Page 42

Her hand froze on the hardback titled Never Be Lied to Again .

Reaching past her, I pushed the volume back in the one inch she’d pulled it out, and leaving my hand there, I rested it against the metal shelf, trapping her between me and the books.

Then, I used my free hand to take hold of her wrist and ease the sleeve of her sweater down to reveal her tattoo.

“Honest question,” I asked, running my thumb over the feathered design and making her shudder. “Was that logo on the envelope an M for Mistress or a W for Waverly?”

Her only answer was to tug her hand free and curl both arms against her chest protectively. Then dropping back onto her heels as if defeated, she cowardly remained facing the shelf with her back to me.

She stood there awkwardly, exhaling loudly, and I knew she was trying to form an escape plan instead of answering.

But I wasn’t letting her get away. Not this time.

Tipping my face in close to her ear, I lowered my voice and asked, “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out?”

Waverly tried to turn the other direction away from me and duck under my arm. But I shifted to block her, and she jarred to a halt.

“You’re crafty. I’ll give you that,” I added. “You were this close to evading me completely, but I know it was you I had my tongue inside.”

She whimpered. In fear or lust, I couldn’t tell. But she still wouldn’t turn around, and it pissed me off.

“Dammit, turn around and face me.”

So she did. Moving slowly, she lifted her chin and looked me directly in the eyes.

It was more than I could take. My body and brain went haywire.

There was just something about her large, cautious brown eyes that tightened around my chest and robbed me of rational thought.

Yet all she did was watch me, waiting for me to make the next move or show my hand so she could react before I did.

Determined to throw her off track, I moved in without thinking.

Wrapping a hand around the back of her neck, I hauled her against me and plastered my mouth to hers.

Her lips were sweet and soft, supple and giving, and I groaned as I started to sink into them, my tongue slipping out to touch hers.

God, she tasted good.

She even started to kiss me back, her mouth saying hello to mine?—

Until she shoved me away abruptly.

“What the hell?” she demanded.

Jostled from the desire, I scowled as reality returned to me.

“I don’t know!” I bellowed defensively. “You’re the one who just had to go and look at me like that.”

“You told me to look at you,” she cried.

“Not like that .”

“What? How was I freaking looking at you?”

“I don’t know. You?—”

I gritted my teeth, not sure what to say. I’d been anxious and hopeful to find my mystery girl and finish what we’d started that night. But learning she was Waverly changed everything.

I felt deceived.

Lied to.

Fooled.

And turned the fuck on, which pissed me off more than anything.

Latching onto the anger, I growled, “You made me think I was with someone else.” Then my voice cracked. “You duped me.”

Instead of fighting back, the wounded hitch in my voice made her gaze splinter with regret, and she started to shake her head in denial.

“Don’t fucking shake your head at me,” I ordered. “I called you Makayla numerous times. You knew I thought you were someone else. Why didn’t you correct me?”

“I—” She ducked her head and looked anywhere but at me. “I tried to, but you…”

When she shook her head, unwilling to continue the explanation, I grabbed her arms. “I what ?”

“Stop. Let me go,” she rumbled in a low, warning voice. When she shook me off, I lifted my hands but didn’t back away.

“Why?” I wanted to know.

She shook her head again, still unable to look at me.

“Waverly,” I warned.

Her brown eyes rose to mine with defiant irritation.

“Why?” I repeated.

She glanced past me, clearly wanting to escape.

I shifted into her path, forcing her to look at me. Finally managing to quell my tone, I murmured, “I just want to understand.”

Shoulders slumping with defeat, she squeezed her eyes shut for a second before looking up at me and wincing. “I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal. You have sex with literally everyone else. Why would one more girl matter?—?”

“Because it matters ,” I bit out.

“Why?” she asked, turning the why question my way, and honestly looking confused.

Hissing in frustration, I grabbed the front of her shirt and hauled her against me, kissing her—again—in the hopes of showing her why. Because she was the untouchable, and now that I’d touched her, I was never going to be able to stop.

I knew I wouldn’t.

Already addicted, I stabbed my tongue between her teeth and used my free hand to cup her face as I feasted, gorging myself on the ecstasy of it. She tasted so fucking good; I didn’t want to ever let go.

Whimpering, she wound her arms around my neck, and need surged hot and heavy through me. I released my grip from their current locations and started to grip the hem of her shirt, intent to get her naked.

Until a chair down on the first level scraped across the floor, reminding me we were in a very public place.

“God! Fuck.” I lurched backward, wiping my mouth with my hand and scowling. “Why the hell do you keep making me do that?”

She frowned in confusion, her breathing just as labored as mine. “I didn’t make you do anything .”

“Well, you must have because I certainly didn’t intend to kiss you. Hell, I never wanted to do anything with you.”

She flinched, but I kept going because I was so mad I couldn’t think straight.

“ That’s why it matters, by the way,” I told her. “You made me accept a blowjob and go down on someone I didn’t want to.”

Her chin trembled, and I could see the signs; she wanted to cry.

I’d hurt her.

“Shit.” I clenched my teeth and finally realized how brutal that must’ve sounded. Pressing a fist to the center of my chest, I muttered, “Dammit. I didn’t mean?—”

Face blanched white, she tried to squeeze past me, but I stepped into her path, stopping her. “Waverly,” I started in apology, reaching for her arm.

But she slapped me away. “Don’t. Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me. Don’t say another word. Just get out of my way.”

When a sudden waft of cold air swept over me, and a defined charge filled the air as if it had just been infused with static electricity, I hissed a curse under my breath and glanced around, almost expecting to see my enraged mother in the flesh.

I could already tell she was not happy about Waverly slapping my hand back.

As Waverly blinked around in confusion, trying to figure out why everything suddenly felt different, I stepped closer to her.

“If you really thought it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, and I’d just sleep with anyone, there was no reason to keep me in the dark of who you were. So again, I ask… Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Get…out…of my way,” she ground out, refusing to look at me.

“Answer the question, and I will. I think I deserve that much at least . You made me hook up with someone I didn’t agree to hook up with. Some people would call that a form of rape, you know.”

When she reared back as if I’d slapped her and then gaped up at me in absolute horror, I inwardly cursed. Her eyes dilated, and she swayed as if she might just pass out on me.

And I felt like a complete heel for it.

Unable to handle putting that kind of expression on her face, I relented, having mercy and adding, “I mean, I personally wouldn’t call it that in this situation since I was a willing participant in every possible way.

Hell, I was begging for more by the end of it, but you still lied .

You fucking tricked me. I should get to know why. ”

Waverly’s expression broke, and tears appeared in her eyes. “I—I—I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to trick you. I just—it just happened.”

“I know it fucking happened,” I snapped, feeling panicked because of those damn tears. “I was there. I just want to know why .”

“Because I don’t know how to do this,” she raged back helplessly, pushing at my chest once and then again when I didn’t step back enough the first time.

“I don’t know how to talk to people. I don’t know how to speak up when I know I should.

I don’t know anything . I feel like there’s this secret club somewhere that teaches all the valuable lessons about how to socialize, and I just wasn’t invited.

And do you want to know the real reason why I didn’t say anything? ”

“Yes!” I cried bluntly.

“Because I already knew then that you didn’t want me.

Okay ?” Her voice shook and her shoulders quaked as she rubbed violently at her cheeks with both hands to dry them.

“I am the only girl you’ve never flirted with or tried to hit on, the only girl you have no interest in at all.

I knew you didn’t want me. I am an unremarkable no one that people just…

don’t want. So why would you ? I knew I would’ve had zero chance with you if you realized it was me. ”

I gaped at her, completely flabbergasted and not sure where to even begin with it. I mean, there was so much to dispute, and each point seemed equally important to argue until something else suddenly occurred to me.

My mouth dropped open, and I suddenly knew the reason why she’d been cold and bitter toward me for as long as we’d known each other. “Holy shit,” I breathed, struck dumb. “You have a thing for me.” And I had never reciprocated it.

I’d been breaking her heart for over a year.

“Oh my God,” she groaned in mortification. “Get out of my way.”

Again, she tried to push past me.

I blocked her with my body even as I lifted my hands to calm her down. “Just wait—” I tried, needing to—fuck. I had no idea what I needed. I just knew I couldn’t let her go. Not yet. Not like this.

But she screeched, “No!” And she shoved at me with all her might. “ I said get out of my way .”

I stumbled backward, not expecting her to get so aggressive. But instead of catching my balance, I tripped over a chair and went sprawling onto my ass, my legs tangling with a piece of furniture and my back ramming ungracefully into a shelf of books.

“Oh my God!” Waverly gasped and leaped forward, her eyes widened with alarm. “Keene?” But she pulled to a halt when I blinked up at her, clearly okay.

Her mouth was still open as if the apology was frozen in her throat when I noticed what was happening behind her.

“Oh shit,” I breathed in doom.

“Waves—” I tried to warn her as I scrambled back to my feet, but it took me goddamn forever to untangle myself from the chair. So I bellowed, “ Waverly !” with a hell of a lot more anxiety in my voice.

Finally, she gave a sudden shiver and slowly turned around to find herself at eye level with dozens of books sliding off the shelves and hovering threateningly in the air in front of her, all of them quivering with a righteous kind of anger.

A choked sound gurgled from her throat, but otherwise, she remained motionless.

There was a single moment of utter silence—the quiet before the storm—and then I shouted, “No!” as I dived in front of her just as the dozens and dozens of books started to fly forward, all of them aimed at Waverly’s face.