“Stupid girl,” I muttered to myself as I flushed the toilet and left the stall to wash my hands. The music pulsed through the walls, mimicking the thud of my heart against my ribcage.
He’s doing it to get under your skin. Ignore him and he’ll stop.
Easier said than done.
Jason ‘asshole’ Ford was the bane of my existence. Arrogant. Conceited. A total manwhore.
And the guy my heart had apparently decided it wanted.
Stupid, stupid heart.
Pressing my hands against the cool marble counter, I stared at myself in the wall-length mirror. I looked good. My hair was curled to perfection, hanging in long loose waves down my back; my makeup was smoky and seductive; and the black dress clung to my curves like a second skin.
I didn’t only look good.
I looked downright hot.
“Get it together, Giles,” I commanded to the girl staring back at me in the mirror. “He only has power over you if you let him.”
And right now, the asshole was out there all over another girl.
A girl who wasn’t me.
The knot in my stomach tightened as I inhaled a deep breath. “You’ve got this,” I whispered.
Just then, a group of giggling girls spilled into the restroom, pausing to glance me over. I offered them a tight smile and hurried out of there. The New York club Asher’s cousins had brought us to was something else. Nothing like the bars we had back home in our small town of Rixon. It was moody and dark, the furnishings sleek and sexy. Frequented by young, rich New Yorkers all looking to let loose and have fun.
I slipped into the hall connecting the cloakroom and restroom to the rest of the club, determined to enjoy the night. So what if Jason was practically dry fucking Asher’s cousin? My body—and stupid foolish heart—might have wanted him, but my head knew better.
My head knew Jason Ford was a really bad idea.
What I needed was to find a nice guy who wanted to buy me a drink and dance the night away with me. And who knew, maybe I’d get to tick another thing off my list. After all, we were in New York. New freaking York. It was a small miracle my parents had ever agreed to let me take the trip for my best friend’s birthday. Of course they only knew about the art exhibition we planned to visit and the sightseeing we wanted to do. But what they didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt them.
The thought made me smile, putting an extra bounce in my step, as I rounded the corner... and smacked straight into a hard, muscular chest. “I know you want me, Giles, but throwing yourself at me is kind of desperate.”
“Fuck you, Jason.” I glowered at him, stepping back to put a safe distance between us. Of course he took that as a challenge, the glint in his eye obvious as he inched closer.
“Jason,” I warned, but he kept coming until my back hit the wall, knocking the air from my lungs.
“I know what you’re doing,” he whispered against my ear, his warm breath dancing over my skin. I gulped, my eyes fluttering closed. His voice was low, husky even, and if I didn’t know him the way I did, it would have been easy to mistake his tone for seduction.
But I did know him.
And this was all a game to him.
“I’m not doing anything, Jason,” I sighed, ignoring the little voice in my head whispering ‘liar’.
He erased the sliver of space between us, plastering his body against mine in the dimly lit hall. “It won’t work,” he added, his tongue swiping my damp skin before nipping my earlobe. My knees buckled as a full-body shiver rolled through me.
“Jason.” It was supposed to be another warning, but my voice betrayed me, his name falling from my lips on a breathy sigh.
One of his hands glided up my body. I fought the urge to lean into his touch, to seek more. He didn’t care that he squeezed my breast a little too hard or that his fingers wrapped around my throat a little too tight. Because a guy like Jason Ford did what he wanted, took what he wanted, when he wanted it.
But I did care.
I cared that his rough touch lit up my body in a way it never had before. I cared that I wanted to let him do unspeakable things to me.
I cared that I cared.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes, but I blinked them away, my gaze hard when he finally lifted his head to mine.
“Keep this up and you’re going to get hurt,” he said coolly. But the air around us was anything but cool.
It was blistering, crackling with tension, burning with anticipation.
“You’re playing with fire, Felicity.” God, even the way he said my name did things to me. “And do you know what happens when you play with fire?”
His liquor-scented breath caressed my face; his lips hovering dangerously close to mine. “You end up getting burned.”
I should have told him to get the hell away from me. Or slapped his panty-melting face and walked away. Or even kneed him in the balls and run. But I did none of those things. Instead, I said, “Maybe I want to get burned.”
Because I was Felicity Giles, a girl with a list and a serious case of the crazies.
Jason’s brow lifted, his dark eyes studying me. Although looking into my soul better described the way I felt whenever his dark, intense gaze aimed in my direction.
Why couldn’t I have wanted someone else, anyone else?
/> Seconds passed as we stared at one another. The music reverberated around us. Laughter and chatter lingering on the periphery of our dark corner of the hall.
“Jason?” I asked, finally breaking the silence, unable to bear it for a second longer.
“Fuck it,” he breathed and then his lips were on mine, hard and demanding. Jason didn’t just kiss me, he devoured me. His hands clawed at my dress, scraping the material up my legs until his fingers found the soft flesh of my thighs.
“Oh God,” I moaned against his unyielding lips. My hands wound into his unruly brown hair as our tongues tangled together. It was messy and dirty and quite possibly the best kiss I’d ever have.
But nothing good lasted forever, and this was Jason. He wasn’t a white knight swooping in to win the damsel’s heart. He was the evil Prince out to wreck and ruin and leave a trail of broken hearts in his wake.
“Fuck.” He tore himself away from me, his body literally jerking back.
Disappointment swelled in my chest as I watched his expression morph into sheer anger. “That was a mistake.” His lip curled in disgust.
“Okay.” I managed to choke out, smoothing down my wrinkled dress.
“I need to go; Vaughn is waiting for me.”
My heart sank.
I could handle his taunts. I could even handle being called a mistake. But hearing him say he was going back to another girl after kissing me like that... it made me want to puke.