I roll my eyes and punch his shoulder; “Oh please, I'm in charge.”
“If you say so, spy-girl.”
We're laughing, and he moves closer towards me; very close. I can feel my pulse jump at the nearness of him.
And there's that war inside of me again; the one side crossing her arms and saying no, and the other side just screaming yes.
Javier turns to me, and I can feel my breath catch at the glint in his eyes, the throb of my pulse, and at the heat between my legs. I take a deep breath and I bring the bottle to my lips again, taking a swig with my eyes never leaving his; “Why did you come down to the pool that day?”
I have no idea where the question suddenly comes from, but suddenly I'm dying to know how it is that circumstance brought me across Javier Toro's path in the way it did.
“I saved you.”
I smirk; “Well, I think we both saved each other, but why’d you come down in the first place? It wasn't to 'save me'.”
Javier laughs and looks away, shaking his head before he turns back to me with that sparkle back in his eyes; “I already told you; I saw a hot blonde with a hot body in a sexy fucking bikini, and I wanted to come down and make a move.”
I want to hold back the grin that threatens to spill over my face, but it's no use. I look away as my face burns, hoping he doesn't see how girlishly goofy it is that I'm blushing at a comment like that.
Of course, the thing is, I don't want to see the goofy look either, because it's one I should not be having about the man sitting next to me. But there's my pulse, beating faster anyways, and there's my breath, catching in my throat. I know the booze is going to my head here, but I also just don't care. This is more than that anyways.
This is me letting go.
“So how do you feel about brunettes,” I say slyly.
What are you doing!? The voice inside screams at me; Stop playing with fucking fire!
But I know I can't stop at this point.
I know I won't.
Javier's gaze narrows at me and the corners of his perfect lips turn up; “Rapidly climbing the charts, princess.”
Fuck. I needed him to say something crass in that moment. I needed him to put out the fire and the heat that's threatening to engulf me entirely. What I don't need is perfect, charming lines like that, because that's certainly not helping.
“Still think I'm the bad guy here?”
And for the first time in my life, I don't think, I just do.
I lean forward, and I kiss him.
His lips press hotly and hungrily against my own, and I moan into them as he kisses me deeply. His mouth tastes like tequila and the promise of breaking every rule I have. I’m falling; tumbling right over the precipice I've been tiptoeing the edge of for days now. His hand grabs my chin hard, steadying my fall but holding me to his lips so tightly as our tongues and our breaths exchange with the other.
Suddenly he's pulling back though. He's pushing me away, his eyes wild as he stares into my own as a shadow crosses his face; “Stop it.”
I swallow heavily, trying to push down the lump of my heart in my throat as I gape at him; “What?”
Javier shakes his head and starts to stand, muttering and looking off down the dark beach.
“Wha-”
“You don't want me, princess.”
A flash of heat spreads across my face and my chest, threatening to tear me apart as the sudden mortifying feelings of shame and rejection wash over me.
“You think you do,” He turns and his eyes bore right into mine; “But you really don-”
“Fuck you,” I spit at him, feeling horrible and utterly embarrassed and flustered as I shake his hand off my arm and turn to run from him, from the fire, from whatever this almost was.
What the hell was I thinking?
17
Javier
No.
Nope, no fucking way is she getting away from me and this conversation that easily; not after all that. My hand jerks out and grabs her wrist, hard, before she can even make it two steps. I yank her back towards me.
“Oh, what,” She snaps sharply at me, rage stinging her face.
Hell hath no fury...
Stopping the kiss was bad, but fuck, she doesn't know what she's doing. She doesn't know me, because if she did, she'd have taken off running down that beach days ago.
“I'm trying to save you.”
She barks out a sneering laugh; “I don’t need saving; not from you.”
“Get close to me and you will,” I growl.
Get close to me and I'll destroy you, even if I don't want to and even if I do everything on Earth to try and stop it. It'll still happen, because that's just me and the fucked up reverse Midas touch that follows me. Good things wither and die around me, and something as bright and as pure as her doesn't stand a fucking chance.
“I'm a big girl.”