Until Harry(48)

He was telling the truth. I felt my mouth drop open.

“Since when?” I asked, astonished.

He sheepishly smiled. “I told you. I noticed everything about you two months before you turned sixteen. You were upset over Anna O’Leary and Ally Day, and you got it into your head that you wanted a makeover. I noticed before that day that you were, um, filling out, but when you got your haircut and a new wardrobe, it highlighted everything that I found attractive about you. It was like a jolt of pure lust shot straight to my dick. I spent most of that day, and many more following it, trying to hide my hard-on from you.”

I could do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes as I thought, Is he saying all this because he’s had a bit to drink?

“I know,” he breathed, taking in my reaction. “This admission is very sudden and out of the blue, but fuck, you look insanely hot tonight, and when you looked at me downstairs with the want in your eyes and got catty with those girls over me, it took everything in me not to kiss and touch you.”

I lifted my left hand to my right arm and pinched the skin. I winced as pain filled me, and Kale frowned. “Why did you do that?”

“Just making sure I’m not dreaming,” I replied.

He stared at me for a moment, and then a breathtaking smile curved his luscious lips. I smiled back at him but grabbed hold of his arms once more when he swayed on his feet.

“Shit,” he grumbled and lightly shook his head clear. “The whisky is hitting me at the worst time.”

I giggled. “I feel like I should make a joke about you not being able to handle your liquor.”

Kale’s lip twitched. “You try drinking Bud and downing some Jack Daniels, and we’ll see how long you’re on your feet for.”

I smirked. “Ten quid says I’d be up longer than you.”

Kale licked his lips and dropped his eyes to my mouth. “I’d take that bet.”

I grinned. “Stop looking at me like you want to eat me.”

“I do want to eat you.”

My playfulness disappeared. “And how would that go exactly?”

Kale growled. “Aren’t we bold tonight?”

I smiled teasingly. “I’ve dreamt of conversations like this with you. Let’s just say I’m ready to play them out in real life.”

He bit down on his lower lip, looked down at my body and took a small step backwards. “Let me see you.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “You can see me.”

He smirked as he lifted his hand, stuck up his index finger and rotated it in a circular motion. He wanted me to twirl. I playfully shook my head, smiling as I slowly twirled in a circle, swaying my hips from side to side as I moved.

“Damn, Laney Baby,” Kale whispered in a low, husky voice.

I blinked with surprise as I watched his eyes slowly scale their way down from my face to my chest, which had finally decided to develop over the last year and a half. He licked his lips as he read the word across the front of my crop top and snorted to himself before lowering his gaze further.

“You got your belly button pierced,” he murmured, more to himself than to me, then flicked his eyes up to me and asked, “What else do you have pierced?”

I licked my lips, and heat flooded my core. “No more piercings, but . . .”

“But?” Kale prompted.

“I have a tattoo on my inner thigh,” I said in a rushed breath. “I got it a couple of months ago with Lavender, like a pre-birthday present to myself for my eighteenth next month.”

Only Lavender, and now Kale, knew about my tattoo. If it got back to my parents or brothers, they’d kick my arse, never mind what they would do if they knew what kind of tattoo I got.

Kale’s features hardened. “What did you get?”

He looked in pain.

“Just two words,” I whispered.

He moved close. “What words?”

“Taste me.”

Kale’s sharp intake of breath caused my legs to shake. “You. Are. Perfect.”

My heart thudded against my chest so hard it almost hurt. “Such a sweet talker,” I murmured.

Kale lifted his hand to my face and cupped my cheek, rubbing his thumb under my left eye. “Where’s my girl gone?” he mumbled.

I frowned. “I’m right here.”

He lightly shook his head. “No, my girl wears glasses and is terrified of other people seeing her with hardly any clothes on.”

Was terrified.

Lavender helped build my self-esteem up when she realised how shot it was. She had observed me a lot during our first few weeks of friendship, and she held off in calling me out on what she termed “hiding behind my books”. At first she thought I was just quiet, but when I let about to how Anna and Ally had made me feel about myself, she hit the roof. She blew a fuse and vowed then to always be completely honest with me, and she told me I was beautiful and that I shouldn’t hide behind the books I love so dearly because the real world was much better than fiction.