Even tipsy he was almost too perfect, and it irritated the hell out of me. He turned to face me, grinning down at me. “Are your claws stowed, kitty?” he asked.
I pretended not to know what he was talking about. “Can I get you some water?” I asked.
He chuckled and took hold of my hand, sending jolts of electricity up and down my spine. “Come with me. I want to talk to you somewhere I can hear you clearly.”
I followed him then and was surprised to find he was leading me back up the stairs Lavender and I had just descended. At the thought of my friend, I cringed. “Shit, Lavender,” I grumbled, and looked over my shoulder but saw no sign of her.
She was probably still with Daven, the prick.
“Where are you bringing me?” I shouted over the blaring music to Kale.
“Somewhere quiet,” he replied, and led me down a long hallway and took a right, then opened the first door on the left. We entered a white bedroom that was dimly lit by a lamp in the corner of the room.
“Whose bedroom is this, pup?” I asked Kale.
I heard the door close.
“It’s a guest room.”
I blinked and turned to face him, only to find him leaning against the now closed bedroom door. “How do you know it’s a guest room?” I quizzed.
He grinned. “I’ve been here to party a few times.”
I rolled my eyes, not wanting to know how many girls he’d shagged in this house, or in this room. “I don’t want to be in here if you bring girls here for sex.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’ve never had sex with anyone in here. I just know it’s a guest room.”
I eyed him, and when I saw the truth in his hooded eyes, I nodded.
“Come here,” he said.
I blinked. “Why?”
He shrugged. “’Cause I want you to.”
“Okay,” I said with a quizzical look, and I walked over to him, stopping a few inches away.
“You never answered my question downstairs,” he mumbled and reached out, placing his hands on my bare hips, causing my eyes to widen.
I blinked at the sound of my thudding heartbeat.
“What was your question?” I asked, not recalling anything I had said, because he put his hands on me.
He smirked. “I said, since when do you dress like this?”
I nervously swallowed. “Since tonight. They’re Lavender’s clothes; I’m just borrowing them.”
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and let his eyes roam over me once more. He looked at me like he appreciated what he saw. He looked at me like I wasn’t a kid, or his best friend. He looked like he . . . desired me.
“Since when do you look at me like that?” I asked, my breathing becoming a little rapid.
Kale’s eyes flashed with fire as he grinned at me. “Since you wore those skinny jeans and I saw you in your bra two months before you turned sixteen. You started looking more like a woman than a little girl.”
I almost fell over. He’d noticed me back then?
I rolled my eyes as if what he said didn’t affect me. “It’s my boobs, isn’t it?” I asked, teasing.
I was trying my hardest to play it cool.
Kale’s eyes zeroed in on my chest. “It’s always the boobs, Lane.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You perv.”
“Hey,” he smiled, flicking his whisky-coloured eyes up to mine. “You asked.”
I playfully shoved him. “If you’re done teasing me, we can go back downstairs.”
He didn’t move an inch.
“Who says I’m teasing you?” he murmured.
I cleared my throat. “I say.”
“Why?” he asked.
Did he want the list?
“Because I’m your best friend, like your sister and I’m under eighteen,” I rattled off. “Three things you always remind me of when we talk about anything related to sex.”
Kale’s tongue swiped across his bottom lip and got my full attention. “I say those things for your benefit, not mine.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, furrowing my brows.
He blinked and looked away from me. “Shit. Nothing. Forget I said—”
“Oh, no you don’t,” I stated and grabbed hold of his T-shirt when he tried to turn away from me.
Kale grunted but didn’t resist against my hold on him.
“Explain that,” I demanded. “Now.”
He looked up at the ceiling, then back down to me and said, “What do you want me to say, Lane?”
“I want you to tell me what you meant.”
His jaw set. “You sure you want to hear this?” he asked.
“I asked, didn’t I?”
He licked his lips and said, “I know . . . I know that you . . . like me.”
I felt my pounding heart drop to my stomach.
Be cool.
“Wh-Wh-What?” I stuttered.
Be bloody cooler!
I cleared my throat. “Run that by me again?”
He gazed down at me. “I’ve known for a few years that you like me in that way.”
I didn’t understand what was happening.
“Why do you think that?” I asked, trying not to appear as dumbfounded as I felt.
“Come on, Lane,” he said, his lip slightly quirked. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, how you get when I talk about Drew and other girls – and I’ve seen your scribbles on the back pages of your school journals.”
He. Did. Not.
I gasped in horror. “What?”
“‘Lane loves Kale’” – he fully grinned – “and my personal favourite, ‘Mrs Lane Hunt’.”
This wasn’t happening.
“Omigod,” I breathed, and tried to push away from him.
He laughed and swayed again as he grabbed hold of me. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
Embarrassed? my mind screamed. I am fucking mortified.
“Let me go,” I begged. “Omigod, I can’t ever look you in the eye again.”
Kale continued to laugh as I struggled against his hold, and it got under my skin.
“Stop laughing at me!” I shouted.
He pressed his face against my hair, and it halted my movements. “I’m not laughing at you, just at your reaction to me knowing you fancy me.”
The surface of my face felt like a supernova.
“Shut up, Kale!”
“Oh, give over,” he said, laughing again. “If it will make you feel better, I fancy you too.”
Everything stopped.
My heartbeat.
My breathing.
Time.
“You’re playing,” I whispered after a stretch of silence.
He nudged the side of my head with his face. “Look at me.”
I did.
I lifted my head until I was staring up at his transfixing face. “I’m not playing; I do fancy you.” He said this while looking into my eyes, and his eyes spoke to me too.
He was telling the truth. I felt my mouth drop open.
“Since when?” I asked, astonished.
He sheepishly smiled. “I told you. I noticed everything about you two months before you turned sixteen. You were upset over Anna O’Leary and Ally Day, and you got it into your head that you wanted a makeover. I noticed before that day that you were, um, filling out, but when you got your haircut and a new wardrobe, it highlighted everything that I found attractive about you. It was like a jolt of pure lust shot straight to my dick. I spent most of that day, and many more following it, trying to hide my hard-on from you.”
I could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes as I thought, Is he saying all this because he’s had a bit to drink?
“I know,” he breathed, taking in my reaction. “This admission is very sudden and out of the blue, but fuck, you look insanely hot tonight, and when you looked at me downstairs with the want in your eyes and got catty with those girls over me, it took everything in me not to kiss and touch you.”
I lift
ed my left hand to my right arm and pinched the skin. I winced as pain filled me, and Kale frowned. “Why did you do that?”
“Just making sure I’m not dreaming,” I replied.
He stared at me for a moment, and then a breathtaking smile curved his luscious lips. I smiled back at him but grabbed hold of his arms once more when he swayed on his feet.
“Shit,” he grumbled and lightly shook his head clear. “The whisky is hitting me at the worst time.”