carried than using those crutches. I put my arms around his neck and he picked up the crutches with his free hand.
“Make sure you don’t knock my foot,” I said.
“Make way,” he called out. “Crippled woman coming through.”
“Hey, lay off on the ‘crippled’. It’s a temporary injury.”
But it did make people move out of our way. I had to appreciate that. Someone even jumped up and opened the door for me.
“You shouldn’t have had that last drink,” the door-opening stranger said to me.
“Yeah, good one.”
We got across the car park to Chad’s car but he didn’t put me down.
“You are too good for trash like that guy in the bar, Lucy.”
Man, another lecture. I was about to protest when Chad silenced me. With his mouth. At first, his lips just brushed against mine as though I was a delicate flower. That was shock enough. But then he pressed tighter, his tongue probing. I couldn’t do anything but respond. After all, he was carrying me and I had my arms around his neck. I had nowhere to run.
And my belly churned too hard for me to fight him. Instead I relaxed into his arms, pressing my lips harder against his and moving my hand from his neck to entangle in his hair.
Chad smelt good. He tasted good. And even though I’d kissed more men than I could even remember in this life, none of them had ever kissed me like Chad did.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Chad liked me. He obviously did. I kept shooting looks at him while he drove the car home and fuzzy-wuzzy feels zoomed around my body. I hugged my arms around myself and tried not to let him see me grin. Of course, he liked me. I mean, he’d been offered a shitload of money if he caught me breaking the deal I had with my grandmother and yet every time I even came close to getting laid, he’
d charged in like a wounded bull to keep me keep it in my pants. He liked me more than a big chunk of cash.
And he’d kissed me.
I wondered if I should stroke his leg, get all cosy with him while he was driving. I’d not been that concerned with road safety in the past. With any other guy, I’d have had his zip down and that tasty bit of man meat out in the open before we got to the first set of traffic lights.
Why did Chad make me feel so shy? My hands trembled just with the thought of touching him. My stomach lurched around in crazy patterns.
I crossed my legs to control my needs. I couldn’t even play it cool. I wanted Chad, I couldn’t deny it. I didn’t even want him in an “I’ve been so long without sex I’d take anything” kind of way. I wanted him in the way you want someone who rescues you when you are crawling the sidewalk and who looks after you when you’ve been injured kind of way. I wanted him in a way you wanted someone even after you’ve seen what a mess they make brushing their teeth and you have heard the weird noises that they make in their sleep kind of way. I wanted him bad.
I didn’t know much about Chad but I knew he had a big heart. He wasn’t like the guys I’d dated before. He was definitely not a fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em type.
“You okay?” Chad asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re very quiet.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? If he didn’t realise how much he’d rocked my world, then I wasn’t going to tell him. But surely he’d felt it too. It’d been like the world had shifted on its axis and all the stars buzzed through the sky.
The grin he gave me confirmed that he’d felt the same thing. It was a grin filled with promise. I’d let him take the lead with this. I’m usually the type that likes to sit in the driver’s seat, so to speak but it’d be nice to actually be seduced.
The drive from the bar to home had never been so long. We got every red light.
I uncrossed then recrossed my legs.
I’d never noticed before how alluring that curl of hair just behind Chad’s ear was. I’d love to twist that curl around my finger. And the way his thigh muscles strained against the denim of his jeans. Those thighs were solid. Holy shitola, I’d known Chad was one hot package but I’d never really dissected that hotness before.
The closer we got to home, the more excited I got. Even though I’d sworn off sex, it was different if it was Chad. I had my free card.
He pulled up outside our apartment and I jumped out of the car then remembered I couldn’t walk. It was hardly sexy having to hobble in with my crutches. Surely, Chad would offer to carry me again then I’d be wrapped up in his warm arms. I looked at him longingly but he didn’t respond. Instead, he dug in his pocket for his door key.
My heart sunk like a brick. Maybe the kiss had just been an impulse thing and he regretted it already. After all, I’d already tried it on with Chad and he’d rejected me once. I had no reason to think he’d changed his mind.
He grinned at me over the roof of the car though and it made my heart flutter. It was so on.
He got my crutches out of the back seat but didn’t hand them to me. Instead he put his arm around my waist so I had to lean on him with my arm around his neck to get inside. His grip on my waist was tighter than it needed to be which meant our bodies were completely touching. Side by side. And everywhere we touched sent sparks through me. It was a bit awkward getting up the path to the front door but we managed to shuffle our way up, both knowing how to move without even talking to each other.
When we got inside, things were a bit uncomfortable. All the rules had changed and I wasn’t sure where to go from there.
“Do you want a cup of tea?” Chad asked.
He really asked that!
“Yes,” I replied although a cup of tea was the last thing I wanted. He was just stalling for time. God, I’d never felt like that before. I had a whole bag of tricks that got me anything I wanted but Chad knew every trick for what they were. He’d just laugh at me. I had to be honest and raw with him and that was the hardest thing of all. I mean, the guy knew me. He’d seen me at my worst, in my ratty PJs not having showered for days. He’d seen me without make-up and heard me in the toilet. I had no secrets from him and that meant no tricks would work.
I hugged a cushion to my chest as though I needed some barrier to protect me from my feelings. That seemed totally wimpy though so I threw the cushion away and tried to look all casual, as though it was just another night at home. What was taking him so long? It was only a cup of tea.
I turned on the stereo so we had some music to cut through the silence.
Finally, he appeared with two cups. He sat them on the coffee table and then hesitated as though not sure whether to sit on the sofa beside me or on the arm chair where he normally sat. It made me relax a little to realise he was as nervous as I was.
He sat beside me.
Neither of us talked so I picked up my teacup and sipped it to have a reason for not talking. I had my arm resting on the back of the sofa and so did Chad. I inched my fingers towards his and he moved over too until, at last, our fingertips touched.
Zing!
His eyes met mine and I wanted to break away. It was almost too much for me to handle. Why couldn’t he just kiss me again? He moved so my hand was in his. He rubbed the side of my thumb and I giggled nervously.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I picked up my cup again but he reached over, taking it out of my hand and sat it back down. He stared at me again, moving closer.
This time, as his lips met mine, it was a stronger kiss, full of hunger. His mouth pressed hard against mine as he cupped my head. I rested my hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating as fast as I knew mine was. I wished we didn’t have the thin barrier of clothes between us.
He pressed even harder against me. His cock met my leg, already hard. I wriggled myself free so I could wrap my leg around him and draw him even closer.
I gasped as a twinge of pain went through my foot.
“Are you okay?” he said, breaking away from my lips.
“I’m fine now,” I grinned and pulled him back to me. I would be fine so long as he kept kissing me. I’d be totally fine.
He grabbed my leg and adjusted it so my ankle rested on the couch cushion behind him.
Rather than kiss me though, he just toyed with a strand of my hair. I ached for his lips again. The gentleness of his touch drove me insane. Inside, I begged him to kiss me. To shove me back against the sofa cushions and cover me with his body. He seemed to be holding back but I didn’t want it held back. I wanted it all let free.
He brushed his lips against mine. Just a brush. Nothing more. I put my arms around his neck to pull him closer. He shook me off.
Then he stood up.
“I’m going to bed,” he said.
I stood up too, all my expectations and horniness on my face. Did he mean bed alone or bed together?
I reached for him, pulling him closer to me. I needed to let him know how I felt.
“Lucy, you know we can’t.”
“The hell we can’t. Who’s going to know? There’s just the two of us here.” I didn’t want to plead with him but I would if that’s what it took. I couldn’t let him just walk away. We’d been so close. And he’d made the first move. Why had he even kissed me if he was going to pull away?
“I’d know. I can’t do it.” He ran his fingers through his hair and wouldn’t look at me. It was just weird.
Fuck him and his stupid moral values. It wasn’t as if he had any obligation to my grandmother. If he knew what a truly evil woman my grandmother was, he’d have no qualms about lying to her and taking her money. Maybe I should explain to him.
“I can’t take your grandmother’s money under false pretences and, deep down, I don’t think you can either.”
“Yeah, I can. I totally can. I can take all her money. Sit down and I’ll tell you why.”
He didn’t look convinc
ed but he sat down. In the armchair, not on the sofa beside me.
I fidgeted for a moment before launching into my story. I mean, you can’t go straight from horny and expecting a night of hot sex to dredging up the dirt of your family without a slight adjustment.
I finished off my cup of tea and tried to think about things that made me totally not horny. Actually, thinking about my grandmother did the trick.
“My grandmother likes people to think she’s a good person. She gives money to charity, usually stupid charities that don’t really help people, and makes a big deal about going to church and all that kind of thing but she’s a nasty person deep down.”
He nodded but didn’t make any comment.
“When Mum was young, she was expected to make a good marriage. That was when Grandfather was still alive. He and Grandmother brought Mum up to be ‘somebody’ but Mum never gave a toss about those kinds of things. Sure, she liked all the pretty dresses and the ponies and the chance to go to a good school but she never really wanted to just be a society woman. She went to university and studied law because that was expected of her but she never cared that much about a career or money or anything like that.”
I picked up my tea and took a sip even though it had gone cold.
“She met Dad at a party. He was the older brother of one of her classmates, the guy throwing the party, and Dad’d come back from overseas for a few weeks. He worked on a volunteer project with homeless kids in Cambodia, helping them to get off the streets. He’d tried hiding out to avoid the party but Mum caught him sneaking downstairs to grab some food off the kitchen table. He’d hoped to sneak back up to his room without having to talk to anyone. Dad hates parties. He hates people. But he got talking to Mum and, when he went back to his room, she went with him.
“He’s a funny, sweet guy who’d do anything for anyone but he’s not that interested in money either. They started dating. Then my grandparents found out. They did NOT approve.”
“That’s pretty expected, I guess,” said Chad. He leaned back in the chair with his hands folded.
“Right, but my grandmother, she acted like someone out of some crazy soap opera, trying to break them up. She offered my dad money to break up with Mum. Then she tried to set him up. She paid a woman to seduce him so she could get photos of them together. Of course, Dad was so crazy in love with Mum that he had nothing to do with her. All this went on and, at the same time, they kept trying to keep Mum away from him. They wanted to ship her off overseas – not to Cambodia but somewhere like England – so she’d forget him. Maybe Grandfather would’ve come around but Grandmother wouldn’t even let Dad in the house. She even had him followed.”
Hands Off! The 100 Day Agreement Page 8
