“I probably am,” I nodded.
She looked so beautiful, standing there in the faded glow of the streetlights, that I couldn’t help myself. I leaned in instinctively and kissed her softly on the lips. I felt her tense for a moment before she relaxed into me and her body fell in against mine. When we finally broke apart, she was breathless, and my head was spinning.
“Sorry,” I said. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“Kiss me again,” she whispered.
I pulled her in again, and this time when I kissed her, there was no tension in her lips or her body. We fused together, and when her fingers tickled the back of my neck, I felt desire burn hot inside me.
“Come home with me,” I said, the moment the kiss broke.
Instantly, I felt tension rematerialize between us, and she pulled away from me. Uncertainty filled her eyes, and I also detected a note of panic there.
“I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly. “I have to go.”
“What—”
She removed my coat and handed it to me. “Thank you for the drink and the conversation; it was perfect.”
Then she turned and walked away from me. She left me standing there, staring after her, holding my coat that now smelled of her.
Chapter Eleven
Natalie
There was a crash just outside our dorm, and I moaned as I tried to hide away under my pillow. There was another commotion a few seconds later, and I realized that my lethargy was wearing off. I sighed and emerged from underneath the pillow I was holding over my head.
“Morning.”
I turned towards Missy’s bed. She was under her covers, in her pajamas but she looked slightly more alert than I did. “When did you wake up?” I asked.
“Five minutes ago,” she replied.
“What’s going on out there?”
“The usual probably,” she smiled. “You’re just sensitive to noise right now.”
“My head feels like it’s going to explode.”
“The mark of a successful night out,” she said proudly. “Apart from that, how are you feeling?”
“Tired,” I admitted. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving the bar. I just got…”
“Distracted?” I could see from her expression that no apologies were necessary. She was obviously bursting to know what had happened between Chance and me last night.
As the memories came flooding back, I felt a moment of delirious ecstasy, followed by a sharp stab of disappointment.
“Distracted is one way of putting it,” I said.
“I saw you leave with him,” she admitted. “And I figured…”
“You figured what?”
“How about you just tell me what happened,” Missy said, sitting up so that she could face me.
“He came up to me at the bar…”
“I saw that, too,” she nodded. “He was clearly into you.”