Break Your Heart (10 page)

I stood there, body shaking with the agony of my feelings. “I want you too,” I said on an exhale. “So much. I can’t stop thinking about you.” My heart hurt because of how hard it was throbbing beneath my rib cage.

Then his mouth was on mine, and my fingers were twined behind his neck. He pressed his body against me, and I went up in flames. I couldn’t get close enough. His tongue plunged into my mouth, taking, seeking.

His kiss owned me.

I gasped and breathed him deeper. His hands slid down to cup my waist, bringing me flush against his arousal. He was hard. My nipples tightened as my breasts swelled. His mouth slid down to nibble at my jaw, suck the tender flesh at the base of my neck. I groaned, arched into him. I was dizzy, aching, throbbing all over.

“Nick,” I said as I rubbed against him. I wanted those hands all over me.

One hand cupped my ass and squeezed; I sighed in pleasure and let my fingers explore the contours of his neck, his jaw. I sucked his chin, his Adam’s apple, and I heard him give a loud moan. I was so wet now, my panties drenched. My body screamed my arousal.

We kissed for I wasn’t sure how long, lost in each other, all that pent-up hunger spilling out with our tongues, our hands. Just kissing, but it was enough to drive me insane.

Finally we parted, chests heaving. My face was flushed, my body burning, my mind floating. He reached a hand up and stroked my cheek with his thumb.

“I know we shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “But I couldn’t go another ten minutes without tasting your mouth.”

I sucked in a shaky breath and nodded. His words did something wicked to me.

Nick seemed to gather himself then. He dropped his hand, stepped back. Smoothed his hair and offered me his hand. “Ready to head out of here? I’m sure you’re tired.”

He escorted me to my car. Pressed another sweet, small kiss to my lips before standing back and watching me pull out of the diner’s parking lot. I drove home on autopilot. I felt like he’d invaded every part of me, even though we’d only kissed.

When I made it home, I quietly slipped inside, stripped off my clothes and slid naked under my sheets. My last thought before falling asleep was of his smile when we’d pulled apart, beneath the trees.

That hadn’t been the smile of a man who felt guilty or ashamed. Of a man who regretted his actions. No, it was the smile of a man who wanted to do it again.

God, I wanted it too.

C
ryptography on Monday was a bit awkward. No way to get around that. Throughout class, Dallas had turned around and shot me a few looks that I could feel, though I’d kept my gaze locked on my open textbook. I had no idea what to say to him. He’d sent me a text on Valentine’s Day asking me what I was doing, but I hadn’t responded.

Nick had sent me a few texts too, that same evening, to say hi and wish me a happy Valentine’s Day. I was so lucky Kelly hadn’t noticed my giddiness over it, or the way I’d ducked into the bathroom several times to send him replies. She must have thought I had a tiny bladder.

“Dallas keeps looking at you,” Kelly whispered under her breath. “Want me to say something to him for you?”

I shook my head. “No, I’ll handle it, but thanks.” I’d gone into more detail about the terrible date on Saturday while we were hanging out. But we’d actually spent most of the time just talking, eating ice cream and drinking wine, getting to know each other.

Well, except for my occasional texts with Nick. Those had felt so deliciously bad. I wasn’t sure how to describe it except that he felt like forbidden fruit I couldn’t resist tasting. Even though I knew it was wrong to do so.

“Maybe he wants to apologize,” she mused, talking out of the corner of her mouth as she looked straight ahead.

Nick was discussing something, but truth be told, I wasn’t quite listening the way I should. I kept fixating on the curves of his mouth, trying to not burst into flames each time our eyes connected. I could tell he was thinking about me too. It was right there in his eyes. If we hadn’t spent the whole evening together talking, I might not have noticed it. He was good, professional.

But I noted the way his gaze lingered on me. How his mouth turned up in the corners just a fraction. His words drawling off for a second or two, the air crackling between us despite the thirty feet or so separating us.

Which drove me even crazier. Made every cell, every organ, every bone and vein and muscle on high alert for him.

“—should give him a chance to,” Kelly was saying, and I snapped my attention to her words. The last thing I needed right now was to get busted checking out Nick.

I looked at her, and she nodded toward Dallas.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, I’ll talk to him later,” I promised.

The rest of class flew by. Nick talked, and eventually the lecture drew me in. I didn’t know how he did it, but he made everything sound fascinating. His passion rang true. He wandered across the front of the room, hands waving in the air to punctuate his words. This was definitely a man who had teaching in his blood.

“So I have your papers graded,” Nick was saying, and he started to chuckle when a few students groaned. “They’re not that bad, actually.” He paused. “They’re not all that good either.” His eyes twinkled as laughter burst out in the room. “I kid, I kid. On the whole, I’m quite happy with the effort you guys put into these. But if you don’t like your grade, don’t forget, you get one paper this semester to rewrite and turn in for a better score.”

He turned around, scooped papers off his desk and wandered up and down the aisles to hand them out.

When Kelly got hers, her face screwed up tight until she flipped to the last page to see her score. The tension leaked from her body. “B-plus. I’ll totally take it,” she said on a heavy, happy sigh.

Dallas got his paper, and his back tightened when he eyed his last page. Obviously not a good sign.

When my paper was handed to me, Nick’s fingers brushed mine. My nerves jumped in response, and I fumbled. But he moved back down the aisle away from me, cool as could be. I turned to my last page and saw my score.

A-minus, with a paragraph of feedback.

And a tiny line of coded text right beneath. I scanned it, trying to find the key to unlocking what he said—looked like it could be the same code he’d used that first time in email. My heart hammered in excitement. What did he write?

“Hey, what’s that?” Kelly asked as she peered over my shoulder.

Shit. My hand shook and I dropped the papers closed. “Oh. It’s nothing.”

“Looked like a code to me.”

I waved my hand in an attempt to look casual. “In my . . . feedback, he said I was too narrow and simple with my coding examples, so I guess he gave me one to show me how complex they can be.”

She looked at me for a moment, brow furrowed. Her eyes seemed hesitant. “Well, that was kinda weird.”

I tried to give an easy shrug, though I was very nervous. Shit, I was blowing this.
Think smarter,
I ordered myself. “Yeah, he’s not your typical teacher. Maybe he was just showing off how smart he is or something.” My chest stung as I said this, but the statement worked.

She nodded and rolled her eyes. “Totally. Sometimes they do that kind of crap. To prove why they have their jobs or whatever. Ugh, I hate that.”

Relief whooshed through me. I tucked the paper underneath my notebook and turned all my attention to taking notes for our homework. I was going to have to be careful. I couldn’t give away what had happened between us. And crazy or not, I didn’t want it to stop.

I wanted to look at the note again, but I knew that would be dumb. The anticipation was killing me though. When he dismissed us, I noticed his eyes raked over mine once before he got his stuff together and left the room.

The tension in my back unknotted a touch. I tucked my stuff in my backpack.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later!” Kelly said. She gave me a quick hug, then left.

I was all set to escape myself when Dallas suddenly stepped in my path. Frustration made me dance from foot to foot. I so didn’t want to do this right now—I wanted to find a private corner to read Nick’s secret message.

“Megan,” he said in a gruff voice. His cheeks grew red. “How was your weekend? I sent you a couple of texts but didn’t hear from you.”

“Sorry, I was hanging out with Kelly,” I offered. “I gotta go. Maybe I can catch you another time—”

“I just needed to say something,” he persisted, not moving away.

I sighed and stood in place. Apparently it wasn’t going to be an easy escape. “Okay, what?”

“I . . . feel like things didn’t go that well on Friday,” he started. Cleared his throat and played with the neckline of his sweater. “I had a good time, but I don’t drink a lot and I know it made me a bit awkward. But I was just so nervous. . . .”

“It’s fine, I get it,” I said, knowing I sounded abrupt but unable to be more patient. I was frustrated that he was forcing this on me right now when I didn’t want to talk about it. On
his
terms, not on mine. Kinda made it hard to warm up to his words.

“Oh. Okay.” His shoulders loosened. “So I was thinking I could take you out again, to make it up to you.”

My stomach sank. “That’s not necessary,” I said slowly, “but thanks for the offer.”

“I mean, it’s not just out of obligation. I’d like a do-over.” Sincerity poured from his eyes.

I drew in a slow breath. Exhaled. “Dallas.”

“Just one more chance,” he pressed. “I know I messed it up.”

I rested a hand on his upper arm. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think this is a good idea. But thank you for talking to me. And for the date Friday.” That was as gentle as I could be. Hopefully he would get the point without me having to be a jerk.

No, I didn’t like Dallas. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings though. It was obvious he was on edge, from the tips of his red ears to the way he kept swallowing.

“Oh. I see.” He stepped away out of my reach, and my hand dropped. His face stiffened and he turned away from me. “I’ll see you later then.” His movements were mechanical as he gathered his belongings and went right out the door without looking back.

I tried to not feel bad for stinging his pride, hurting his feelings. I was alone in the room now, and the matter of the code was gnawing away at the back of my head. So I took the paper out and flipped to the last page.

It was the same code Nick had used before. I quickly translated.

 

 

I worried my lower lip between my teeth to bite back the sigh of happiness that threatened to escape. He wanted to hang out again. Excitement slid along my veins and sped my pulse. I tucked the paper in my bag and left the room, floating on air. An off-campus meeting. It made sense—right now wasn’t the best time to flaunt . . . whatever it was that was happening between us. Especially since my parents were on campus. I needed time to explore this thing between us before worrying about other people getting entangled in it. God only knew what they’d think. Frankly, I didn’t care right now.

I couldn’t get Nick off my mind.

Focusing on my next class was so hard. I couldn’t concentrate much, so all my notes were probably pointless, but I wrote them anyway. When it was done, I rushed back to the apartment to freshen up. Then I left a note for Casey letting her know I was going out for the evening, hopped in my car and drove toward downtown.

This time of the day, in mid-February, the sky was close to sunset. It would be gorgeous to see on the water. Had I mentioned my love of the lake to Nick in our exchanges? I couldn’t remember, but it was the perfect meeting place.

I made it—thankfully, rush hour traffic was moving opposite me as commuters left their offices for the day—and found a spot to park. I wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck, popped on a knit cap and slipped on my favorite warm leather gloves. Then I strolled toward the pier facing Lake Erie.

I rarely came downtown by myself. I wasn’t sure why, since I loved it around here. The pier had only a few people milling around, including a police officer who strolled along the sidewalk. I gave him a friendly nod and made it to the end of the pier. The wind rushed off the lake and froze my cheeks. But that salty tinge in the air wrapped around me, filled me. I closed my eyes and breathed it in.

This—being on the water, hearing the waves smack against the rocks below—was beautiful.

The sun began its descent in the western sky. Bright splashes of pinks, purples and oranges smeared above me, bringing the darker shades of night right on their tails.

“Stunning, isn’t it,” a warm voice said right behind me.

I turned to see Nick grinning, the breeze whipping the top of his hair around. His cheeks were pink from the air, and his brown eyes were brilliant, reflecting the sunset in their depths. “I’m glad I interpreted your message right,” I said with a laugh.

He stepped beside me. “Me too. Otherwise, that could have been really embarrassing.”

We gripped the massive chains on the end of the pier and just stood there in the quiet for a few minutes, watching as the sun dipped behind the watery horizon. When the sky darkened to a rich purple, he faced me and took my hand.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Megan,” he said huskily. He drew closer, his heat pouring onto me. His breath puffed across my cheeks. “I know it’s crazy and probably wrong, but it’s true.”

“Same for me,” I confessed. I felt overheated by the look in his eyes and was tempted to unzip my coat for a moment to let in a gush of cooler air.

His eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn’t identify. Then he said, “I noticed that Dallas can’t seem to stop thinking about you either. He looked over his shoulder at you the whole class period.”

Was that a hint of jealousy in his voice? It amazed me that Nick could even feel the slightest bit threatened by Dallas. Nick was the sun, brilliant and bright and blinding. Dallas was a pale sliver of a moon at best.

Something utterly feminine coiled through me, and I found my body responding with another flare of heat. I turned my face up to Nick, locked eyes with him. “There’s only one person who has my attention in our class, and it isn’t him.”

His eyes narrowed, and he gave a growl before cupping the back of my neck and taking my mouth in a hot kiss. I opened to him willingly, readily, clutching his shoulders as his tongue stroked and dove and danced in my mouth. My pelvis throbbed in response to the sheer sexuality rolling off him.

Nick’s hands came to my hips and he gripped them. Then his gloved thumbs brushed under my coat, stroked my bare flesh in seductive swirls that made me dizzy. I wanted those hands everywhere. It felt so damn good, him touching my bare skin.

I tugged him closer, gripped his head and deepened our kiss more. He tasted minty and warm. The chilly wind from Lake Erie sent wafts of his soap scent to my nostrils, and I breathed him in, mingled with the salt-tinged air.

When we finally parted, we were both breathing hard, mouths swollen. I bit my lower lip.

He groaned. “God, when you do that, it makes me want to suck on that lower lip. Your mouth is so sexy.”

I swallowed and grinned, flustered yet flattered beyond belief. “Thank you.”

He finally released my hips, taking my hand in his. “I thought we could wander around here, then grab some food.”

“That sounds perfect.” Frankly, I needed something to distract me from this sexual hunger he lit in me. It was going to overwhelm me if I didn’t try to keep it under control.

I’d had sex before, of course. I liked it, found it enjoyable and fun. But with Nick . . . I wanted to savor every step of this. Not just rush into it because we were both horny. He felt different to me, special.

We walked along the pier, listening to the wind and the water. There were sounds of laughter off in the distance, but we were the only ones in this area. I felt like we were all alone, in a cocoon.

“What’s your favorite season?” I found myself asking him.

“Summer. I love being warm. Yours?”

“Fall. Watching leaves turn in Ohio is one of life’s greatest pleasures.”

He shrugged. “They don’t impact me the way I think they do most people, since I’m red-green color-blind.”