“Nico, get lost,” Danika says from behind me and it’s like a calm breeze has floated over me. She has no idea how close I was to snapping and the fact that she came at just the right time is not meaningless.
Nico mutters some nonsense I care nothing about as he saunters away and Danika takes his seat.
“Good conversation?”
“Thrilling,” I deadpan. Danika only shakes her head. She knows better than most that nothing but bile comes out of that boy’s mouth.
“Are you okay? You seem…off.”
“I’m fine, Dani.”
“You haven’t called me…”
I look over at her.
“You haven’t called me brat in a while.”
She actually looks sheepish. I’ve never seen her look sheepish in her entire life. It’s adorable.
“I guess you haven’t been much of a brat lately.” The gleam in her eye says she’s ready to take on that challenge. She finishes her beer, placing the bottle on the edge of the chair, she stands.
“That kiss inside. Nico was nowhere in sight.”
I’ve been caught redhanded but I don’t feel one ounce badly about it. In fact, I’m more than happy to tell her everything about how I feel about her. I’m just not sure she’s ready to hear it.
I only grunt in response.
Danika narrows her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, the motion pushing her perfect cleavage up closer to her gorgeous face.Ah, fuck. This is not the place I want to get an erection. But god, I love her feisty attitude. It matches perfectly with her blazing red hair. Hair long enough for me to wrap around my fist. Twice.
She’s giving me that look that says she’s waiting for me to tell her something but I know she’s not ready to hear what I have to say. But maybe I’m tired of waiting.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Danika
“Idon’tknowwhatyou want me to say.”
He’s acting so weird and I have no idea why. That kiss in the living room was insanely hot and would’ve been a great show for Nico but I didn’t see Nico anywhere in that room. It seemed like he only did that kiss for himself.
Which would be crazy.
Why would he want to kiss me?
“I’m just confused, I think,” I say, letting my arms drop to my sides. I slide onto the arm of Arden’s chair. “I thought we were pretending.”
Grabbing my hand, Arden pulls me down toward him. He places my palm over the seam of his pants where a rather considerable bulge feels ready to burst through.
“Does this feelpretendto you?”
I stifle my surprise and the noise comes out like a moan instead. My eyes bolt to his and we hold the contact for what seemed like an eternity.
“Say something, Danika.”
“I–”
But before I can muster up anything, Arden’s tongue slips along my mouth and his lips connect to mine as if they were sewn together. I grip his neck, pulling him even closer to me as I keep my other palm pressed firmly on his crotch.
This feels exactly like the kiss on the couch. The one we did just for us, not for anyone else. This feels like something we both desperately want. Like something we’ve been aching for.