Always Remember (Memories) (11 page)

“
Five, and not for my lack of trying to escape,” I tease over my glass.

“
Trying to escape?” His eyebrows quirk upwards.

“
Mhmm.” I set my glass down, and walk sideways. He turns to follow me, his eyes stalking me. The gleam in them gets my heart beating faster and adrenaline humming through my body. I’m surprised.

I
want
him to catch me.

“
You can’t escape me,” he challenges.

“
You can’t catch me.” I walk backwards slowly, backing into the sofa. I skirt round it to the other side, and he eyes me over it.

“
Wanna bet?”

“
Honey, I can run around this sofa all day.”

“
Honey, I can run around after you all day.”

Point for the stalker-boy.

He moves quickly, and I squeal, running away from him around the sofa. My heart is pounding frantically and I’m trying to hold in the giggles.

Samuel Bing Edwards is chasing a girl.
Ha!

The thought seriously amuses me.

His lips curl in a playful half smile, and I half grin back at him. Damn. He moves again, and I run around the sofa in the direction of my room. I scoot inside and shut the door, leaning against it.

“
Cheater!” he growls through the door. I run away from it on silent tip toes as he bangs on it, and I lean against the far wall. He tries the handle and nearly falls into the room, his now dark brown eyes falling on mine. He’s as excited as I am by our playful chase. “Jennifer...”

“
Samuel....” I bat my lashes, and he stalks across the room silently, his long legs swallowing the room up in seconds. I can’t think of anything but him as he comes towards me, tall and dark.

He
’s the darkness in my life and I’m the light in his.

Go fucking figure.

He’s inches away from me, and I slide along the wall, out of his reach. His eyes narrow and I grin at him, jumping over my bed. He turns to face me, and jumps onto the bed. I stop moving as he steps down.

In a split second decision, I launch myself at him and we fall back to the bed, laughing together. His arms encircle my waist holding me to him. My hair falls down around his face, and he smiles up at me.

“
I
caught
you
.” I smirk.

“
You caught me.” He rolls us over so he’s on top of me. “But now I’ve got you. What are you gonna do?”

I can feel him pushing against my thigh and my legs automatically tighten round his waist. He drops his forehead to mine, breathing heavily.

“Nothing,” I whisper. “I’m not gonna do anything.”

I lower my lips to hers, one of my hands cupping the side of her face. Her skin is like silk beneath mine, soft and inviting. Her tongue snakes out and traces along my top lip. She moves her hands to my back and fists my shirt as her legs tighten around my waist again.

Shit on a stick.

She nips my bottom lip, and I groan, kissing her harder. My lips leave hers and I trace kisses along her neck, across her shoulder and back again.

“
Bing,” she whispers in a breathless tone that goes straight to my dick.

“
What, gorgeous?” I swirl my tongue just under her ear.

Her breath catches.
“I want my pizza.”

I stop and look at her.
“You’re serious?”

Her blue eyes are on fire with sex behind them
, but still innocent at the same time. She nods. “I’m still hungry.”

“
Dammit, Jennifer. You’re gonna be the death of me.” I rub my thumb along her bottom lip, and she blinks at me.

“
Can you wait until I’ve had my pizza?”

“
Carry on,” I growl. “And I’ll be eating your damn pizza off of you.”

“
Not tonight, dear.” She pats my cheek. “Maybe another time.”

I can
’t help but smile at her. I love her playful side, the one she only seems to let out with me. I saw it with Carl but with me she feels... Freer. Like she can really let go.

“
Then no pizza,” I threaten.

She scowls at me.
“We’re so not friends.”

“
We weren’t anyway,” I smirk. “I think we missed that stage, don’t you?”

Her tongue runs across her top lip as she thinks about it. Jen. Tongue.

Stop it, Bing.

“
Yep.” She nods. “We definitely forgot that part. But unless I get food, we won’t be anything.”

“
Demon.” I kiss her once more, and she bites my lip, her teeth dragging across it gently.

“
You have no idea.”

“
You could have let me get changed first,” I grumble, tucking my scarf over my chin and nose. The wind is biting cold, and I just know I’ll end up looking like some deformed Rudolph by the end of the night. I shiver, and wrap my arms around myself. A series of beeps tells me he’s locked the car.

Arms wrap around my shoulders from behind, and I feel warm breath on my cheek.
“Cold, gorgeous?” Bing asks.

“
No, I thought I might get my bikini out. You know, all these tropical temperatures.” I look dubiously up at the sky and the tiny flakes falling from it.

“
As much as I wouldn’t object to you walking around in a bikini, I don’t think it’s compatible with ice skating.” He chuckles slightly and moves to my side, pulling me into his body and directing me towards the Winter Wonderland entrance.

Hyde Park is magical at Christmas, and we
’re catching the tail end of Winter Wonderland. In fact, it’s the last night. The trees are still standing high, lights are twinkling everywhere, and the horrible snow adds a certain magic to it.

If it wasn
’t so cold, I’d probably like to live somewhere like this. Maybe Germany. But, it’s cold, and we all know how much I
love
the cold.

I rub my gloved hands together, and Bing shakes his head.

“Jen, we’re not in the North Pole.”

I pout slightly.
“It’s cold!”

We stop at a vendor
and he orders two hot chocolates, winking at me. I beam at him as he hands me the take-out mug. The heat seeps through my gloves, warming my hands. I sigh happily.

“
Better?” he asks, kissing the top of my head.

I nod.
“Much. Thank you.” I turn my face to kiss his cheek but my mouth finds his. He sweeps his tongue along my top lip, the warmth a stark contrast to the coldness of his lips.

I pull back and raise my cup to my mouth. He grins knowingly
, and squeezes my shoulders. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s go and find Alec and Lexy.”

Oh, thank God.

We push through the crowds, dodging to avoid excited children shouting and screaming at their parents. I still don’t get the excitement over snow. It’s cold. And wet. And
cold
.

“
Isn’t that them over there?” I nod to the ice skating rink where I can see a couple snuggled in.

Bing squints slightly.
“I think so. That’s where they’re supposed to be.”

“
Let’s go then,” I move, pulling him with me. He slips a little on some compacted ice, and I giggle. He looks down at me, smirking. “What?” I ask.

“
Have you ever ice skated before?”

“
No. Should I have?”

A broad grin stretches out on his face.
“Oh, man. This is gonna be fun.” He takes his arm from around my waist, strolling over to Lexy and Alec.

“
What? It can’t be that hard!” I look at the rink with the Victorian bandstand in the centre, jogging after him. “If little kids can do it, I can!”

Lexy smiles.
“It’s harder than it looks.”

Alec looks at the rink and back at me dubiously.
“Can we not skate? Really? There’s loads for us to do here so…”

I slap his arm.
“Don’t be a chicken shit, Alec! We can do this. It’ll be just like rollerskating.”

Bing snorts.
“Yeah… But with ice and blades.”

I raise an eyebrow at him.
“I can think of a good place for those blades right now.”

He half-grins at me.
“Not in public, babe.”

I purse my lips.
“You’re dirty.”

He steps towards me, lowering his mouth next to my ear. 
“Have you ever complained?”

“
No.”

“
Well then.”

I elbow him gently.

“They’re cute. In an annoying kind of way,” Lexy muses.

“
Uh, sure?” Alec frowns at her.

“
Don’t you see it? Even though they’re in a – sorry, not in – a relationship, they still bicker like they always have.” She turns, swinging their clasped hands. “And it’s annoying, but it’s cute because they’re so into each other.”

“
What made you the resident love guru?” I yell after her.

“
She’s right,” Bing mutters, pulling me after them.

“
That we bicker? I know that, Samuel.”

“
No.” I look up at him, and he’s smiling. “I am “into you,” as she put it. In fact, I’ve been all the way into you.”

I sigh, shaking my head.
“And there was me thinking you were going to say something romantic.”

“
What, the flowers aren’t enough?”

“
I never said that. But a few swoony, oh-my-gosh-turn-my-legs-to-jelly comments wouldn’t go amiss. I’m just sayin’.”

“
Fine. I’ll work on that.”

I nod my head once, grinning up at him. He pays the fee for the skating, and
we collect two pairs of skates. I put my empty take-out cup in the bin, holding onto Bing’s arm to steady myself.

Wow, okay. These aren
’t great for the old balance. I hold onto my ear.

“
What are you doing?” he asks, looking down at me amused.

“
I’m keeping my balance. Ears help that shit, you know.” I watch as Lexy guides Alec on the ice. He slips almost straight away, and she laughs, struggling to hold him up. “Alec should try it.”

Bing turns his face towards the rink just as Alec falls backwards. Lexy falls with him, laughing loudly.

“So you’re trying to stop that?” Bing looks back at me.

“
No, it’s obviously my goal to fall flat on my ass. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“
That might not be such a bad thing.”

“
Of course it would be bad. We’re not just talking any ass here. We’re talking
my
ass.”

“
And it’s a very nice ass.”

“
Thank you.”

“
One that I’d have no issues with rubbing better should you fall on it.” He grins wolfishly.

I sigh, holding onto the side of the rink as I pull myself onto the ice.
“I should have guessed that was coming.”

Bing gets onto the ice, skating round me.
“It’s one of my special qualities.”

“
The ability to make anything x-rated?”

“
No.” He shakes his head, and skates forward. He takes my hands from the side. I squeak. “Just the ability to make anything about you x-rated.”

“
I want to hold the side. Let me hold the side.” I squeeze my eyes shut as he pulls me slowly across the ice. “And enough with the x-rated. You’re supposed to be romancing me, not seducing me.”

I squeal loudly as he pulls me into him. I wobble a little on the skates, holding his hands tighter. He chuckles quietly, and my face presses into his chest.

“Jen,” he whispers, lowering our arms. “I can’t help it if my thoughts are x-rated about you. It’s not my fault if every single part of me is attracted to you. I can’t help wanting to be inside you in every way – in your body and in your heart. And I can’t help it if I’m falling into you with every smile and sarcastic comment. I can’t help that I’ve been falling a little more every day since I met you again.”

My heart misses a few beats, like a drunken leprechaun doing a tap dance, and I slowly raise my head up. My eyes me
et his, and they’re full of sincerity.