Did he expect me to believe he was choosing this moment to try his hand at kindness? No, this had to be some kind of cruel gag. If I backed down, he’d probably tell everyonehewas the one who didn’t want to kissme. And even if he didn’t, I’d forever be known on campus as the girl who couldn’t handle the heat. Kaz may be leaving tomorrow, but I still had a few years left here. I wasn’t going to let him humiliate me as a parting gift.
“Why? You scared?” I challenged, tilting my head slightly so I could look him in the eyes. “Should have known you were all talk.”
He smirked. If he felt any genuine moral hesitation about kissing me, he was pretty darn good at hiding it. “Big words coming from someone like you.” He placed one firm hand on the small of my back, as if he owned me.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“You’re the one who ran away from me last time, remember?”
The heat radiating off this man’s body was ridiculous. I was beginning to sweat. “You’re stalling. Is this your first kiss or something?”
The smirk transformed into a vicious-looking grin. “You won’t be wondering about that once I’m finished with you.” His gaze dropped to my lips. “You’re different than I thought.”
What the hell didthatmean? How much time has this guy spent thinking about me? It was a disturbing idea. “I live to surprise you,” I retorted. I unclenched my fists, brought my hands to his chest, and curled my fingers into his shirt. If he thought he was the only one who could get grabby, he was dead wrong.
“Enough chitchat! You going to kiss or what?” Brock yelled.
Kaz tugged me closer. I made sure to dig my nails into his surprisingly muscular pectorals. He glanced down at my hands. “Are you trying to turn me on?”
Absolutely insufferable. “Shut up and do it already.”
That seemed to tip him over the edge. He placed his other hand on my left hip, lifted me to him—WTF? He was strong—and claimed my lips in a searing kiss.
I was floating. Literally. My toes were scraping the ground, but besides that I was airborne in Kaz’s arms. His physicality was overwhelming, especially since it was so unexpected. I’d never touched him before this, never crossed into his personal bubble, and now I was discovering the bubble wasn’t as horrible as I’d expected.
He smelled nice.
And he kissedrealnice.
When his tongue swiped against my bottom lip, I granted him entrance on autopilot. Yeah, this definitely wasn’t his first kiss. Kazimir Mikhailovich Nabokov was devouring my mouth, and on a purely physical level, I was actuallyenjoyingit.
When I nipped on his upper lip, he made a sound at the back of his throat that made the hairs on my arms stand straight up. Heat rushed through my veins and settled somewhere right between my legs.
Oh my God, the spawn of Satan was turning me on.
The thought was so distressing I broke the kiss. Kaz’s lips were pink, and his chest rose with heavy breaths under my palms. The circle around us was cheering, yelling lewd things at us as if we were on display at the world’s most inappropriate zoo. My cheeks were burning, as was the spot on my hip where Kaz’s hand still lingered.
I took a step back, forcing him to drop his hand. His green eyes were still fixated on me. He made no sign of hearing or giving a single fuck about our audience.
I whirled around, beelined toward the nearest gap in the circle of bodies, and pushed my way out. Someone gripped my wrist before I could break through. Outraged, I looked up, searching for whoever was trying to stop me. When I found him, my heart froze mid-beat.
Mason was glaring down at me, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might snap. The room around us darkened. I felt ashamed, even though I had no reason for it.
“Let go,” I hissed at him.
He did, shaking his head as if in disbelief or disappointment.
This was his dropping-out party, and yet he was judgingme? How dare he look at me like I’d done something wrong?
I brushed past him, charged out of the house, and made it home so fast I barely even felt the night-time chill.
It was a good thing they’d be gone tomorrow. After tonight, I hoped I’d never see either of them again.
* * *
The next morning, I woke up to my roommate shoving a piece of bacon into my mouth.
“What in the goddamn hell are you doing?” I sputtered, brushing the greasy, nearly burnt piece away. Lindsay sat on the edge of my bed, gnawing on her lip. Her eyes swam with remorse.
