Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (2 page)

When he walks back over to stand with me, I shake my head
, and start laughing when I notice the deep frown over his mouth, “If you think you’re so hot with the ladies then go right ahead,” he gestures his hand toward the dance floor, though this action only makes me laugh even harder. “Yeah … I didn’t think so.”

“I’m not here for the women. In fact, I didn’t plan on coming here at all tonight, remember?” I remind him as I go to take a sip from my bottle of beer. “What did you say to her anyways?”

“I ... er … I told her… I told her that there’s a party going on in my pants, and that she’s invited.”

I choke on my beer
, and end up spitting it right over him. Reaching over, I pat his shirt down while shaking my head, “Wow. That was actually a whole lot worse than I originally thought. You need help, bro. Serious fucking help if you think that kinda line’s gonna work on college chicks.”

“You really think
that highly of yourself, huh?”

“What?
No. No, not at all. It’s just you’ve gotta treat them with respect, y’know? Telling her that your dick needs attention isn’t gonna work.”

He turns to face
me, and I see a smirk appear over his mouth as he gestures his hand toward the dance floor again, “Then go work your magic. Show me how it’s done if you think you’re so clued up on chicks.”

Immediately shaking my head, I place my empty bottle of b
eer down on the table beside us, “Nope. Not gonna happen.”

“One hundred dollars. I’ll give you one hundred dollars if you manage to get a girl to dance with you.”

My eyebrows knit together, and I eye him for a couple of seconds, “Are you challenging me?”

“You don’t think you can do it?” he starts chuckling
, and takes another sip of his beer. “I knew you were all talk.”

One hundred dollars is a lot of cash to pass up on. That’s more than what I would’ve earned if I’d been working tonight, and I’ll admit, it’s te
mpting. Really fucking tempting, “A dance? Just one dance?”

“Yeah, o
ne dance, and then I’ll pay up when I see you on shift tomorrow. You think you’re up for it, big guy?”

“Alright. Challenge accepted …
little guy
.” I shrug my shoulders and start scanning the room.

My eyes land
over to my left, and on a couple of unsuspecting girls that are standing only a few feet away from us. They’re in mid-conversation about something, until they get interrupted when a guy walks over to join them, “Which one’s your target?” Mark asks while tapping my arm a couple of times.

“Wait just a second,
” I answer quietly while holding my index finger up to him. Red isn’t particularly one of my favorite colors. It just makes the blonde look a little … loud? Yeah. Loud. I keep my eyes firmly trained on the brunette because she’s most definitely attractive enough.

“Alright, watch and learn my friend,” I say to him as soon as I see the blonde walk away, leaving her friend standing alone. “Watch and learn.”

I reach over and quickly grab a couple of champagne flutes from the passing waiter before going in for the kill. Alright. He wanted me to show him how it’s done? He’s got it.

I straighten
my shoulders, and take another step closer to her while clearing my throat.

Okay,
good. That seems to have gained her attention. I stand and wait while her eyes roam over me from the ground up, and when she makes eye contact with me, I know that now’s the time to turn on the charm.

“Would you care to explain why the most beautiful girl in the room is standing all by herself tonight?”
Shit.
Did I just say that? Surely she’s not gonna fall for some jackass line like that? From the corner of my eye, I see Mark covering his mouth with his hand while trying to control his laughter.
Motherfucker
.

I flash her my widest smile
, and offer her a glass of champagne, noticing her cheeks are starting to turn a slight shade of pink.
Well, I’ll be damned.
She fell for it. For another brief second, her eyes roam over me again, and I use this opportunity to throw a smirk over in Marks direction.
Yeah. Someone’s a hundred dollars lighter. Who’s laughing now, huh?

I clear my throat to gain her attention again, “Do I pass your inspection?” I ask through my own amusement, and then notice her cheeks are turning an even deeper shade of crimson.
Yep. I caught you checking me out, sweetheart.
“Dance with me.” I say, and offer my arm out to her. She smiles, links her arm around mine, and then I slowly lead her over to the dance floor.

Turning to face her, I rest my hand
s on her waist as she wraps her arms around my neck. When we start swaying to the music, she moves in closer. So close, in fact, that I can feel her cheek brush against mine, and smell a sweet vanilla scent, “So, are you new here?”

“What makes you ask that?” I turn my question back on her. It makes sense to. It’s not like I’m gonna be seeing her again after tonight.

“I just don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” she turns to face me, and I see her watching me, almost as though she’s trying to read me. “Am I wrong?”

“Maybe,
” I smile back at her. If I play things cool then it might make her stop asking me shit. “Maybe not.”

She starts to laugh lightly, “You’re n
ot going to tell me, are you?” She shakes her head, and smiles again before resting her cheek back beside mine.

Okay, think
. “Do you know what? I’m not, because, I like that we don’t know anything about each other. It makes it more exciting and intriguing, don’t you think?” I whisper into her ear, hoping this puts an end to this conversation.

What else was I supposed to do? Tell her that I’m new here because I’ve just got outta jail? That I only came over to her in the first place because I was showing a friend of mine how it’s done? Explain that it doesn’t really matter who I am or why I’m here because, after tonight, I don’t plan
on ever seeing her again? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

She leans back and stares directly into my eyes. At first, I gaze back. It’s the first time I’ve actually noticed just how attractive she is. Fine, so she’s wearing a mask, but I can still see into her deep chocolate eyes. They’re warm. Trusting even. I’m not so sure that I like the fact that I like what I’m
seeing. No. No, I definitely like what I’m seeing here.

I break away from the intense gaze she’s holding on me
, and pull her body closer to mine by her waist. When I look ahead of me, I see Mark pointing his camera directly at the two of us.
Shit.
No fucking way.
I narrow my eyes and mouth the word ‘no’ right at him. He shrugs his shoulders, and then heads toward a group of girls over on the far end of the tent.
Thank fuck.

My attention’s drawn back onto the girl I’m dancing with when I feel her light breaths breeze over my neck. I take one of my hands from off of her waist, and then
lightly brush my fingers upward, slowly stroking her skin until I reach her neck.
Man. Her skin is really soft
. Doing this makes her lean her head to the side, and I automatically reach up and place a couple of strands of her loose hair behind her ear.

“You’re beautiful.
” The words leave my mouth before I even have a chance to think about what I’m saying, and when I lean in even closer, I skim my lips over her collarbone. Moving higher, I run soft kisses along her jaw until I reach her ear.
She smells so fucking good
. I start nibbling on her ear lobe, and feel my dick twitch in my pants the moment I hear her quietly moan.

The song’s coming to an end, and it’s only now that I realize I don’t want it to. I don’t know why
, but I wanna spend more time with her. Most girls don’t give up. If they ask a question, they want it to be answered. But, her? Hell, she didn’t push me for an answer once. Now that’s attractive in itself.

What the hell am I doing?
Shit.
I was only doing this in the goddamn first place to prove a point to Mr. Anti-Cupid standing over there. Noticing the way she smells was not on my agenda. Or the way small dimples appear on her cheeks each time she smiles. I definitely wasn’t planning on any of this. I think I need to go outside and grab some air.

I see Mark heading back over this way, and while he’s looking in
the other direction, I take this opportunity to prolong my time with her, “Come with me.” I whisper, and take a small step away from her.

Placing my hand on the small of her back, I steer her
toward the nearest exit in sight, and glance over my shoulder a couple of times to make sure Mark doesn’t see us leaving together.

Once we make it out
side, I feel her gripping my hand tighter, “Um, where are we going?” Her voice sounds shaky. I lean down so I can try and reassure her that my intentions are good.

“Just some place a little quieter,” I whisper into her ear
, running my fingers along her waist. I’m not gonna lie. “The music in there isn’t really my taste.” See? I didn’t lie. Blues music isn’t my thing, but indie rock? Now, that’s my thing. I smile while keeping my eyes fixed on hers, my way of trying to show her that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her.

I swear I just saw uncertainly cross
into her eyes before she broke our eye contact.
No. No. Don’t leave. Not yet.
When she slows her pace, my stomach churns, but then she brings her eyes back up to meet with mine, and I feel the sudden relief run through me when she nods and starts to walk with me again.

Leading her
toward a place I found earlier today, I glance over my shoulder when we reach a small opening, and smile as we make our way through to the other side.

“Wow.” S
he whispers, and I can tell from the way her lips have slightly parted that she’s appreciating the view. Believe me though, the lake is nothing in comparison to the view that’s standing directly in front of me. I now understand exactly why I said what I did when I went over to talk to her before. She was the most beautiful girl in the whole place, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I know. I found it when I came out for a walk earlier today. Come on.” Taking her hand in mine, I lead her
toward the small wall that’s set just in front of the water.

When she rests her hands on the wall, I step behind her and lean in closer, “You’re more breathtaking than the view.” I lift my hand, and then trace my fingers lightly from the top of her neck until I reach her lower back, before bringing them back up again. I may be overstepping the mark here, but … yeah, no. No, she
definitely seems to be liking this if the way she’s leaning into me is anything to go by.

I let my fingers roam a little further, until they’re skimming just above her breasts, and then bring them back down to rest on her waist. No matter how much I wanna be touching them, I know that I need to
gain a little self-control here. I turn her around to face me while I take a deep breath, though this doesn’t seem to be helping matters because even her hair smells fucking delicious.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I say, and try to keep my breaths as even as I can. “Damn, I really want to kiss you.” I rest my forehead against hers
, and wait for her to say something. She needs to make the first move here, not me.
Her
. There’s no way I can be the one to do it. She might all of a sudden decide that I’m a creep or something. No. She’s gotta…
oh.
Okay, she’s running her tongue along her bottom lip. That’s sure as hell a good sign, and damn it’s sexy as hell.

The next thing I know
, she’s brushing her mouth against mine, and I feel my whole body starting to tense up. When she slides her tongue into my mouth, I lose all of my restraint and run mine against hers, gripping onto her hips with a newer found urgency. Without realizing, I’m already pressing myself up against her, and I think it’s safe to assume that right now she must also be in the know of just how excited I am. Yeah. I think Pinocchio might be a little …
hard.

Hearing her moan again only makes it impossible for me to stop, and when I move my hands up into her hair and start gently pulling her head back, the kiss deepens and I grip
a hold of her hair in-between my fingers even tighter.

I pull away and stare right into her eyes. If there’s one thing that I’m certain of in this precise moment, then it’s that I need to hear her moan again. She sounds good when she makes those kinda noises. So good that it’s making me wonder what other noises she can make. Images of her sprawled naked over my bed are starting to run through my mind, and I have to take another deep breath while I try to block them out. No. I need to touch her.

Skimming my hands to the top of her breasts, I dip my fingers underneath her dress, and run my thumbs over her. My eyes widen when I see her leaning her head back and closing her eyes. I watch her lips starting to open again, and know that I need them back on mine.
Now.