There was so much action and commotion around them, yet Sasha felt like it was only the two of them. “Where’s Jonas?”
“Don’t worry about him. It’s just you and me right now, yeah?”
She licked her lips and nodded.
“Look at me.” Those three words were soft but deep and filled with a kind of command.
Sasha tipped her head and stared into his hazel eyes and felt like the situation was different from any other time before. Neither said anything for several long moments, and then he leaned in another inch, and she held her breath.
“You look real pretty tonight, Sasha.” The way he said it held a note of heat that she felt all the way down to her toes. “Prettier than I’ve ever seen before.” His eyes were hooded, his breathing starting to pick up.
Suddenly, the room was overly hot.
“I can’t breathe.” Tanner’s grin kicked up a notch, but he still didn’t lower his arm and allow her to leave.
He finally straightened and let his arm drop to his side. Sasha hurried past him and out the back door. God, she felt like a little kid running away. The fresh air hit her as soon as she stepped on the back patio. There were a few people outside, but the majority of the partiers were inside doing keg-stands or playing strip poker.
“Killer party, Sasha.” A drunken girl in a mini skirt wobbled over to her. Sasha had seen her once or twice, thought her name was Kristen or Kirsten, but smiled regardless and thanked her.
Who was she kidding? Sasha knew about a handful of people personally at this party, and if she was being honest, she felt uncomfortable with the whole scene. This had never been who she was.
All through high school, she stayed under the radar. If not for her brother and the twins being so popular and lavishing her with attention, there was no doubt she’d have been labeled a nobody. As it was, no one messed with her because she was associated with the three guys.
Once they graduated, she faded into the background, and the last few years of school had passed in a blur of her immersing herself in schoolwork.
“You feeling okay?” She tensed when she heard Tanner’s voice right behind her.
Sasha took a deep breath and got her bearings. When she turned around and looked into his face, her body lit up like a firecracker. “I’m good, Tanner.” His dark brown hair was messy around his head, like he had been running his fingers through it. The t-shirt and faded jeans fit him so damn perfectly it was no wonder the girls flocked to him and Jonas like there was no one else in the room.
Her reaction to him and his twin was inappropriate and wouldn’t lead anywhere, yet she couldn’t help herself.
“You know,” He came closer. “since Jonas and I came back for the summer, you’ve been acting strange.” He took another step forward and another, until he was toe-to-toe with her.
She’d moved over to the side of the house, partially away from everyone else. Right now, she regretted that, especially with the arousal that coursed through her like a freight train.
“You know what I think?” He leaned in so close that only an inch separated their mouths. The side of the house was hard and cold behind her, and Sasha placed her hands flat on the siding, needing to feel something stable.
“I think you like hiding behind a façade, but guess what?” She forced her eyes open when tendrils of her hair tickled the side of her face from his breath.
She licked her lips and breathed out, “What?”
He looked down at her lips then back at her eyes.
“I know that you want me as much as I want you.” And just like that, the world fell away until the only thing she was aware of was Tanner’s body pressed against hers.
He slipped his hand behind the heavy fall of her hair and gripped her neck. His thumb brushed along the side of her jaw, and then he tilted her head back and slanted his mouth on hers. The taste that was all Tanner bathed her tongue in a spicy, intoxicating flavor. A moan surrounded her, but she couldn’t tell if it came from him or her.
He pulled away just enough that his lips barely touched hers, and said, “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.”
She had to be dreaming because things like this just didn’t happen to her. She wanted to ask him what he meant, and why he never said anything, but Sasha couldn’t form a coherent word. He took hold of her hand and placed it right over his chest.
The steadythump-thumpof his heart was strong and steady. He moved their conjoined hands over his hard, rippled abdomen and right over the very prominent and hard erection that pressed against his jeans.
Her eyes widened, and her heart stalled.
“Do you feel that, Sasha? You make me so fucking hard.” His lips were still barely touching hers as he spoke, but it was the way he said those words and pressed his hips into her palm that had her feeling like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.
He moved his lips along her cheek, over her jawline, and down to the pulse that beat erratically below her ear.