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I jerked against the floor at the booming voice as a massive, mostly naked guy entered my vision. Tighty-whiteys, shoes, and a football helmet. Nothing else.
I nodded, unable to say anything as I tried to get the image of him out of my head even though he was still standing right there.
“I saved your life!” He stood up and lifted his arms in victory, and I covered my face to block things I didn’t want to see. “I just saved her life!”
There were loud cheers throughout the house, and the music turned on suddenly, making me jump again. I wasn’t sure when they’d turned it off, but knowing that my choking on unusually large candy had stopped a party had my panic subsiding and my mortification kicking in.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Taylor sobbed.
“Excuse me, Cinderella?” a deep voice called next to my ear.
Cinderella? I removed my hand from my face to look at the guy who belonged to that voice, then quickly pushed myself up onto my elbows when I took in his face, so close to mine.
My cheeks burned with embarrassed heat, but I didn’t know how to look away from him. Despite a large red mark on his forehead, his face was flawless and masculine, with a strong brow and nose, a smirk I knew would’ve made my knees weak had I been standing, and a lethal stare from green eyes so clear it was as if I could see through the iris.
My gaze had become so fixated on the way his lips moved that it took a few seconds too long to realize he’d said something. “I’m sorry, what?”
The smirk broadened for a brief moment, giving me a glimpse of straight, white teeth. He leaned over me until his lips were at my ear, and if I’d had the capability to breathe around him, I would’ve stopped then. “I said I think you lost this,” he drawled, and I swooned.
Literally . . . swooned. As in: all the air left my body in one hard rush, I was unable to keep myself up on my elbows any longer, my head felt light and dizzy, the room spun, and I was pretty sure I’d just entered a romance novel. It really didn’t matter that it was from the lingering effects of nearly choking to death, and then unknowingly holding my breath for too long.
“Whoa.” He quickly put a hand under my head before it could smack on the hardwood floor.
“I’m fine,” I said breathlessly, and internally berated myself for doing everything imaginable to look like an idiot tonight. I tried to sit up, but the guy was still hovering over me, making it impossible to go farther than I’d been.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” I promised, and blew out a steadying breath when he sat back.
“Good. I can’t have you passing out on me, Cinderella.”
“Cin—” My head shook firmly as I corrected him. “No, my name is Rorie.”
With another slow smirk, he gestured to the red mark on his forehead for barely a second, then reached behind him and produced my stiletto.
My embarrassment from earlier couldn’t compare to the level it was at then as I put it all together. My shoe had flown into his face.
“Oh my God,” I whispered so low, the words drifted away with the bass of the music. “I’m so sorry.”
He laughed easily, as if he hadn’t just taken a five-inch stiletto to the face, and glanced from my shoe to me. “My name is Declan,” he provided. “I already know this shoe belongs to you. What I want to know now, Cinderella, is if I give this back to you, are you going to run away from me?”
Despite my humiliation, my lips spread into a smile as the name finally made sense. I reached for the shoe, but Declan held it away from me. His expression showed he was still waiting for an answer. With a raised eyebrow, I said, “I lost both shoes. I don’t care what Disney said, a girl can’t run away very easily with only one shoe.”
His smirk stretched to match my smile, and he dipped his head close. “Then I’m keeping the other one that hit the back of my head.”
2
Two Months Ago
Aurora
I RELEASED A heavy breath and a wide smile broke free as I took in the sight before me. This was it, what we’d been planning and waiting for . . . we were finally going to be together. Not that thirty minutes away could ever be considered long-distance; but with how crazy both our senior years had been, Declan and I hadn’t gotten nearly enough time together in the ten months that we’d been dating. And the time we had spent together had often been filled with other friends or studying. Now? Now it was just us. We’d both graduated a month ago, had debated on where we wanted to live, and then searched for the perfect apartment.
Apartment: found. Move everything in: just finished. Live out my happy ever after with boyfriend . . .
“Welcome home,” Declan murmured into my ear as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest.
. . . definitely working on it.
