It sounded silly, I knew that. Girls didn’t need a guy’s attention to feel worthy. But it wasn’t about his attention so much as it was about how I felt around him.
Like for the first time, I was choosing something for myself and not the expectations pressed upon me.
I wanted him.
Plain and simple.
It didn’t matter who he was or where he came from. It didn’t matter that my parents wouldn’t approve, or the elite families of Old Darling Hill would be scandalized by such behavior. I wanted him.
And I wanted him… no, Ineededhim to want me back.
“Your grandma seemed happy enough. How is she doing, really?” I asked, desperate to lighten the thick tension hanging between us.
“Come here,” he said, reaching for me.
“W-what?”
My stomach curled at the intensity in his eyes. How he seemed to look right through me.
“I didn’t bring you out here to talk about my grams or to look at the view.” He said drolly, pulling me onto his lap, pushing my thighs apart so that I straddled him. My arms linked around the back of his neck as my heart galloped in my chest.
Zane smirked up at me, his eyes glinting with mischief.
God, I was in trouble.
So. Much. Trouble.
But I didn’t care, because when he looked at me like that, I wanted to give him everything. I wanted to hand over my heart and let him do whatever he wanted with it. Because this feeling, this wild, reckless rush I got around him, it was worth the risk.
“I hate how beautiful you are.” He slid his hand along the side of my neck, pushing the hair out of my face and over my shoulder.
“I hate how fucking smart you are, how easily people fall for your smile.” His eyes grew hooded as he stroked his thumb back and forth over my pulse point, sending my heart and certain parts of my body into overdrive. “Fuck, I hate your smile.”
“Zane…” I didn’t like hearing him say those things.
He wasn’t supposed to hate me.
Not here. Not while we were like this.
Not ever.
Emotion welled inside me as I trembled at his cruel, confusing words. Because he was saying one thing, but he was doing another thing entirely.
“I hate everything you are,” he said in a low pained whisper. “But most of all I hate that I want you so fucking much.”
He guided my face down to his, our lips almost touching.
“Wait,” I said, panic clawing up my throat. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe it meant something different to him than it did to me.
Maybe I’d completely misread the signs.
“You said you wanted to help, Einstein. So help me.” He kissed me hard, rendering me breathless.
I felt his hatred in every stroke of his tongue, every graze of his teeth. His fingers flexed around my neck, taking control of the angle, how deep he licked into my mouth.
It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The way he commanded me to his every whim.
His hand dropped to the curve of my ass, pressing me down on him, the thick ridge in his jeans. “See what you do to me?” he taunted, thrusting up a little, making me moan. “You get me so fucking hot. And I hate it. I hate—”