His upper lip curls. “If Colt heard you say––”
“Colt isn’t here,” I remind him with a dry laugh. “It’s just me and you. And I’m tired. Tired of this…responsibility you’ve decided to put on yourself. To be my surrogate brother when all I ever wanted was a friend. You’ve decided it’s your responsibility to boss me around. To make sure no one touches me, when guess what, Teddy? No one asked you to take on those responsibilities. And here’s the real doozy, my friend.” I pat his chest, ignoring the feel of his tense muscles beneath my palm. “I want to be touched. I want to be kissed. To be fu––”
He slams his mouth against mine. I gasp, and he shoves his tongue between my lips. It isn’t soft or sweet. It isn’t innocent. It’s freaking dirty. And selfish. Like I’m being used. Like he’s proving exactly what it’s like to wind up with a hockey player instead of the sweet and caring gentleman he thinks I want.
Oh, how wrong you are, Teddy.
I like the way he takes what he wants without giving a shit about me or how I feel. It’s like he’s trying to prove a point, though he’s far from successful. Because this is what I’ve been craving. I don’t want to be treated like a child. Like a breakable doll.
Fucking break me, Theo, I want to beg. But I don’t. I let him kiss me. Let him take what he wants. Let him try to prove it isn’t what I want, when it’s the opposite.
I’ve craved him for years.
And now…here he is.
Kissing me.
3
BLAKELY
With his hands on my waist, Theo guides me backward until my back hits the wall with a quiet thump. It takes my breath away but makes my pulse go wild.
“Shit,” I whimper between kisses.
I need more.
He nips at my bottom lip. Probably to keep me quiet when we both know it’ll only spur me on. The feeling shoots straight between my thighs. He tears his mouth away and presses his forehead against mine. But even that isn’t gentle. It’s rough. Bruising. Forceful.
“This is what it's like to kiss a guy like me––a guy like anyone you meet at these parties,” he grits out. “It isn’t soft and sweet and shit. You should remember that.”
The warning in his voice is loud and clear, but I ignore it.
Maybe it’s the remaining alcohol in my system. Maybe it’s the taste of Theodore Taylor still clinging to my tongue. Maybe it’s the girlish dreams that’ve been taunting me over the past five years since I looked at Theo with rose-colored glasses. Whatever it is, I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t want this moment to disappear. I also don’t know what to say. I liked the kiss. I liked it a lot. I kind of want to keep doing it. In thirty seconds or less, he blew apart every fantasy I’ve ever had about another guy. Honestly, the bastard obliterated them.
“But guess what, Blake?” he adds, his hands gripping my waist, his fingers flexing.
“What?” I breathe.
“I think you’re full of shit.” He laughs dryly. “About your experiences over the last year.”
My experiences?
I blink slowly.
Oh. Right.
“What about my experiences?” I ask, my voice nothing but a whisper.
“You don’t kiss like an experienced girl.”
Aaaand, there’s the dagger to the chest I’d been expecting.
I pull away slightly, reality crashing into me like a freight train. “Excuse me?”
“I said, you don’t kiss like an experienced girl,” he repeats, his gaze darkening.
“And how do I kiss?”
His Adam’s apple bobs up and down in his throat as his attention dips to my bruised lips for a split second. “Like an innocent little virgin.”
If he’d have slapped me, it would’ve hurt less.
But I don’t let him see it. I refuse to.
Because he’s right. Compared to the puck bunnies I know he’s had sex with, I am innocent. Hell, even without them as a comparison, I’m still innocent. Truth be told, he hit the nail on the head, describing me perfectly.
An innocent little virgin.
But it isn’t fair for Theo to throw it in my face or to make me feel self-conscious for my lack of experience.
Screw him.
“And it’s a bad thing?” I volley back. “That I kiss like an innocent little virgin?”
He shrugs one shoulder. “Not necessarily. Does make it a little difficult, though.”
“Make what difficult?”
“Hooking up,” he clarifies with a devilish smirk. “Watching an innocent little virgin fumble to figure out what they’re doing isn’t everyone’s thing.”
Did he seriously just go there?
He’s going to pretend he’s not turned on? Pretend he didn’t like our kiss? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not naive enough to think I’m the best kisser in the world or anything, but there’s no way a kiss can be so good for one person and so terrible for the other.
Bullshit.
With a dry laugh, I call his bluff and slide my hand down his body, brushing against the swell in his jeans I knew would be there. “Funny. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it’s your thing. Do you have a penchant for innocent little virgins, Teddy Bear?”
“Are you an innocent little virgin, Blake?” he counters.
“It’s none of your business.”
“When your hand is on my dick, I think it is my business.”
I bite my lip, barely able to withhold my grin because of how frustrated he looks in the bathroom light. How sexy he looks. How unhinged he looks. Like I’ve finally managed to burrow under his skin the same way he has mine.
“You’re right,” I whisper. “I’m a virgin. An innocent. Little. Virgin.” I squeeze him again through his jeans. I’m not sure if it’s the liquid courage swimming through my veins or the years of pent-up frustration spurring me on, but I’m not going to question it. Not when I’ve finally had a taste. “The question is… What are you going to do about it?”
I shouldn’t be goading him. Not when he looks so close to snapping. But I can’t help it. This is how it’s always been with us. The way we push each other. Competing against each other. Calling each other out when someone’s acting like a piece of shit. And if he honestly thinks he can get away with lying to my face and saying he wasn’t invested in the kiss the same way I was? He’s delusional. And I’m not above rubbing his nose in it.
He grabs my wrist and pulls me away from the front of his pants, twisting my arm behind my back until my front is pressed to his. “If you were innocent, you wouldn’t touch my dick through my jeans.”
“So now I’m not an innocent little virgin?” I question, my head tilting to one side. “I think you should get your story straight, Teddy.”
“And I think you should remember I’m your brother’s best friend, and if he knew your hand was on my cock a second ago, he’d kill us both.”
“But what a way to go, am I right?” I quip.
His nostrils flare as his attention drops to my lips. Again. It makes my core tighten, but I don’t move a muscle. I wait. Blame it on the alcohol left in my system. The empty hallway separating us from the rest of the world. Hell, maybe it’s the dress’s fault, and the way it hugs my slender hips. Whatever it is, I’m not going to question it. Because I just kissed Theodore Taylor. I felt his erection in my palm before he pulled my hand away from it. I can still feel his chest brushing against my sensitive nipples as he takes a deep breath. And it’s addictive. Consuming.