I shiver noticeably, feeling trapped and completely stupid as a crushing wave of unbidden desire unfurls within me. This just changed... everything for me. I don't even remember how to hate him in this moment.
"Whenever you see Mel drift toward Brock," he says, motioning toward the game announcer and Brock who are in a tongue-tango lip-lock, "find me, and I'll make it look like we're just as engaged as everyone else enjoying the festivities."
My knees try to buckle, but I steady them, locking them into place like I just shoved steel rods in there. "So they're a couple?"
I leave out the part where Brock was acting like he wanted to play this game with me.
"No," he chuckles out. "Brock isn't in the market to settle down, but Mel wants him. So, she plays this game every party. When the DJ sees her close to Brock, he plays the song. That's your cue. Just find me, unless you want some strange guy locked on your lips or tossing you in the pool."
His eyes move down to my lips, and his breath catches for a second. With his mouth just slightly ajar, I finally see the silver mystery a little better.
"You do have your tongue pierced," I murmur to myself. "I thought so."
His grin slides up, and I look up to see his eyes intensely focused on mine. "You've been trying to get a look?"
My face heats, and he leans in closer, making this even more intimate. He rolls his tongue in his mouth so that he can shove part of the bar between his pearly whites, and then he bites down on the metal so that it's the only thing I can see other than his perfectly straight teeth.
Yep. I think I just forgot my own name.
The bar slinks back into his mouth, and his grin returns. "You could have just asked."
The song shifts, and the make-out frenzy ends. My breaths are erratic and scattered when he finally leans back and returns my personal space. I waver in my heels, but his arm wraps around my waist to steady me.
"I guess you did more than nurse that beer," he says with a teasing grin, thinking my staggering posture is due to alcohol. It's not the toxins in the drink that are making me unbalanced; it's him. This is so bad.
"I guess so," I lie, making his smile grow.
"Good. You need to loosen up."
He pulls my hand in his and takes my empty cup. I'll just let him think I've had more than one. If he found out what his touch was doing to me right now, he'd mock me relentlessly.
"That dress looks good on you. I'm glad I didn't let you bypass the dresses you'd 'never wear.'"
I giggle lightly, silently chastising myself for sounding like an idiot with a crush. His smile is rewarding though, and it makes me want to giggle more. I look around nervously as he hands my cup to one of his friends to refill.
Brock is chatting up
some girl, and Mel's eyes are on him, though she does well to hide the scowl I'm sure is lurking within.
"Don't tell me Brock's your type," Kade says, cutting into my moment of observation.
"No," I murmur, looking up at him. You are, though.
"Good. I really don't want Brock hanging out and making your room sound like a carnival."
It feels like that was supposed to be a joke, but I'm not sure. "No worries. I can promise you won't be hearing anything like that coming from my room. What about you? Are any of these girls part of your business?"
I attempt to sound teasing, but it sounded more like the words left a bad taste in my mouth. He scans the room, shrugging.
"Not in that way. I'm friends with them, but I draw the line at those sorts of personal relationships with anyone you see in this room. I don't need the drama later on in life. This group - these people - have some of the most influential parents I've met, which is why they're the hardest partiers. Let's say I hook up with one. Later on she or her husband could be the hitch in a major business arrangement."
I shake my head in disbelief. "You plan really far ahead, don't you?"
"I have to if I want to be successful. Considering it'll be my grandfather's business I take over, I want to be very successful. It's what he deserves."
Again, I melt. He has to stop talking about his grandfather. There's such raw emotion in his eyes when he does. It's beautiful.
"Do you ever do anything just for fun?"