Heather

"It’s fine." Brent motioned to my now empty cup. "Not to your taste?"

"No." My face flamed. "I really am sorry. I didn’t see you." He was wearing the same black jeans and black T-shirt he had on earlier.

When he shoved his hands in his pockets, a line of his skin peeked from beneath the shirt.

I looked down at his feet to get away from the overload he caused, but even the sight of his bare feet on the grass made my heart stop.

Where were his shoes?

He put his finger under my chin, lifting my head until our eyes met. I squeezed mine closed, dreading the vision that would come.

Running through the forest. Smell of grass and trees. And a rabbit. Hunt.

He dropped his hand to his side, and the vision went away. "Don’t worry about it."

That was it? A feeling of running, the smells of nature, and a slight urge to chase animals. What kind of guy thought about those things? And why didn’t I see the usual triple-X rated show? A guy that hot had to be a chick-magnet of extreme proportions. No way was he celibate.

I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath until I gasped for air. I seemed to do that a lot around him. The burning in my cheeks slowly spread through my whole body.

"Vamanos, Brent," a deep voice said from the dark.

Squinting, I tried to find where it was coming from.

"I’ll catch up with you later," he said, keeping his gaze on me.

I smiled. I didn’t think I could stand it if he left so soon.

"Dude," said a different voice. "Not a good idea. You know—"

Brent had his back to me before I even saw him move. I stepped away from him as a growl echoed through the darkness.

The guys must have a dog out there. Some kind of really big and scary sounding dog.

"Fine. It’s your funeral if anything happens. Come on, Cody. Let’s go."

Brent turned back to me and sat next to my feet as if that little exchange hadn’t happened. "How was your day?" He smiled as he held out a hand.

I laughed at his so very ordinary question. It was something different about him. He didn’t act like any other guy I’d ever met.

I tried to tell myself that I took his offered hand because I was curious. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that for the first time that I was attracted to someone real.

Movie stars and characters in novels didn’t count.

His hand was so warm that I could feel his heat through my glove. When I settled down next to him, I thought he’d let go, but instead he laced his fingers through mine.

I stared at our joined hands. Mine fit perfectly in his, and at once I felt completely relaxed, which never happened. Not around people. Especially not when someone was touching me.

I was losing my mind. I had gloves on. That was the only reason that I could hold his hand.

I searched for something to say. Something not stupid. "You said you went to St. Francis’s, but Mr. Langdon said you were taught there sometimes."

"Yup, graduated two years ago. I’m taking a year or so more before college to help out at the school."

"You don’t look like any teacher I’ve ever had." I nearly slapped a hand over my mouth. I could not believe I’d just said that.

He smiled. "Is that a good thing?"

Whoa. Dangerous territory alert. This called for a major subject change. "You only have an accent sometimes."

"I’ve lived in the area for most of my life, but I was born in France." He grinned at me. "And don’t think I didn’t notice the subject change.

It’s like he knew what I was thinking.

I’d almost forgotten he was holding my hand until he squeezed it. The fact that he’d done that twice now—held my hand like he didn’t want to give it back—made me exceedingly happy. I had no idea what I was doing with this boy. Man. There would be plenty of time to freak out later. For now, I’d enjoy it. Him.

"So you like books and Nine Inch Nails?" Brent said.

"Yes to both."

"And how about Texas?"

"It might be growing on me." Did I just say that?

LSomeone needed to shoot me before I embarrassed myself any more. Flirting was so not my bag.

He was quiet for a second. "Do you mind if I kiss you?"

I laughed. "That’s kind of abrupt." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"I guess. Thing is I can’t concentrate on the conversation right now because all I’m thinking about is kissing you—"

"What!"

"It’s true. I could tell you things like you’re beautiful and have the most amazing eyes, but any guy could say the same thing." He smiled. "You’re amazing—I mean judging by your T-shirts alone, I’d say we were on the same wavelength, but that doesn’t even come close to all of it. I feel this connection. It’s more than attraction, although that’s there, too. And I really, really want to get to know you, but there’s this thing hovering—this need. If we just got it out of the way, maybe it’d help. It might just make things worse, but you can’t blame me for trying."

My heart rate skyrocketed as he talked. He felt the connection too? "You’re a no bullshit kind of a guy, huh?"

He shrugged. "I’m just honest. I don’t like to play games." He paused. "So what do you say? Can I kiss you?"

My hormones were screaming, Hell yes! Please, for the love of God, kiss me now! But I made myself think about it.

A kiss could be disaster. Totally nightmare worthy. And yet, even though I didn’t know Brent at all, I couldn’t ignore that connection either.

All of a sudden he was closer.

Had I moved?

I licked my lips and nodded, saying a silent prayer that I would see nothing.

I closed my eyes as his lips touched mine. They were warm and soft. I opened my mouth a little, and he moved in deeper, placing his hands on my shoulders drawing me close. His tongue brushed mine and desire blossomed.

I was lost in a wave of sensations. Through my visions I could feel what he was feeling as well as my own too, and it made me want more. I moved closer, and we tumbled back onto the ground.

He laughed as he hovered over me. He murmured something in French, and then kissed me again.

I wrapped my leg around his hip and pulled him closer to me.

I moaned and he growled in response.

His teeth bit down on my lip. Something ripped into my shoulder.

I pushed at his chest. "What the hell!"

He was up and ten steps away from me before I could blink. His eyes were glowing yellow. He took a long slow breath.

I reached for the back of my shoulder, and touched something wet. It couldn’t be blood. The black gloves showed nothing in the dark. I quickly pulled one off and touched it again. I got up and moved closer to the porch light.

A drop of blood dripped off my fingertip.

I ran my tongue along my bottom lip. It tasted faintly metallic. I was bleeding.

"You bit me?" I knew it was my first real kiss and all, but I seriously doubted bleeding was normal.

Pain blossomed across my left shoulder. "What? Why?"