His eyes suddenly turn hungry as they land on my lips, stretched into a wild smile. He’s not blinking, just staring, and I stop laughing. I anxiously lick my lips, and his eyes snap to mine. He crosses the distance between us in the blink of an eye, his lips landing on mine, shocking me into a stupor.
I think he shocks himself, too, as he doesn’t touch me anywhere but my lips. My eyes are wide open as I try to comprehend what’s happening. His arms are noodles at his sides, and his lips are shy. They just touch mine, no tongue.
His eyes snap open, and he tries to rear back, but I don’t let him. Instead, I grab the front of his sweater and pull him into me. He stumbles as he tries to regain his footing, but his hands land on my back. The height difference makes the kiss awkward, so he bends lower and moves his hands to my lower back, helping me to my tippytoes. Snaking them under my jacket, I can feel his warm palms through my sweater, despite him not having decent clothes in this freezing weather.
His tongue traces my lower lip, probing it. I reluctantly open, letting him slip in. The velvety feeling of him invading my mouth makes my breath hitch, and I part my lips wider on instinct. He groans as if in pain and dives deeper.
Pressing me into him, he intensifies the kiss. Our teeth clink, and I sink my nails into the buff muscles of his shoulders. He lets out another loud groan and grinds his pelvis into me. Even through my coat, I can feel his hardness.
Fuck.Fuck! What am I doing?
I push on his chest and jump away.
Chapter Two
ARCHIE
Fuck. Fuck! What am I doing?
I look at her swollen lips and crazed, glassy eyes. She stumbles back and stares at me.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” I wipe my face with my hand. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“That’s okay.” She averts her unusual gray eyes as if seeing me disgusts her, and I notice the specks of dark blue in them.
And oh fuck, do I understand her. Seeing myself in the mirror every single day disgusts me too.
“It’s an adrenaline rush,” she adds with a small smile, finally meeting my eyes. “Happens to the best of us.”
“Right.” I start backing away. “Thanks for stopping by.”
“Where are you going?” Her voice rises slightly as her eyes narrow suspiciously.
“To my car.” I point behind my back to my nonexistent car and turn to walk away.
“You’re delusional if you think I’m letting you walk all the way to your car.” A deep, loud sigh follows. “Wherever it is.”
I keep walking, not paying attention to what she said. Feeling ashamed to my fucking core that she caught methinkingand somehowreadmy fucking mind, I wish more than anything to disappear and to never see this woman ever again.
Someone grabs my forearm, and I suddenly turn, ready to push whoever’s next to me away. Not seeing her, I shove the hand touching me away, too rough and too fast, before I comprehend it’s her. Shaking my head to clear it from the haze I’m in, I wipe my face again and groan.
“Fuck.Fuck!” I take a deep breath, reining myself in. “I’m sorry. I don’t react well to people touching me unexpectedly.” Another reason to be ashamed and hope to never see her again.
Her wary eyes dart between mine before she swallows and nods. Toounderstanding. “That’s okay too.”
“Okay?” I let out a sardonic laugh. “Areyouokay?” I take a step toward her. “Stopping for a fucking stranger on an empty road?” I spread my arms wide. “I can be a serial killer, for all you know. I just fuckin’ pushed you away, and yet, you’re saying it’s okay. It’s not fucking okay.” I get in her face, noticing that I let my accent slip a bit, being high on emotions. “I’m twice your size, if not more, yet you’re here, eager to help. What’s wrong with you?” Her eyes widen at the proximity. I’m an inch away from her.
“With me? What’s wrong with me?” She presses her finger between my pecs, pushing hard. “What’s wrong with you? Huh? Being here alone in the cold? Walking to your car,” she mockingly mimics my voice and makes quotation marks in theair. “I don’t know what kind of assholes people are where you’re from, but where I’m from, we don’t do this to people.” She lifts herself up on her tippytoes and gets in my face, still poking her finger into my chest. Her wild, red hair frames her pale face and reddened cheeks like a sun wrapping someone in a blazing hug. “We fuckin’ care.” She pokes one last time, hard—surprisingly hard for such a tiny human. “Now get your ass in my car before we both freeze to death.” Her little nostrils flare, and she begins walking toward her tiny sedan. There’s a light jump in her step, a clear indication of irritation.
My cock jerks as my eyes widen.Fuck.I want to look down and ask the fucker what’s happening and why he got so excited, but that would be too weird, well,weirder, because the situation is already awkward enough.
I didn’t know I like to be ordered around like that, but I find myself smirking before following her like a puppy. She climbs into the driver’s seat, her head barely visible from behind the wheel, and I find myself smiling at how cute she looks. Like a tiny, angry doll, her red hair sticking out from under her hat, her small hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, knuckles white.
The passenger seat is so close to the dashboard, I feel like a four-foot person sat here before me. Moving the seat back, I can barely fit my six-three frame into it as I crouch and knock my head on the ceiling in the process.
“Are you done?” comes a snarky voice from the driver’s side, followed by a snort. I give her a side-eye and buckle up as she starts the car. “Where to?”
“Cat and Stallion.” I name the local bar I left my car at, and she quirks a questioning brow. “I drove a friend who had too much. Happy now?” Why I am explaining this to her, I’ll never know.
