Unhinged (14 page)

“You,” I suggested.
“Tell me about you.”

“What do you want to
know?” she asked, reaching for a slice of pizza.

I loved the fact that
she didn’t pretend to be a bird, didn’t act as though one bite of pizza would
require her to spend two months at the gym. No, not Payton. She grabbed a slice
and took a bite before I could even come up with a question.

“What are you smiling
at?” Payton was studying me as she reached for a napkin and then wiped the
sauce from her lips.

“You,” I admitted
truthfully.

“Well, quit.”

Not a chance in hell.
There hadn’t been a damn thing in my life to smile at for as long as I could
remember, but now, with Payton, I wasn’t sure I would ever stop smiling.

“Are you from Austin?”
I asked after snatching a slice of pizza.

“Yep. Born and raised,”
she admitted. “My parents are from here, too.”

“They still married?”

“Yeah. My dad owns a
body shop and my mother’s a CPA.”

“Brothers or sisters?”
I asked between bites.

“Nope. Only child.”

“Did your dad restore
your Mustang?”

“He helped. He owns a
body shop, so it was a project they all undertook for a while. It was a gift
for my eighteenth birthday.”

“Not a fan of the
Mustang?”

“It’s fine. I just wish
it was a little more… modern.”

“But it’s a classic.”

“That it is. And by
classic, I think you mean old.”

“Not quite what I
meant, but okay, I get your point.” Laughing, I consumed my pizza, watching
Payton do the same. Was it strange that I found the way she ate pizza
incredibly sexy?

While Payton stopped at
one slice, I had four. By the time we finished, the place was filled to
capacity. I had to wrap my arm around her
—
certainly not a hardship
—
just so we could make it to the door.

Once outside, the scent
of gasoline and fall assaulted me.

“Where to now?” Payton
asked as we strolled down Sixth Street once again.

“It’s your night. You
tell me.”

“Why is it my night?” She
peered up at me as she spoke.

I just wanted to push
her against the building and ravage her mouth until neither of us knew what day
it was.

But I didn’t.

I was trying to control
myself. That’s what you did on a first date, right? Especially if you wanted
the first date to lead to another. And then another.

“Because it is,” I told
her. “Want to stop in one of the bars?”

“Sure. You pick though.
I’m not good at that.”

“Picking bars?”

“Picking anything.”
Payton’s smile was beautiful. So damn beautiful.

As we walked down the
street, I pointed to one of the tattoo shops. “That’s where I got most of my
work done.”

“Really?” Payton
stopped suddenly, looking up at me. “How much art do you have?”

“Not much more than
what you see,” I told her. My arms and my shoulders were the main areas I’d
focused on. I had a cross on my back, between my shoulder blades.

“Do they have meaning
behind them?” she asked, still not moving.

“Some do. Some don’t.
There for a while, I just did it to piss off…” I stopped myself immediately,
realizing that I was headed down a conversational dead end.

“Off limits tonight,
huh?” She obviously understood why I stopped.

“Just tonight,” I
explained, squeezing her hand.

“Okay.” Payton’s eyes
slid down to my mouth.

I could feel the heat
in her gaze and I desperately wanted to kiss her. It didn’t matter that we were
standing in the middle of a crowded sidewalk on one of the busiest streets in
downtown Austin for a Friday night. I couldn’t promise her that I wouldn’t kiss
her for the rest of the night, but I did remember her stipulation. For now, I
was going to do my damnedest to give her what she asked for.

“Come on. Let’s see how
much trouble we can get in.” I forced a smile, my brain working overtime on how
I was supposed to not kiss her. The temptation was just too great.

After all, the night
was still young.

Payton

The following morning,
I found myself lying in my bed, unable to get up.

Although it was
November, and the temperature at night hovered somewhere in the low fifties, it
still managed to get cold in the apartment thanks to the crappy insulation. No
one seemed to have a problem with the colder temperatures except me. Chloe
liked the cold and Aaron hadn’t been home enough for it to matter to him. And
since Chloe was anal when it came to controlling the thermostat, the heater
obviously wasn’t on, which was why I was snuggled beneath the down comforter on
my bed, staring around my room. I was freezing.

Chloe was the reason I
was awake. She was the reason I was usually up early every Saturday morning, in
fact. The woman was up with the sun, another one of her many quirks. And on
Saturday mornings, she always got up and made blueberry pancakes while singing
in the kitchen.

It sounded worse than
it was.

The woman could sing. I
mean she could belt out a tune like nobody’s business. It was incredible and
there were certainly worse ways to wake up.

But now that my eyes
were open, the sun peeking in through the curtains on my window, I thought back
to last night.

First date.

Yep, that had been a
first date to top all first dates.

After Sebastian and I
had left the pizza place, we stopped to watch a guy paint mind-blowing pictures
using just spray paint and little cardboard cutouts. I hadn’t been in any hurry
to move on, especially when Sebastian wrapped his arms around me, allowing me
to lean against his chest. We probably stood there for a solid half hour and
during that time, the guy with the spray paint completed three pictures. They
were incredible.

By two o’clock,
Sebastian and I had decided to call it a night. We’d spent several hours people
watching, laughing and joking about random things and keeping our conversation
light and impersonal.

At first, I’d been
disappointed that Sebastian didn’t want to open up to me, but when I recognized
the storm clouds in his brilliant gold gaze, I knew whatever he was holding
back was hard for him. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to know, but I also
didn’t want for our date to go to crap right off. So, we’d had a couple of
beers early on at one of the popular bars on Sixth Street and then closed the
place down at two. We’d stopped drinking early, so it hadn’t been the alcohol
talking when I had wanted to take him back to my apartment and ravish him until
dawn.

Just like the personal
conversation, that hadn’t happened either, and now I was wondering when I’d get
to see him again.

There was a light tap
on my bedroom door before it flew open and in strolled Chloe. She was wearing
an oversized T-shirt that read “My imaginary friend thinks you have serious
mental problems.” That was one of her favorites, although she had a drawer full
of different ones.

“Mornin’ sunshine!”
Chloe exclaimed moments before she flung herself onto my bed and cuddled up
beside me. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Just laying here,” I
told her, pulling the blanket up to my nose. I don’t know how the girl could
stand it to be so cold in the apartment, but she was the culprit who continued
to turn down the temperature until ice was practically forming on the air
vents. I would admit that it probably wasn’t quite cool enough outside to turn
on the heater, but I was pretty sure we could have gone without the air
conditioner for a couple of weeks.

“How’d your date go?”
she asked, flopping onto her back and staring at the ceiling along with me.

“Amazing,” I told her,
unable to stop the grin from forming on my face.

“Yeah?” Chloe turned
her head to the side and looked at me. “So, the mechanic can fix more than just
cars, can he?”

“Shut up,” I scolded
her, laughing. “It was nice.”

“Nice. I’m sure that
sexy bad boy would love to know you called him nice.”

“I didn’t call him
nice. I said the date was nice.”

“I’m sure that’s what
he was going for,” Chloe said with a laugh. “What time did you get home?”

“It was after two.
Where were you anyway?” I turned my head to look at her.

Chloe wasn’t home when
I arrived, so I hadn’t had anyone to share the details of my date with. Which
was probably a good thing because, at the time, I’d been floating on a cloud
and I would have sounded pathetic.

“Out.”

“That’s it. That’s all
you’re gonna tell me?” I asked, turning my head and looking at the ceiling
again.

“Yup!” she squealed and
jumped to her feet. “Breakfast’s ready. Come eat with me.”

The only reason I
agreed was because my stomach grumbled loudly, reminding me that I’d only had
one slice of pizza for dinner last night and that had been early. If I had been
out with Chloe or Aaron, I would have had at least two, but with Sebastian, I
didn’t want to look like a pig so I’d cut myself off.

The scent of sweet
blueberries drifted from the kitchen, seemingly calling out to my stomach.
Snatching my white, fluffy robe from the small chair beside my bed, I wrapped
it around myself and followed Chloe to the kitchen.

I nearly tripped over
my own two feet when I stepped into the small breakfast area.

There, sitting in one
of the kitchen chairs was…

“Payton, you remember
Toby.”

“I… uh…” Yeah, I
remembered him. Although I hadn’t been positive what his name was, but I
certainly remembered him.

I patted my hair,
wondering just how bad I looked and then decided to slip into the bathroom. Although,
run
to the bathroom
was a more apt description.

Sebastian’s friend Toby
was in our kitchen.

Our kitchen.

Toby.

And Chloe was still in
her pajamas.

I stared at myself in
the mirror above the sink, trying to remember what Toby had been wearing. Jeans
and a T-shirt, maybe? Did he have on shoes? The powers of deductive reasoning
were telling me that Toby had spent the night. But I was hoping that I was
missing something.

Why didn’t Chloe
mention this to me before? Why would she let me stumble out of my bedroom
looking like death warmed over just to find a strange man in my kitchen?

After brushing my
teeth, I splashed cold water on my face and massaged the skin beneath my eyes,
willing myself to look more awake. I took a brush to my hair but then decided
to pull it back in a ponytail. Without makeup, I really did look like a
teenager, but at the moment, it beat the alternative: looking like a zombie
apocalypse had started and they’d taken me first.

Shit.

A gentle knock on the
door had me spinning around and clutching my hand to my chest.

“You okay in there?”
Chloe called from the other side of the door.

No. I wasn’t. But
that’s not what I said. “Yep. Be out in a sec.” I hoped my voice sounded more
chipper than I felt.

“You can do this,” I
told the woman in the mirror. “Just walk out there and have a civil
conversation with Sebastian’s friend. It doesn’t matter why he’s here. It
doesn’t even matter that he might’ve stayed the night.”

Like hell.

Another splash of cold
water on my face and I was scrubbing it off with a hand towel before tightening
the belt on my robe and reaching for the door knob.

Part of me expected to
see Chloe standing in the hallway, ready to tell me just what the hell was
going on, but the only thing that met me was the lingering scent of pancakes
and syrup.

Taking a deep breath, I
pasted a smile on my face and walked into the living room.

“Oh, my God!” I
squealed like an idiot, spun on my heel and darted into my bedroom before
slamming the door behind me.

Sebastian was in my
kitchen.

Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh
crap.

I buried my face in my
hands and started laughing uncontrollably.

Payton

I had no idea how long
I stood there like that, but then there was a knock on my door. “Come in.” I could
hardly speak through my laughter, but I figured Chloe was back to check on me
so I forced the words out.

“Hey.”

I was pretty sure I had
a minor heart attack. Grateful that my bed was close by, I dropped to my butt
and stared at the sexy man standing in my bedroom doorway.

“You okay?” he asked,
that mischievous gleam in his eyes disarming me.

“Nope. Not okay,” I
mumbled loudly. “Not sure I’ll be okay ever again.”

That only seemed to
intensify his amusement, and Sebastian moved into the room and closed the door
behind him.

Shit.

Not good.

“What…” I closed my
mouth, cleared my throat and tried again. “What…?”
are you doing here?
I
couldn’t seem to get the last part of the sentence out of my mouth, but I knew
I was gaping at Sebastian.

“Cat got your tongue,
Angel?” Sebastian stalked closer to me.

That was the only way
to explain the predatory gleam in his beautiful eyes. I felt like a mouse who’d
been cornered by a cat, and I didn’t know quite what to do about it.

The next thing I knew,
I was on my back with my feet resting on the floor, and Sebastian was above me.
His hands were planted firmly on the bed as he held himself up. I was in
desperate need of air because being this close to him was…

“Good morning,” he
whispered in that raspy tone that I’d come to want more of.

I was suddenly grateful
that I had brushed my teeth.

“Morning.” Oh, Lord.
Was that my voice? Did I just croak?

The smirk that tilted
the corner of Sebastian’s mouth sent my hormones into overdrive. I could feel
the warmth of his body through my robe although he wasn’t touching me.

I cleared my throat,
intent on not looking like a love-struck fool as I lay beneath him, staring up
at his handsome face. “What are you doing here?”

“Toby mentioned
breakfast.”

“Why is Toby here?” I felt
a little better now that I’d found my voice again. The fact that Sebastian was
still hovering above me was doing strange things to my insides, but at least I
sounded like I was unaffected.

Maybe.

“Chloe invited him.”

“So he didn’t stay the
night?” I attempted to sit up only to find that Sebastian wasn’t going to move.

“Not my business,”
Sebastian murmured, his eyes drifting down to my mouth.

No, it wasn’t. Nor was
it my business, but I had to admit, I wasn’t used to waking up to find strange
men in our apartment. I’d lived with Chloe for the last year after I’d decided
that in order to save money, I needed to take on an additional roommate. Aaron
and I had been in a two bedroom apartment until I met Chloe when I decided to
try a new hair stylist closer to where we’d moved. From the moment we started
talking, we’d been instant friends and a few short months later, Aaron and I
moved to a three bedroom apartment following the logic that with three people
splitting the rent we’d save more money.

It had worked, and
until now, especially with Aaron always gone, things had been rather boring at
home.

Finding strange men in
my kitchen first thing in the morning took boring and shattered it into a
million pieces.

“What are you thinking
about?”

Sebastian’s question
pulled me from my thoughts. “Nothing. What are
you
thinking about?” I
realized he was still looking at my mouth.

“Kissing you. It’s the
only thing I
can
think about.”

Okay, so that one
sentence sent a torrent of tingles through my insides. I was tempted to rub up
against him like a cat, wanting to press my body to his, to feel every hard
plane of his body against me. Thankfully my legs were shut, but I couldn’t move
because Sebastian was practically straddling me, his feet still planted firmly
on the floor, legs spread wide, his knees trapping my thighs between them.

“Well, you know the
rules,” I whispered, wishing the rules would take a flying leap right out the
window. I wanted him to kiss me. I’d wanted that since I made the stupid rule
in the first place.

Sebastian had thrown me
for a loop last night. After we had left the pizza place, aside from holding my
hand and putting his arms around me while we’d watched the painter, we hadn’t
touched at all. No kissing, no making out in the parking lot. Nothing.

And even when he had
walked me to my door at two-thirty in the morning, he didn’t even offer a good
night kiss. It had left me desperately wanting him.

I was pretty sure that
was his plan.

“I do know the rules,”
he said softly. “But you know what I think about rules?”

“Hmm?” I asked, unable
to tear my gaze from his lips. When he talked, I could see the silver barbell
through his tongue.

Sebastian didn’t answer
my question with words. He simply leaned down and pressed his lips to mine.

It was like an
explosion occurred inside me. Unable to resist, I threw my arms around his neck
and kissed him back. I was the aggressor, forcing my tongue into his mouth
until we were crushed together. The growl that erupted from him made my body
ignite and I feared that I was going to go up in a puff of smoke any minute
now.

“Angel,” he growled
against my lips, his hand sliding behind my head.

The next thing I knew,
Sebastian was flat on the bed and I was lying on top of him, straddling his
hips. I could feel his erection pressing against me and holy smokes, I wanted more
of him.

But he didn’t touch me
and I didn’t touch him, other than where our bodies were resting against one
another. His tongue dueled with mine and his hands were cupping my head, but he
wasn’t trying to cop a feel.

God, I wanted him to
cop a feel.

Shit.

Now I was acting like a
horny teenager.

Someone pounded on the
door and I drew my mouth from Sebastian’s, staring down at him.

“Come on, kids. Time to
eat,” Toby called through the door.

I giggled when
Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“You heard him,” Sebastian
said, his voice raspy and breathless. At least he was feeling the same thing I
was.

“Yes, I did,” I told
him. “I’m not hungry.”

“I am,” Sebastian
replied, his eyes sliding to my mouth again. “But not for food.”

“I hope you’re dressed,
’cause I’m comin’ in,” Toby announced from the door, and I jumped off
Sebastian, getting to my feet and nearly falling over.

“He’s kidding.”
Sebastian sounded sure of himself, but I realized he’d gotten to his feet too,
and he had planted his hands on my shoulders, keeping me from falling into the
small desk in the corner. “Come on. Let’s eat.”

I nodded. I had no
choice.

Once again my voice had
disappeared into thin air.

As we walked into the
living room, I checked to ensure that my robe was closed while hiding behind Sebastian.
Not that I was worried about anyone seeing the shorts and tank top that I was
sporting, but I felt a little exposed. That was the reason I used the fluffy
cotton robe to cover myself because I certainly wasn’t cold anymore.

Sebastian stepped out of
the way and allowed me to take a seat before he did the same. No one said a
word, but I heard Toby and Chloe snicker a time or two. I was halfway through
one of my pancakes when I asked, “So what the hell’s going on here? Did you
stay the night?”

Toby’s eyes widened and
his smirk disappeared immediately. I guess he hadn’t expected me to call him to
the carpet.

I shot a sideways glance
at Sebastian and smiled. At least, for the moment, we were out of the hot seat.
After all, it wasn’t like we were sneaking around. He hadn’t stayed the night
with me. But I wasn’t so sure that Toby and Chloe hadn’t done the horizontal
mambo last night.

“No, he didn’t stay the
night,” Chloe said, annoyed.

“No? Then why is he
here?”

“Because he likes
pancakes.”

“Is that right?” This
time Sebastian spoke, eyeing Toby across the table. “Since when?”

“Since right now,” Toby
answered quickly, his eyes trained on his pancakes.

“You sure?” Sebastian
inquired.

He was waiting for Toby
to look at him, but it was clear the man wasn’t going to.

“I take it the two of
you are seeing each other?” I asked Chloe when no one said anything else. She
seemed just as interested in studying her pancakes as Toby.

“I’d say that’s a yes.”
Sebastian looked at me, then lowered his voice and leaned closer. “He hates
pancakes.”

“I do not! These are
fucking perfect,” Toby growled.

Sebastian and I
laughed, Chloe’s face turned beet red, and Toby just watched the three of us.

Then the table erupted
in laughter.

“Fine, I hate
pancakes.”

“You do?” Chloe asked, her
eyes wide.

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you
eating them?” she asked.

“Because I don’t think
I can say no to you.”

All laughter ceased
immediately. My gaze bounced back and forth between Chloe and Toby. Yeah, there
was something going on there for sure. I just didn’t know what it was. I wanted
to ask her, but I knew now wasn’t the time.

Toby pushed his
pancakes away and Sebastian laughed. “Told you.”

Chloe reached over and
smacked Toby on the arm. It wasn’t hard, more like a love tap which had me
joining Sebastian as we chuckled.

I’m not sure when I’d
had that much fun. At least not in a long time.

“So, what’s the plan
for the day?” Toby asked, not talking to anyone in particular.

“I’ve got to go see my
dad,” I announced.

“You gonna take your
boyfriend to meet him?” Toby joked.

“He’s not my
boyfriend,” I blurted, although there wasn’t any heat behind it. Who said
boyfriend these days?

“Based on that look,
I’d say you’re wrong,” Chloe commented.

“Whatever.” I didn’t
look at Sebastian, but I could feel him looking at me.

Whatever was happening
between us… it was hopeful. I could admit that much. The chemistry was off the
charts, something I hadn’t experienced with anyone in a long time. But the fact
of the matter was, I worked for Mr. Trovato. I needed my job, and I didn’t
think it would go over well if he found out I was dating Sebastian. I still
didn’t know how they were related, but I knew they were. Too many coincidences
and all.

“What about you?
What’re your plans for the day?” Toby asked Sebastian directly.

“I’ve got a couple of
errands to run. Then… who knows.”

I watched Sebastian
speak, but I barely heard the words. He was so incredibly handsome. There was
that bad boy vibe that I got, but it belied the way he treated me, which was
surprising. I’d always thought that bad boys had a God complex, but Sebastian
wasn’t like that. There was an air about him. He had a quick smile, although I
could see something raging in his eyes. But he certainly wasn’t the cocky,
arrogant type. Not all the time anyway. He had a magnetic pull on me. And
likely plenty of other women, but when I was with him, I saw something else. Something
deeper.

Wow. And now I was
acting like I actually knew him. We still hadn’t hashed out any of our personal
histories and I’d only met him a week ago, yet here I was acting as though this
might actually go somewhere.

I really needed to get
a grip. I had too much going on at the moment and getting involved with someone
who clearly could make me lose focus wasn’t a good thing.

Since I wasn’t the type
of girl to sleep with a guy just because my hormones thought it was a good
idea, I wasn’t even sure whether this would continue anyway. When Sebastian
looked at me, I saw heat in his gaze. And it was burning me alive. But I knew I
couldn’t give in to it. Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

“Okay, well…” I pushed
my plate away, trying to play it cool. “I’ve got to take a shower. I’ve got
things to do.”

With that, I pushed to
my feet and looked at the three of them.

I was just about to
walk away, proud of myself for putting a little distance between me and
Sebastian when he looked up and smirked. “Need help with that?”

Yes. No. Damn it. The
answer was no.

“No. Thanks for the
offer though,” I answered, my voice choppy.

Yep, it was safe to say
that I was in no way equipped to deal with a guy like Sebastian. It didn’t even
matter how much I tried to talk myself out of it, I knew if he continued to
work his way into my life, I was going to give in.