Playing With Fire (Sweet Secrets #3) (6 page)

Chapter 10

“Do you want anything to drink?” Shane asked, staring at me expectantly.

I shook my head no and offered a small smile. He was trying to make me feel comfortable, but it wasn’t helping. I was practically shaking from nerves. We were sitting in his room, in his house, alone. I’d been here before on a few different occasions, but this time was different. We’d never been alone here before. Before when I came over, Carter was here. There was even a time when Lena and I both came to swim in his pool. That was crazy fun. Now, without anyone else here, I was intimidated. My heart was pounding against my ribcage so loudly that I was sure he could hear it. If he could, he wasn’t showing it.

Instead he was just sitting on his desk chair, staring across at me on his bed. His hair was wet and slightly darker than usual. He was dressed in a casual t-shirt and loose fitting sweatpants, and somehow he still managed to look like a Greek Adonis.

I cleared my throat. “Do you want to pick a movie out for us?” I asked.

Our plan was to watch a movie together and just spend our Saturday night with each other. When we made the plans, I assumed that his parents would be here, but they weren’t. I was starting to wonder if they even existed. I’d never seen them, and Shane hardly ever talked about them. It was two days after Thanksgiving; shouldn’t they be home still getting over their turkey comas? The fact that they weren’t here made this situation impossibly awkward considering what happened the last time we were alone together. This was our first time seeing each other since my mom and John had walked in on us.

Shane nodded and hopped up from his seat. “Yeah, of course. What kind of movie are you in the mood for?” He walked toward the TV that sat on a small, wooden entertainment center across from his bed. Beneath the TV were rows and rows of DVDs.

I went to join him where he was leaning down to view the movie titles. “I love comedies, and I’m a sucker for a good romance.” I scanned the titles, seeing mainly horror flicks and thrillers.

“I might have something, but no promises,” he said with a breathy laugh. Shane furrowed his eyebrows and continued to look through the movies. After a moment, he raised his hand and reached to grab a DVD case. “Ah ha,” he said with a toothy grin. “
The Princess Bride
.”

I raised an eyebrow as I took the case from him and flipped it over in my hands. “Why do you have this?” I asked, dumbfounded that he actually owned the movie. When I was younger, Lena and I would watch
The Princess Bride
on repeat, and it was one of my all-time favorite movies. I was surprised Shane even knew what it was, let alone owned a copy.

Shane looked slightly embarrassed as he ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “It was one of my favorite movies when I was younger.”

“Are you serious?”

He nodded.

“Mine too!” I practically yelled. I opened the case and pulled the disk out. My nerves were quickly forgotten and I was ready to watch the movie.

Shane smiled and took the disk from me. He got it set up while I went down the hall to use the bathroom. I fixed my hair in the mirror and checked my makeup before I returned to his room. When I got back, his light was off and the TV was on the play screen. Shane was lying on his stomach facing the screen, and I joined him. When I lay down beside him, he placed his arm over my back and hit play.

We watched the movie, laughing like hyenas at all of the parts that seemed cheesy now that we were older, and even quoting lines. At one point, Shane stood up and acted out a scene while I laughed so hard I cried. I couldn’t believe that this guy, who had a reputation as a womanizer and was the big man on campus, could quote a chick-flick like
The Princess Bride
from memory. It was actually really cute how he was nerding out over the movie with me.

About halfway into the movie, Shane came up with the idea that every time someone on-screen kissed, we had to kiss too. As the movie went on, sometimes we talked about which parts were our favorite, and anything that brought back memories from our childhoods. As the final kiss scene came on screen, Shane pulled my body to his and kissed me so passionately that my heart swelled.

One hand cupped my cheek, while the other held me to him. His lips were both rough and smooth against mine. He didn’t break the kiss as we fell backwards onto his bed, his body beneath mine. He brushed the hair from my face, holding it back as our mouths molded against each other’s. His hand slipped under my shirt, sliding up my back and leaving a trail of warmth and tingles wherever he touched. A rush of heat started in my chest and slowly spread throughout my body, reaching every last limb.

A throaty groan sounded in the back of his throat as he rolled us over so that he was on top. My legs wrapped around his waist, pulling his hips toward me. The pleasure hit me in a sudden wave, causing me to moan against his mouth. He broke the kiss and traced his tongue down the side of my neck, sucking gently at the skin and placing fleeting kisses on every available inch. My breathing was ragged when his mouth returned to mine. I traced my tongue along his full bottom lip, trying to take control. He granted me access and our tongues danced as his hands lifted my shirt slowly. When it was bunched up above my chest, I leaned up and our lips disconnected as he pulled the shirt over my head. His was next.

When his head lowered again, he began kissing my chest along the top of my bra, following the outline of the material with his warm mouth. As his hands gripped my waist, and his lower body slid impossibly closer, brushing against me in all the right ways, it was as if a bucket of cold water was dumped over my head. This was starting to move faster and much further than I’d intended it to.

I placed both hands on his hard, bare chest, pushing him away from me slightly. “I’m not ready,” I offered as explanation, when he gave me a questioning look.

He looked slightly pained as he sat up, balancing himself above me. “Okay,” he responded. “That’s fine. We don’t have to. You know that.”

I nodded, biting my bottom lip as I stared up at him.

Shane stayed between my legs for just a moment more before he moved to lie beside me. He reached to the ground where we dropped our shirts and grabbed mine, handing it to me. I shrugged it on, then lay back down next to him, facing him. I noticed now that the movie had ended, and the menu screen was on again. In the light from the TV, I could make out Shane’s handsome face.

He cupped his hands around mine and held them between us as he looked into my eyes. “I’m willing to wait as long as you want me to.”

I continued to chew on my bottom lip as I nodded again. After a moment, I said, “Thank you.” Then, without really even thinking about it, I added, “I’m a virgin.” It wouldn’t have been such a bad thing to blurt out, if it was true. I don’t even know why I said it. The words just fell out of my mouth. I didn’t want him to push me, but he wasn’t. He said that he would wait for me to be ready. I didn’t have to lie to him, but for some reason I did.

I could hear my mom and Karlie’s voices in my head, and I didn’t want him to use me like they thought he would. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to find a way to keep him from hurting me, if that was his plan, even though it seemed like I was doing more of the hurting than he was. I was lying, and he had never been anything less than sweet to me. I just didn’t want to end up being
one
of Shane’s girls. I wanted to be his
only
girl.

Shane squeezed my hands in his. “Don’t worry. I won’t make you move any faster than you want to.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

He moved one hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear. “I wanted to ask you something the other day when I came over. Before everything happened,” he said, hinting at the awkwardness of being caught in a make-out session by my mother.

“Yeah?”

He was quiet for a second, before he asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

My mouth dropped open to form a small ‘o.’ I didn’t trust my voice to answer, so I just nodded my head furiously in response.

He smoothed his thumb over my cheek and smiled so hard that I could see all of his teeth in the dim lighting from the TV. “Really?” he asked.

“Really.”

Chapter 11

I leaned toward my laptop and smiled brightly as Lena returned to the screen. This was our first time talking in a while, and I was happy to see her. It was so strange not having her around all of the time, and having to schedule time to video-chat each other because of the time difference. She was also busy a lot with homework, friends, and life in general.

“Where were we?” she asked, tucking her unruly hair behind her ear. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt with my school’s name and logo on it. There was no doubt in my mind that it belonged to Carter.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought about what we were talking about before she went to the bathroom. When it came back to me, I said, “Blake and Violet. You were about to tell me something about them.”

She bounced her head hard as she nodded. Her eyes grew wide, and she slid closer to the camera. “Right. That’s it. Oh my gosh, you won’t believe what happened. I feel so bad for Violet.”

“What?”

“Guess,” she said, despite her previous statement that I wouldn’t believe what happened. If I wouldn’t believe it, then how could I guess it?

I shrugged, and sighed. “I don’t know. Just tell me.”

She shook her head no. “Guess,” she demanded.

I pouted. “Violet’s pregnant?”

Her laugh was loud, and instantaneous. “Yeah, right.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just tell me.”

“Okay,” she sighed, dragging the word out like I was forcing her to tell me. “Blake cheated on her again. That bastard.”

I raised both eyebrows in shock. “Really? What? How? When?”

Lena raised a hand to stop me. “He was sneaking behind her back to hang out with some girl from another school. She only found out because the girl tagged him in a picture of them on a date on Facebook.”

I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous. Poor Violet.”

“I know. She’ll move on, though. There’s this guy, Colton, who really likes her. She just doesn’t know it yet. She’s too busy trying to get over Blake.”

“Wow.”

“I know,” she mumbled. “Your turn now. Tell me something.” She propped her elbows up on her desk and rested her head on her hands, waiting.

I chewed my bottom lip to keep from smiling. “Well, Shane asked me to be his girlfriend a few days ago.” I still wasn’t over it. I had a little bubble of happiness in my belly.

Lena’s face lit up. “Really? That’s so great.”

“I’m so happy,” I replied, smiling so hard my cheeks burned. “I really like him.”

She nodded. “I know you do. He likes you too.”

“Yeah, I know he does.” I wanted to tell her about what happened at the party, but I bit my tongue.

Lena noticed instantly that I wasn’t saying something. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “Nothing is
wrong
. It’s just, we were at a party on Halloween and this girl Shane used to hook up with came over and kissed him. He pushed her away, but it made me really angry.”

“I would’ve been pissed,” Lena said.

“Oh trust me, I was. I got over it, though. It wasn’t his fault.”

Lena looked concerned. “Shane may be a jerk to girls, but he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t hurt you like he does other girls because you’re different and even he knows that.”

I smiled softly. “You’re just saying that because you’re my sister.”

Lena furrowed her eyebrows and frowned slightly. “That’s not true. You’re special, and you
are
my sister, which proves even more that he really likes you. He’d be an idiot to ruin things with you. If he messed things up with you, then he would also be messing things up with Carter.”

I shrugged, thinking about what she said. She was right. He wouldn’t get into a relationship with me of any kind if he didn’t think it was going to be serious. Hurting me would ruin his friendship with his best friend. I never really thought about it like that before. “How are you and Carter doing?

She looked happier instantly. “We’re doing great. I miss him so much.”

“Not more than me though, right?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course not,” she replied, shaking her head.

I smirked. “Good,” I said, raising my chin. “He misses you too though, just so you know. Poor guy looks sad whenever he isn’t texting you.”

She sighed. “I’m jealous you get to see him.”

“You should’ve stayed here.” I knitted my hands together in front of me, wishing she was here and that we were having this conversation face to face. I didn’t know when the next time would be that I saw her again, and it just made the aching pain of missing her grow stronger.

“No, Carter and I will be fine. We can make it through a year. I have faith in us.” She shifted positions and rested her chin on one palm. “I wanted to come back here. I think I’m going to look at colleges in San Diego, though.”

I perked up at the thought of that. “Think Dad would move back if you did?”

She shrugged, but I didn’t miss the hopeful glint in her eye. Not even through the slightly pixelated screen. “I hope so. I told him and he said that it sounds like a good plan. I told him about Carter too, and he’s happy for me. I also think he’s happy that we’re thousands of miles away from each other too.”

I laughed, just imagining Dad’s face if he knew about Shane. He actually knew Carter. “Don’t tell him about Shane then,” I chirped.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Yeah right. I’ll leave that fun task to you.”

I groaned jokingly. “How is he doing?”

“He’s doing well. He got a promotion at work, and seems happy. You should call him, he misses you.”

I bit my lip and nodded. “I will. I miss him too.”

Lena raised an eyebrow and regarded me for a moment. She looked almost skeptical. “Just for the record, he isn’t mad at you.”

I rubbed my arm and looked down. I didn’t know how she knew I thought he was mad at me for choosing to stay in California, rather than coming back to live with him for the school year. “Okay,” I murmured.

Her eyebrow was still raised when I looked back up at the screen. “So you’ll call him? Seriously?” she verified.

“Yeah, I seriously will.”

“Good.”