“I’m not playing a game.” I pushed my hair out of my face and walked away from him. He may have had time for this sort of thing, but I didn’t. I actually did have a job to do.
I felt him behind me a moment before his body hit mine. I was too shocked to say a word. Too shocked to do anything as his body pressed into my back.
His left hand gripped my upper arm as if he thought I would run away, but I was stuck to the spot. With his harsh breath on my neck, his hard body behind me, I could barely think, let alone move.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Josie?” His mouth was near my ear, and the memory of him biting the sensitive flesh came back full force. I squirmed, attempting to put some space between us, but he held me tightly against him.
And I felt every inch of him against me as if there was nothing separating us.
I took a sharp breath as I felt his hard erection at my lower back, and I could practically feel his smile against my neck.
“I need to get back to work.” I barely recognized my voice.
“Hmm.” His lips vibrated against my skin, and I tried to catch my breath. My chest was vibrating with something: fear, anxiety, anticipation. I didn’t know which, but I knew that I couldn’t get a deep enough breath to think straight. “You think you’ll get fired if they know where you are.”
His hand tightened on my arm and his other hand snaked around the front of my neck. His fingers pressed into my tender skin, and I knew he could probably feel my erratic heartbeat hammering against his fingers.
Regardless of how I tried to act, he could feel every bit of how nervous he made me.
“If they knew that I was touching you in the halls where anyone can see.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. I try to move out of his hold, but he dug his fingers tighter against me. He had no intentions of letting me go.
Not that easily.
“Let me go, Beck.”
He gripped my chin in his fingers, and I winced at the force of his hold. “Say it like you really mean it, and I will.” His body somehow seemed to get impossibly closer. I couldn’t stop myself as I reached behind me and gripped his thigh to hold myself steady. If he noticed, he didn’t let it show. “Say it like you don’t want me to take you into the next room and fuck you hard against the wall.”
The sound of my breathing was the only thing I could hear.
I had never been touched like this, never spoke to in such a way that I couldn’t even concentrate.
“Let me go.”
I knew the moment the words passed my lips they were no more convincing. I wasn’t even convincing myself. Not with the way his middle finger drew small circles against the rapid pulsing in my neck. I could practically feel that exact movement between my thighs.
“Say please.” His left hand gently moved down my arm at a lazy pace, and I looked down and watched as it barely missed the side of my breast. He was teasing me. Logically, I knew that, but I didn’t want him to stop.
I was an idiot, but his hands felt too good and the throbbing between my legs seemed to be the only thing I could think about.
It didn’t matter that his dad, my boss, could catch us at any second. It didn’t matter that anyone could. I just wanted him to touch me. To give me more.
His hand skimmed from my arm to my stomach, and it trembled beneath him. He was barely even touching me, his hand on my stomach a stark contrast to the hand still holding my face, but I could feel every small inch of movement as if it was being burned into me.
He toyed with the buttons of my shirt, the movement of his fingers captivating every part of me before he’d stop, and I couldn’t stop the way my body arched into his touch, silently begging him for more.
He gave me what I wanted, the slightest amount more than the moment before, then he would take it away. A push and pull. A chase and torment.
His fingers pushed harder, the tips touching the top of my pants, and I couldn’t stop the soft whimper that left my lips.
What the hell was happening with me?
I knew I shouldn’t want him with absolute and complete certainty, but I did.
I wanted him more in that moment than I had ever wanted anything else.
“Please,” I said it so quietly, but I knew he heard me.
His breath was harsh against my neck, and it did nothing to help the way my heart hammered against my chest. I tightened my hand on his thigh, and I barely knew what I was asking him.
I wanted more. I needed more, but I didn’t have a clue what more entailed. More had repercussions. Repercussions that I would have to face.
“Say it again.” He breathed the words against my neck before his tongue touched the skin just below my ear.
“Please, Beck.” I was firmer this time. I was sure. I didn’t know anything about the guy who stood behind me other than his social standing and his hatred for me, but I still wanted him.
He moved his hand then, beneath my apron, the heel of his palm pressing against my sex, and I was wrong when I imagined my hand was his. He had barely touched me, and already my hand hadn’t compared.
He cupped me over my pants, but it felt like there wasn’t a thing between us.
He moved his hand in small circles just as his tongue flicked against my pulse point, and I bit down on my lip as I whimpered.
He followed suit and bit down on my neck.
“Oh, God.”
His hand sped up, and my legs felt like they were going to give out beneath me.
“You want this?” His breath was harsh against my neck as he ran his nose along the slope.
I nodded my head and chased the feel of his hand with my hips.
“I need your words, princess. Tell me you want it.”
“I want it.” My response rapidly fell from my lips. “I want you.”
He was gone in an instant. The feel of his body behind mine, nothing but a memory, and I almost fell backward in his absence. I had been so lost in him that I had forgotten the force that kept me rooted. I had forgotten everything that didn’t begin and end with his hands.
He moved across the hall, putting distance between us, and if it wasn’t for the storm brewing in his eyes, I would have thought him completely unaffected. His mask perfectly in place.
“You should get back to work.” He jerked his head toward the direction of the restaurant, and I took a step back at the sharp edge to his voice.
I wanted to say something, I needed to, but I couldn’t find my voice. I couldn’t find my voice or my thoughts or the sense I needed to tell him to go to hell. All I could do was stare at the asshole who I had just practically begged to touch me.
He looked calm as hell, like his hands hadn’t just been toying with every damn part of me, and I suddenly hated him more than I ever had before.
Whatever Beck’s problem with me was inconsequential. I didn’t need any of his stupid reasons or unresolved entitlement. I wanted nothing more to do with him.
I steadied my breath, and I took a step away from him with determination not to look back. He had me exactly where he wanted me. He was in my head, and guys like Beck knew exactly what they were doing.
He knew exactly how to play any game he wanted to.
But I refused to play.
I was only here for one school year. A school year where I would put my head down, get my high school diploma, and get as far away from this place as I could.