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Authors: Colina Brennan

Tags: #Romance, #romance sex, #Young Adult, #sex addiction, #Contemporary, #sex, #new adult, #contemporary romance

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BOOK: Addicted to You
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Interminable minutes later, the unusually
loud click of a nearby camera phone made him crack his eye
open.

At first, he was certain he was
dreaming.

Light from the stage lined her silhouette.
She stood a bit farther down the aisle, holding up her smart phone
as she took another shot of the stage. Her hair, which she always
had tied back during therapy sessions, was loose around her
shoulders, and her legs were covered in black tights and gray boots
beneath a short skirt that fluttered slightly when she shifted for
another shot.

He stared at the way the light outlined the
bend of her arm, the curve of her cheek, and the long line of her
legs. The way it softened all her edges. He couldn’t believe she
was here. Hidden as he was in the darkest and farthest row from the
stage, he wasn’t surprised that she had yet to notice him. He
pushed himself up straight.

On the stage, the actors had changed back
into their own clothing and were speaking quietly to the director
as the crew cleaned up. Finn looked like he was searching the
audience. Since he probably couldn’t see anything without the door
to the lobby open, Will waved. Finn must have spotted him because
he waved back.

At the gesture, his grumpy beauty gave a
curious glance over her shoulder. She squinted a bit to make him
out in the dark. He could tell the exact moment she realized who he
was because her entire body stiffened, and she looked ready to bolt
down the aisle. Will quickly stood.

“Hey.”

She gave the mostly-empty audience a wary
look before pushing her hair behind her ear and holding her phone
stiffly in front of her like a shield. Suspicious for someone who
supposedly didn’t care about what other people thought of her. As
he got closer though, he caught the way her eyes gave him a fairly
languid once-over before focusing on his face. He smiled.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed before
he could ask the same. Even scowling, she was beautiful.

He gestured to the stage. “My friend is in
the play.” With a nod at her phone, he asked, “What’s with the
pictures? You know someone acting too?”

“No.” She looked down to scroll through the
photos she’d just taken. The light from her screen lit the tip of
her nose and cheekbones.

“So you just like taking pictures of people
rehearsing?”

Her gaze flicked up. “No.”

He offered her another smile, hoping to
crack her shell again. The way she’d smiled the other week during
the meeting, as though the action had caught her off guard, had
made him immediately decide he wanted to see it again.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t smiled since. Would it always take
forcing her to talk about her childhood to get her to relax her
guard? Although, truthfully, neither of them had been forced to
share anything, so what did it say about them that they had?

“So what are you doing then?”

“It’s none of your business. Why are you
talking to me?” She didn’t sound nearly as annoyed as he knew she
could. He considered it a victory.

He thought about how to
answer her question. ‘Because I like you’ would probably be too
honest at this point. Or would it? She
had
kissed him first.

Speaking of which, her lips were stained
red, the color made even darker by the dim lighting. They looked
very kissable.

Seeing the direction of his gaze, she
visibly swallowed—his eyes followed the motion of her throat—before
her tongue darted out to moisten her bottom lip. Will’s stomach
tightened.

His mind grasped for words as his feet moved
forward, seized by the desire to erase the space between them.

“Are you against talking? Actually, don’t
answer that.” Judging by how forthcoming she was at the meetings,
he already knew the answer.

She rolled her eyes and didn’t budge even
though he was now close enough that the edge of the phone clutched
in her hand touched his chest. “I’m taking pictures to put up on
the drama department’s website,” she mumbled, her words sounding
like an afterthought. “They couldn’t get one of the photography
students to do it.”

Did that mean she worked on the University
websites? He smiled at the unwitting clue she’d given him about
where he might be able to find her again.

She fingered the edge of her phone, her
knuckles brushing against him. This close, he could practically
feel the tension melt from her body, transforming into something
else, something that set the air between them crackling. It
occurred to him that there was no counselor lurking in the shadows,
waiting to punish their disregard of his lessons.

“That’s cool,” he said, leaning down a bit,
gauging her response. “Are you coming to see it next weekend?”

“Probably not.” She’d spoken in almost a
whisper, her breath warm against the hollow of his neck.

He grasped her wrist and stepped back. She
looked surprised and, to Will’s pleasure, disappointed that he
hadn’t kissed her. With a light tug, he pulled her down the aisle
until they were standing next to the back row, in front of the
exit, shrouded in darkness. She seemed to have picked up on his
intent because she shoved her phone into a hidden pocket in her
skirt.

Before she’d even finished, he had her
backed up against the armrest of an aisle seat. Her hands found his
upper arms, fingers tight against him, bracing. His eyes had
quickly readjusted to the dark, and he could see the way she looked
at him from beneath those thick lashes. Expectant. Wanting. It made
him burn.

 

 

Chapter Twelve

 

“Did you mean it?” he whispered. “What you
said at the last meeting. That you’re only there because your
roommate forced you?” Because if that were true, it would mean she
didn’t have a sex addiction, and he would feel less like an arse
for wanting her, for what he was about to do.

Her brows pulled together into a distracted
frown. “What does it matter?”

He waited, counting her quickening breaths
against his collarbones. Each one sent odd jolts down his chest and
arms. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t be
incriminating.

She tilted her head a bit, her cheek
brushing his jaw. “Yes,” she whispered.

Despite her confirmation, she looked … not
exactly doubtful, but not fully convinced either. Maybe she really
didn’t know. Maybe her roommate was right about her.

Too bad that didn’t change how he felt at
all.

So he kissed her anyway. Her lips were soft,
achingly so, and he moved against her with barely restrained want.
For her part, she didn’t seem to mind. Her palms slid up his
shoulders and into his hair, gripping hard as she arched against
him.

His own hands found their way to her face,
cupping it with the sort of reverence he would have been
embarrassed about if he were thinking clearly. His fingers curled
against the soft skin just beneath her ears, his mouth drawing
ragged breaths from her. His own chest felt in short supply of
oxygen as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to break away.

Reaching down, he gripped the backs of her
thighs and lifted her onto the armrest of the aisle seat. She
immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, and the throaty
whimper that escaped her as he settled against her was
intoxicating. He pulled back just far enough to see her, to take in
her hooded eyes and parted lips, her clear anticipation, before he
leaned back in and trailed his tongue along the swell of her bottom
lip. She nipped him lightly in response before deepening the kiss.
Her legs tightened around him, her hips moving in response to his
own tight, deliberate thrusts. There were too many layers between
them. He ached to be inside her.

Everything faded away. There was nothing but
the two of them, her hands in his hair, her mouth against his, and
her body wrapped around him.

His fingers found the bottom hem of her
blouse and brushed it aside until he felt warm, satin skin. She
made a ragged sound of encouragement, her own fingers digging into
his shoulder blades. He slid his palm up her side, loving the feel
of her arching against him, until he touched the edge of her bra.
Her lips broke away as she tilted her head back to drag in air, and
he took the opportunity to press kisses down the side of her
neck.

He could feel her shaking against him, the
desire between them almost frightening in intensity. His fingers
slid over the slippery fabric of her bra as he cupped her breast.
She gave a quiet moan, moving her hips in earnest now. His other
hand gripped her hip and pulled her tighter against him, the dry
friction agonizingly sweet and yet not enough.

He whispered against her neck, “I want
you.”

She whispered back, “Take me.”

Fuck
. There went his self-control.

Supporting her weight, he straightened,
shifting so that his back rested against the cool metal door of the
exit. Reluctantly, he slowly lowered her to the floor, groaning as
she deliberately rocked against his aching erection.

His hand found hers and held on as he turned
and reached for the exit.

“Dude, where are you?”

Both of them froze. Finn was coming up the
aisle, squinting into the darkness in search of him.

The sound of their heavy breaths felt
suddenly like guilt. She snatched her hand from his and took
several large steps away. The seconds it took Finn to reach them
felt stretched, and at the same time, not long enough.

Awareness filled the silence—awareness of
the physical distance between them now, of the cool air returning
reason to their muddled thoughts, of what they had both been eager
for and the shadow of doubt that maybe they should have been more
sensible. Should he apologize? But he wasn't sorry, and he had a
feeling she wasn't either.

Their gazes met, and he could practically
see her expression go carefully, deliberately blank. She was
shutting him out.

Will was stunned by how much that hurt.

“Hey.” Finn was close enough now that he’d
finally spotted him. Since the aisle was narrow, Finn immediately
saw Will’s company as well. “What’s up?”

“I have to go,” she said, sounding amazingly
composed considering what they’d just been doing. She reached for
the door. He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She glared at
his touch, but he was grateful when she made no move to sever the
contact.

He licked his dry lips. With the haze of
want having faded to a low burn, easily ignored for the time being,
all he wanted now was to be able to talk with her, to have the
chance to ask her on that date. And knowing her name would be
great, too.

“My friend and I are going out for pizza,”
he said. “Come with us?”

“No.”

Her rejection was immediate. Will swallowed
back the disappointment, gave his bruised ego a pat, and rallied
his optimism.

“At least introduce me first,” Finn said,
looking between them with an expression that was hard to make
out.

Will shifted so that he could open the door.
Light from the lobby flooded through, illuminating Finn’s knowing
smile. His nameless girl turned her face away and brought up her
hand to avoid the sudden brightness. She peered at him from beneath
the shade of her hand.

He looked at her and gestured to Finn. “This
is Finn. He's playing lead in the play.”

She gave Finn a curt nod, which made Finn
smile and look bemused.

“Finn, this is...” He let his voice taper
off, hoping she would fill in the blank and properly introduce
herself.

Her flat look meant she knew what he wanted
and wouldn’t satisfy his now-desperate need to know her name.

“An acquaintance,” she finished for him.

A moment ago, she had invited him to take
her, and now he was just an acquaintance. Ouch.

He had no intention of letting that
stand.

Finn laughed. “Are you coming to see the
play next week?”

“I was just taking pictures for the drama
department’s website.” She dropped her hand from her face, her eyes
having adjusted to the light.

“I know,” Finn said. “Our director told us.
Make sure I look pretty.” He flashed a grin, and damned if he
didn’t know how to turn up the charm. Her expression actually
softened.

“Are you a transfer student?” she asked.

Willingly furthering the conversation. Will
wondered if he needed to be jealous.

“I’ve taken pictures for the department
before,” she continued, “but I don’t recall seeing you.”

“Nope. I’m not actually a drama major.”

She frowned. “But you’re playing the
lead.”

Since she wasn't rushing off to disappear
again until their next meeting, Will was happy to let them talk. He
was less happy about the fact she had seemingly forgotten about his
presence, but he took the opportunity to get a closer look at her
in an environment where she didn’t constantly have her shields up.
At the meetings, she looked like the world was out to get her, and
she would take it on with nothing but the sheer force of her glare
(it was, indeed, formidable). She looked softer here, still wary,
but not rigidly so.

How had she looked just minutes ago, wrapped
around him? How would she look with all her defenses down? He vowed
to find out.

When he realized he was staring at the way
her mouth moved when she spoke, he looked away. She had a fantastic
mouth—the fuller bottom lip and the way the corners of her mouth
relaxed only when she smiled, which was rare enough to be
disarming. That mouth had continued to haunt his dreams even though
that first kiss happened two weeks ago. He was fairly certain his
dreams would now feature more than her mouth.

A loud cough brought his head back up. The
cough had come from Kat, who stood in the aisle past Finn. She
fixed all three of them with a glare that could probably take his
grumpy beauty’s in a fight. In fact, Kat’s glare could strangle all
other glares, then vilify them and set their entrails on fire.

BOOK: Addicted to You
13.53Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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