“You wish,” I rolled my eyes, my tone teasing. While tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I averted my eyes from him and ate another forkful.
“Oh, I do wish so,” he readily agreed, his voice noticeably huskier, and I suddenly felt all too close to him despite the 5 feet separating us.
“Please Jonathan...” I started only to have him cut me, “We must talk about it sometime, Jasmine.”
“Can’t we do it another day?” My shoulders slumped in a defeated manner as I deposited my still half-full box on the blanket.
“Today is as good a day as any,” he countered, his voice wary.
“What do you want me to say?” I began on a sigh, “as cliché as it may sound, it’s not you, it’s me.”
“We’ll take it slow,” he offered, eyes the color of the bright sky, almost impossible to look at. I averted my eyes, not wanting to let my hormones get the better of me.
“I can’t. I...”
“I wish you’d let me help you overcome your fears,” he cut in, his hand enveloping mine.
“I...” unable to continue because tears gathered in my eyes –yet again– I let the rest hang heavily in the air.
He tugged on my hand and before I knew it, he had me on his lap. I felt a blush creep on my face since this was the first time I straddled a guy. I tried to get off but the arm around my waist just tightened making my escape impossible. His right hand cupped my cheek and he oh-so-softly leaned in. His forehead resting against mine made me calmer yet excited at the same time. My mind no longer lingered on disturbing matters, my body’s response to his intimate embrace making it foggy with heady desire. I gave in the urge to just let go and my eyes fluttered shut.
I was relaxing at last.
And then his lips softly brushed mine and the desire I was finding already impossible to bear spiked. The soft comforting kiss soon turned passionate. His tongue dove in my mouth, uninvited but pretty wanted, exploring, possessing, commanding submission and my own slick appendage rose to the challenge.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I gasped, my husky voice surprising my own ears, as we came apart for breath.
How could it feel so right and yet so wrong on so many levels?
“Distracting you,” he deadpanned before pecking my lips, his lids heavy with hot promises, “is it working?”
You know it is. Less so now that you’re talking though, I wouldn’t be caught telling him that any time soon though –not that he needed any reassurance regarding his kissing abilities. That admission was simply not something I was ready to give up.
I merely averted my head to the side, evading his devilish mouth when he leant in to claim my lips again. Not minding the rebuff, he kissed my cheek before trailing soft kisses down my jaw, then my neck. A small nip made me gasp in a pleasure-filled surprise.
“How about I take you on a proper date this evening?” he suggested, sounding unsure –justified tone since I, too, was unsure of what to say.
The silence stretched painfully for a minute or so before I gave in. I nodded in acceptance from where I sat, straddling him still, and he visibly relaxed.
His electric blue gaze was too much for me and there was no denying any request of his as long as I was staring at them.
‘Dangerous, dangerous eyes,’ the temptress within me purred.
“I won’t dress up,” was my only halfhearted protest, “just so you know.” Everything was just so rushed, so overwhelming, I just needed to feel a bit in control.
“I was going for casual anyways, no worries,” he retorted, all smiles and twinkling blue eyes, making me all kinds of hot and bothered, my turmoil long since forgotten.
Where was all my compliance coming from? One may thank the now awakened witch within me that recognized the one who’d make her even stronger.
Witches and powers, I mentally rolled my eyes before leaving his lap and going back to my now cold place. He just scooted closer until our sides were almost touching and remained that way. I turned to him, a protest about to fall off my lips, but he was giving me a confident lopsided smile that made me slightly weak in the knees – good thing I was already sitting. But what had the most effect on me wasn’t that you-will-not-resist-me smile... His eyes were just so playful, I couldn’t bring myself to say a thing.
Ugh, damn those eyes!
Chapter 25
Lecture Time
“Is there something you’d like to share with us?” My father only used this sickeningly sweet voice when he was seconds away from exploding, and it made me wince on the inside.
“I don’t think you really need me to tell you what happened,” I pouted, knowing he must have been informed of all the gory details before I even got to eat the Chinese take-out with alpha dearest earlier.
“Humor me,” he drawled, his tone somewhere between a warning and pure sarcasm.
“Jonathan made me flustered and I took it out on the tree,” I sighed, looking up into his usually warm brown eyes to show him I didn’t have anything to hide.
“Flustered?” he chuckled darkly, “just flustered, neither angry nor furious?!”
I nodded in dismay.
“Besides your emotions running obviously high, the problem is you didn’t purposefully take it out on the tree, am I wrong?” the atmosphere was thick with contained anger.
“Yeah,” I sighed yet again, averting my eyes in shame, “I didn’t intend for it to happen.”
“Remind me again what your mother and I suggested you did on your birthday,” I kept quiet, ashamed as I was. “Oh yeah, we told you should stay home for a week or two, get used to your new level of power and all. And what did you say?” I pursed my lips, my shoulders slumped in defeat.
