Finding You (By You #3) (28 page)

But Sarah wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Her mind was already racing with what she thought Jeremy was going to say when he found out she'd done it, when he found out that his girl had beat him at his own game. It was going to be one hell of a night, indeed.

The two men watched the throngs of people in front of them without saying anything. Jeremy had a nervous twitch in his leg as he wondered what it was going to be like when he actually sat down and talked to Sarah. It had been a long time coming, but that didn't mean it was going to be any easier. In fact, he'd probably made things worse, harder, by waiting so long. But there was nothing he could do about that, now. What was done was done.

"Look what we have here," Oz boomed.

Jeremy glanced up, and saw Sarah shuffling slowly towards them, with Billie close behind, guiding her along. No, not guiding her, she was nearly
carrying
her. Jeremy leapt to his feet, and rushed over to help her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, concerned.

"She's fine, just looks like she had a few too many," Billie said.

Jeremy wasn't sure if he should be more surprised to see the drunken smile on Sarah's face, or Billie actually being compassionate.

"Thanks for bringing her over," he said.

Oz gave up his seat and Jeremy made sure Sarah slumped into it without falling. As he set her into the chair, she grabbed his shirt and whispered in his ear.

"I've got a surprise for you," she whispered.

He gave her a quick smile, before turning back to the others. Billie fixed him with a wary look, when he did.

"You can take care of her?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, she'll be fine."

Billie's eyes narrowed and she kept staring at him. "I mean it. Don't let anything happen to her. I think I actually like that one, for some reason."

"You and me both," he said, grinning. "I promise, she'll be fine."

Billie nodded, satisfied. She hooked an arm around Oz and dragged him off with her. When they were gone, Jeremy turned back to Sarah, sliding into the seat next to hers.

"I've got a surprise for you," she said, again. "And you're going to like it."

He was definitely surprised to see her that drunk, but that grin of hers was still the sexiest thing he'd ever seen.

"And what's your surprise?" he asked.

She held out a piece of paper, and he stared at it for a few seconds before realizing what it was. But when he did, his jaw dropped in amazement. He took it from her and looked at the number inside.

"How did you..." He shook his head, his voice trailing off before he finished it.

Sarah leaned in closer to him. "That's right, I took your little impossible bet and I made it happen."

He grinned at her. "I guess you did."

"Yep... And now that I've won, I'm here to collect!" Her smile was huge when she said it, huge and hazy. But it didn't last long. Slowly, her smile slipped away, and she gave him a concerned look.

"What is it?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

She let out a groan, and bobbed her head in a nod.

"I have a confession..." Her neck dipped low, and she gave him big, puppy dog eyes. It was everything he could do to not let out a little laugh at how innocent and adorable she looked.

"And what's your confession?"

"I didn't really get his number... Billie did."

He frowned. "How did
Billie
get his number?"

Sarah perked up at that question, giving him a huge shrug of her shoulders. "I wondered the
same
thing. Because first the huge bouncer dude was like,
leave me alone or I'll throw you out,
and I figured there was no way to talk to that
Titanic
guy--" Jeremy let out a laugh as she recounted her story. She had to be the most adorable drunk girl he'd ever seen. He wanted to scoop her up and run off with her right then and there. "--But then Billie was like,
I got this
, and apparently she's a secret agent or something because she didn't have any problem getting past him." She tilted her head, giving him another resigned shrug. "And that was that."

"I see," he said. "So I guess that means you didn't win the bet, then."

Her nose scrunched up in that way that drove him crazy, and she gave him an uncertain look.

"Well, I
did
get his number. And you only said I had to get it, you didn't say who I had to get it from. So, I guess I didn't
completely
lose the bet."

He growled, and gave her a begrudging nod.

"I suppose you did," he said. He tried to soak all of her in as her eyes lit up when he agreed with her. He just wanted to pull her close to him and never let her go.

"So I guess since you
kind of
won, we need to settle on some new prize, huh?"

Her head tilted as she thought about it. It wasn't long before her smile spread even wider. "I know
exactly
what it will be."

"Oh, you do? And what is it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, in a playful way, and wiggled her finger at him, motioning him to come closer. He grinned and she leaned closer to her. She motioned again.
Closer
. He leaned in even closer. They were nearly face-to-face, and he could feel her soft breaths against his cheek. He could smell the alcohol, but that didn't distract him from the rest of her.

"You...me..." She said the words slowly, letting each one of them linger for what felt like an eternity. Drunk or not, she was teasing him on purpose, and he knew it.

"Yes?" he prompted her. She tilted her head to the side, giving him a coy little smile. The suspense was driving him crazy. "Are you going to tell me or you just messing with me?"

She crinkled her nose at him as she let out a long sigh. It was everything he could do to not pull her across the table into his arms right there. He wondered if she could sense what he wanted, because she puckered her lips and stared down at his own. Then she broke into a little giggle.

"I forgot what I was going to say," she said, between tiny giggles. But it didn't matter anymore. Those giggles had been the last straw.

Jeremy leaned forward, barely having to move, and kissed her. Soft and gentle. He tasted the alcohol more than he had before, but when her tongue slid out and met his, when she ran her hand through the back of his hair, everything else washed away. The kiss got more passionate and before he knew it, his hand was brushing the hair from the side of her cheek. Any excuse to touch her, to feel her close, he didn't care what the reason was. She pressed into him, too. Maybe it was the alcohol, but she kissed him with more passion, with more eagerness, than she ever had before.

When they finally separated, Jeremy had to fight back a rush of emotions. Like every time they stopped kissing, he was left feeling empty. He was always left feeling like he wanted to tell her about all of the things he saw in her, all of the things she made him feel. He wanted to tell her that he'd been living in a dream world for the last few years, and she'd been the one to finally wake him up.

But he couldn't tell her all those things. Not yet.

Just a little longer, just a little more time with those sweet, innocent eyes and the wonderful way they looked at him. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

Her face was bright with an unabashed smile fixed on him. "What are you thinking about right now?" she asked.

He gave her soft smile. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he couldn't. Just a little while longer.

"I'm still wondering what you want for winning the bet."

Excitement lit up behind those beautiful eyes of hers, and she bit her lip. Her happiness was so honest, like there couldn't possibly be anything better in the world than being there with him. It crushed him to know that that happiness had an expiration date attached to it.

"Come dance with me?" she said, her voice eager.

"Is that your prize? For me to dance with you?"

She nodded, quickly. "Oh, please say you will. I want to dance with you so bad."

He let out a soft chuckle. "You know I would have danced with you even if you hadn't won, right?"

"You would have?" she asked.

He nodded. "I'd do anything to put a smile on your face."

She bit her lip, and then leaned in for another kiss. When she pulled herself away, she gave him an almost sad look.

"What is it?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's just so easy to forget that we've only been together for a few weeks..." She licked her lips. "It feels like it's been a lot longer." Her mouth curled into a goofy grin. "In a good way, of course."

The smile on his face spread from ear to ear. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Ever since she'd come into his life, he felt like he'd found something he didn't even know was missing. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she made him feel whole.

Jeremy slid out of the chair and held his hand out to her.

"Come on. You have my permission to forget everything, tonight. It's just us. Nothing else matters."

As Sarah slid her hand into his and he led her out to the dance floor, supporting her as she leaned into him, Jeremy had every intention of living up to his side of that agreement.

One more night
--and he was going to make the most of it. One more night with this girl he'd fallen so desperately in love with, and then he'd let reality come back to him.

One more night of happiness, and then he could return to the life that he deserved.

The music pounding in Sarah's chest was strong enough to drown out everything around them. As Jeremy pressed his body up against hers, and as they moved together, in sync with that steady beat, there wasn't a single other thing that mattered in the world. Their bodies were wet and glistening with sweat, but she didn't care. She wouldn't have pulled away from him, even if she could. The only thing that mattered was feeling him against her, feeling that connection between them, a connection that was stronger than it had ever been before.

They danced for hours, and all of the moving around sobered her up, quickly. At least, it sobered her up enough that she wasn't embarrassing herself, anymore. But she never felt embarrassed around Jeremy. He never judged her, never criticized her, never made her feel like she'd done something wrong. It was all those little things he both did and didn't do that made her crazy about him, that made her feel safe with him.

At some point during the night, Reagan and her new friend ended up dancing alongside Sarah and Jeremy. Judging by the way they were touching each other, Sarah wasn't the only one feeling a connection, that night. Everything had been so perfect all night. Even with her getting way more drunk than she'd wanted, everything had turned out to be magical.

Before they knew it, it was already after one in the morning and they'd been dancing for hours on end. Sarah's legs were getting sore, but she was having the time of her life. Still, there were
other
things that she wanted to do, and she was glad when it looked like everyone else was ready to get going, too.

Reagan clung to her new friend, and Sarah agreed to give them both a ride back to campus. Tate was still dancing with a group of guys and refused to leave. He insisted the night was still young and that they were going to be sorry that they were leaving so early. Sarah wasn't sure what had happened to Billie and Oz, she'd seen very little of either of them since her and Jeremy had started dancing. But they could fend for themselves.

The four of them made their way down the street toward her car. Sarah leaned into Jeremy as they walked, letting him wrap his warmth around her. When they finally made it to that far parking lot, Jeremy held his hand out, stopping her.

"You can't drive," he said, simply. It wasn't a question.

"It'll be fine, I can barely feel it anymore after all that dancing."

He shook his head. "Give me your keys, I'll drive us back."

She frowned at him. "Are you sure?"

He let out a tiny laugh, nodding his head. "Just because I choose not to drive doesn't mean I don't know how."

"But your license?"

He waved a hand. "If we happen to get pulled over in the fifteen minutes it takes us to get back to campus, I'm sure the officer will understand when I explain the situation."

She considered it for a moment, but she knew he was right. There was no reason to risk anything if they didn't have to. She just didn't want him to feel like he was being put in an uncomfortable position because of her.

He held his open palm even higher, waggling his fingers. She nodded and dropped her keys into his hand, and walked around to get in on the passenger's side. It was weird sitting in the passenger's seat of your own car. It reminded her of those mirrors at the carnivals that distorted their reflections--you know it was you in the mirror, but it didn't look like you.

Reagan and her new boy climbed into the backseat--apparently Dylan was his name. From the looks of it, they weren't going to be doing too much talking on the ride home, and probably even less once they finally got back to the dorms. Sarah considered teasing her about having Braden's number, but she thought better of it. Reagan deserved a night of carefree fun, too.

"Seat belts, everyone," Jeremy said, as he turned the ignition. The engine roared to life and Sarah sat cockeyed on the seat, half facing Jeremy.

He pulled out onto the streets and turned towards campus. There were fewer cars out now than there was when they'd arrived, but the whole rave was still pretty busy, all the same. They drove a couple miles before he turned down a side street, off the main road.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Just a little shortcut," he said, giving her a warm smile. "No cars come this way, so we can make it down to campus faster."

She grinned back at him. She was fine with anything that would get them back to his dorm faster. She couldn't wait to be curled up in his arms, and couldn't wait to do those other things she wanted to do. The other things she'd been thinking about all night.

He glanced over at her, and gave her a puzzled look.