I think tonight is better spent on my own.
As I’m walking down the center of the car lined road, I can’t seem to keep my eyes off the tight ass in front of me. I mean, damn. That ass is fine. She’s blonde, petite, and in that skirt, I don’t doubt she’s a firecracker. Perhaps I won’t be spending the night alone after all.
I speed up my pace and as if sensing someone behind her, the girl looks back over her shoulder. “I have pepper spray,” she says in a panic, grabbing her purse and holding it tight to her body, but not a second later, her eyes come to mine and she relaxes. “Holy shit, Jackson. It’s only you.”
Only me? Wait. Do I know this chick?
I quickly catch up with her and get a better look at her face in the dark street before recognizing Elle, the girl I ran into a few weeks ago. I’ve been looking for her everywhere. I haven’t been able to get that gorgeous face out of my mind and here she is, looking just as beautiful as ever.
“Hey, where are you going?” I ask, suddenly not wanting to leave this party quite so soon.
Elle waves her hand around. “I’m tired. I had a big exam this week and spent way too many hours catching up on studies. I thought I’d be fine, but I’m too exhausted for all this.”
“Really?” I ask, keeping pace with her. “I haven’t seen you around school lately.”
Elle grins and it blows me the fuck away. She really is beautiful. “I know,” she laughs with a mischievous little sparkle in her eyes, making me want so much more. “I’ve been avoiding you on purpose.”
“What?” I rush out, staring at her in confusion as I try to think back over our brief encounter to figure out how I could have possibly offended her enough to warrant that. “What the hell did I do?”
Elle studies me a moment as her eyes light up with playful enjoyment, but that’s not what’s captured me. It’s the slight flush that spreads over her cheeks that makes her look like pure innocence, but something screams that she’s anything but. “Truth?” she questions.
“Of course.”
“Well, besides the fact that you’re more trouble than anyone I’ve ever known and Tora and Nate are my friends, making you public enemy number one…” she pauses for a beat, making the moment draw out. “You looked at me like you were picturing exactly how you were going to clear out a classroom and bend me over the teacher’s desk.”
I suck in a breath and slap a hand over my heart, feigning offense. “I would never,” I tell her. “I’m a gentleman.”
“Uh-huh,” Elle laughs as she stops in the middle of the road and turns to face me. “Alright, Mr. Perfect Gentleman. Back there when you were stalking me up the road,” she starts, hooking her thumb in the direction we’ve just come from. “tell me you weren’t staring at my ass and thinking about what you’d like to do to it.”
Fuck.
I give her a lopsided grin and shrug my shoulders, absolutely owning it. “Alright, you got me. I’m only a gentleman most of the time.”
“And the other times?” she laughs, picking up her pace once again.
“Oh, baby, I’m not sure you could handle that kind of information.”
Elle looks across at me before curiously narrowing her eyes on me. “You…you don’t know anything about me, do you?”
I shake my head. “I can’t say that I do, but I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of thinking I’d like to.”
Relief flashes in her eyes but it’s gone a second later. “You’re trouble, Jackson Millington. So much freaking trouble.” She stops by a white BMW convertible and unlocks the doors. “I have to go.”
Elle opens her car door and I find myself stepping into it and blocking her way. “Don’t go,” I murmur, unsure why I feel so desperate to keep her company. I hold up the bottle of Jack and give her my award-winning grin that always does the trick. “Stay, we’ll make a night of it and I’ll walk you home later.”
Temptation crosses her features as she looks between me and the bottle of Jack, and just when I think I’ve got her, she shakes her head. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m not the girl for you, Jackson. Find someone else to spend the night with.”
“Hey,” I say, reaching out and taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger, forcing her eyes back to mine. “Why are you running?”
Elle considers me a moment, but all I can focus on is the way my fingers tingle under the touch of her burning skin. Elle shakes her head, freeing her chin from my soft grasp as her big blue eyes grow fearful. “I’m just…I’m not right for you.”