"That's not that hard to do, since we're on a college campus," I say with a chuckle. I hand the camera back and face her fully. "So what's your name, really?"
She pulls the strap over her head again before looking up at me with a pleased grin. "It really is Danielle." When my eyes narrow in suspicion, she sighs. "Okay, I don't go by Danielle. Only my dad calls me that. Everyone else calls me Dani."
I nod and let my gaze roam over her again, slowly and from head to toe. "I like it," I drawl. "Definitely suits you."
"Oh yeah?" she asks, shifting closer to me. "Why's that?"
I take that as permission for more contact, so I reach for one of her belt loops and tug her closer. She bites the edge of her lip to contain what is clearly a smile. "It's both badass in its masculinity, and sexy as fuck in its femininity," I tell her. My finger trails the hem of her jeans, along her skin and light enough to make a shiver run through her. "It totally fits the whole vibe you're giving off. It might not live up to your FBI profiling skills, but I think I have you figured out, Dani."
She tips her chin up to make eye contact with me, letting me see her emerald eyes turn black with desire.Fuck,this girl is sexy. She's completely unashamed of not only herself, but of what she wants.
"I think you did okay, pretty boy," she murmurs, her gaze dropping to my lips when I let out a small chuckle.
"I thought the whole reason I gave you my name was so we could move past the nicknames.”
She shrugs, her stare darting from my lips to my eyes and back again. "I like how it sounds. It fits the vibe you're giving off," she mimics with a grin.
I grip both of her belt loops this time and tug her even closer. "Smartass," I growl. I drop my hands to her hips and squeeze lightly. "You've definitely got that vibe, too."
"Oh, most definitely," she whispers as she tilts her mouth up to me.
I can't focus on anything else anymore. My grip tightens on her hips, and I lower my head, glancing one last time at her eyes to make sure I'm not doing something she doesn't want.
But her eyelids have lowered, and she's pushing up on her toes to initiate the contact. I let slip a small groan when her lips graze mine in a fleeting moment of contact. I think she smirks at the sound—at the control she already clearly has over me—and then she's back again.
Unfortunately, the second one is even less of a kiss than the first one.
"Hey!What are you two doing? You can't be up here!"
"Fuck," I breathe, looking past her to see who just caught us. Sure enough, there's an older, overweight man standing in the doorway to the stairwell.
"Oh shit," Dani says on a laugh. "Come on, we have to go." She pulls me in the opposite direction, away from the security guard.
"Where are we going? There's only one way down from here and he's standing in front of it!" I let out a groan, but let her drag me anyway. "I knew I was going to get expelled today. I had a feeling. Goddamnit."
Dani continues pulling me after her. "You're so dramatic. Come on." When we reach whatever point she’s looking for along the edge of the roof, she turns back to me. "Do you trust me?"
My mouth drops open in shock. "Based on the twenty minutes I've known you? Sorry, sweetheart, that answer's not looking good."
She rolls her eyes again, but a smile twitches at the corner of her lips. "Just come on. You're fine."
"You sound like my coach when he’s trying to convince me pain doesn’t exist," I grumble. But I follow her to the edge anyway.
I hear bleeps on a walkie talkie behind us. "There's no place to go, kids. Might as well make this easy on yourselves and just hand yourselves in," the security guard calls as he strides over to us.
But the second Dani throws a leg over the edge of the roof, the vibe in the air changes.
"No!Don't do that! Oh my God, you're not going tojail, you'll just get fined! Jesus Christ,don't jump!" I look over my shoulder to see the security guard loping in slow-motion toward us.
"Dani…" I start nervously, unsure of what she's doing.Is there a second ledge? A ladder down? What the fuck is this nut job doing?
"Come on, you have to climb over before he reaches you," she says from where I can only see her head peeking over the ledge. "Just trust me." And then she lets go and disappears from my view.
"Jesus fucking Christ, my heart's not built for this kind of stress," I grumble to myself as I step closer. "Lock me in a cage with a man who wants to kill me and I'm cool as a cucumber. But toss me in with a crazy hot chick who I really want to fuck, and all brain cells go out the window." I peek over the edge and see a second ledge, just as I suspected. "Or off the roof, apparently."
"Just come on," Dani hisses from where she's standing. It's not a ledge like she's hanging onto the edge with only one foot to maneuver, it's more like a drop to a second narrow roof that runs this length of the building. There's enough space that when she turns toward wherever she's going, she actuallybolts.
With a few mutteredfuck fuck fucks, I throw my leg over the ledge. Taking one last glance at the advancing—but still shockingly far away, out-of-shape security guard—I let go and drop down.