Three Months and You're Mine (In Too Deep) (6 page)

I turned on my heel, and started stalking off in the direction Zack had gone. "I'll probably do it again," I added from over my shoulder.
I don't think he heard me because he was already talking to Rachel. I found Gretchen on the dance floor and told her I was planning on taking a cab to get my car. I didn't lie and say I wasn't feeling well or anything. I told her the truth. "I'm pissed at my brother so I'm gonna make him feel bad by leaving early and not taking the limo back with you guys."

"Oh come on," Gretchen said. "I'm sure it can't be all that bad."

"It's no big deal. I'll probably hang here a little longer, but I'm seriously not taking the limo back with you guys. I just wanted you to know so nobody worried about me."

"
Everyone's
going to worry about you if you're not with us, Mere. Just stay with us. You don't have to sit by Collin in the limo if you don't want to."

"It's not just Collin. I kissed Zack. That's what this is all about."

"
You did?" Gretchen asked, a little confused. "Zack just came up to me and told me if I see you to tell you to meet him at the booth."

"Me, Zack, me?
He said for
me
to meet him? Meredith?"

Gretchen measured my excitement and replied cautiously. "Yeah, he asked for you, Meredith, to meet him at the bo
oth. I'm not too sure I should have told you that now that I know Collin's gunning for him, though."

"He's not, i
t's cool. It's all good. Hey, thanks for the message." I couldn't stand it another second. My words were coming out a mile a minute, as I scooted around her and took off through the crowded club to the booth.

As I approached, I could see that
Zack was standing at the edge of it talking with Bailey, Caleb, and Cali. The three of them were stars of the show I'd be working on. The Paradise Island people seemed to gravitate toward each other when we all hung out, and I wondered if I'd be part of the group once I started working there.

I only had a few seconds to think about the show before Zack turned. He smiled when he caught sight of me, which made me feel all hot and
melty inside. I tried to compose myself so nobody could tell how nervous I was in his presence. 

Chapter 6

Zack

Collin got all
swole when he caught me kissing his sister. I expected as much, but it still sucked to get reprimanded by one of my friends in a club. It wasn't that big of a deal, though. Basically, all I did was tell him what he wanted to hear and walk off before he had the chance to stop me. I hated to leave Meredith with a mess to clean up, but she struck me as the type who would be able to stick up for herself.

As I walked across the club toward our table, I came across Gretchen. She was talking to a couple of girls I didn't recognize. She introduced them as friends from UCLA, and I shook hands with both of them. I couldn't help but notice that neither of them
were as cute as Meredith. I recalled the sight of her gorgeous little pixie face, and all sorts of urges started coursing through my body. I looked around the club, at the girls in my immediate vicinity, and realized to my own horror that Meredith Blake was the hottest girl there.

This could easily get messy.

"Hey," I said to Gretchen before I walked off, "Collin's little sister was looking for me. Something about our birthday I think. If you see her, tell her I'm at the table for a little while."

"
I'll tell her if I see her," she said. She reached out to hug me. "Are you enjoying your birthday so far?"

I smiled at her. "Best birthday ever."

I made my way to the booth, where I stood talking to the soap stars. Meredith walked up not even three minutes later.
The way she looked left me breathless. It was weird, though, because I'd never been attracted to someone like her. I definitely wouldn't consider her
beautiful
in a traditional way, but the combination of her features really did it for me. I smiled at her as she approached, and she returned the smile, looking excited to reconnect after our unfortunate separation.

"That was close," she said.

"I know, huh? But just so you know, he's right."

"What? Who?"

"Your brother. He's right about me. You should definitely stay away."

"You must already know that telling me that just makes me want to do the opposite."

I shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you, though, Meredith. I'm telling you right now, I mess around with a lot of girls."

Now Meredith shrugged. "There's something you should know about me, Zack.
It's a true story that happens to be incentive for you. I am utterly incapable of falling in love."

I looked at her like she was spewing lies.

"I'm serious," she continued. "I can be totally obsessed with a guy. Like head over heels in loooove—obsessed, and the
second
he loves me back, I'm done. I'm not kidding. It's like a switch flips. As soon as a guy likes me back and the challenge is over, I am
incapable
of having feelings for him anymore. It's happened like twenty times over the years. I kid you not. You can ask my brother if I've ever had a serious boyfriend, he'll tell you no."

"Sounds like you're a little playa," I said.

She looked offended. "You think I
want
to be like this? As far as I'm concerned, it's a freaking
medical condition
. I'm probably never going to be able to get married or have a family. Thankfully, it happens to work in my favor in this case. I'm telling you the secret right now Zack, if you want to get rid of me all you have to do is act like you really like me."

The girl was constantly surprising me. For whatever reason, I actually believed her little speech, which made me think that her proposal of no strings sex might actually be legit. We were standing, and the club was extremely loud, so we couldn't be overheard. I decided it wouldn't be the end of the world if I flirted with her a little. Plus, she was so freaking cute, that I wouldn't have been able to ignore her if I tried.

"If I'm gonna be giving you lessons, we've got to start with that kiss," I said.

She'd been looking into the crowd, but her head wh
ipped around when I said that. "You're giving me lessons?" she asked.

Her eyes were alight with excitement, and I wanted so badly to tell her I'd be teaching everything she needed to know within the next eight hours or so. I didn't say that, however. Instead I said, "I'm giving you a lesson about kissing. I didn't say anything about the
other."

"Now that's just not right. If you're taking me on as a student, then it's for the full term."

"I heard you didn't care about finishing school," I said.

"Ouch, Zack. That was low."

"You're right, I'm sorry. That was a terrible thing to say." I smiled at her. "Just don't quit school next time, and I won't have to say it."

She slapped my shoulder. "Go ahead and doubt me like everyone else," she said. "I'm
gonna have so much fun showing you all what I'm made of."

I laughed as I grabbed her and pulled her next to me. "I'm
definitely not betting against you," I said.

"But are you betting
on
me?"

"I think I am."

"So how about those lessons?"

"Oh, you trying to slip that in
while you're on a roll?"

She shrugged. "Might as well."

"I'm still not convinced about the whole three month thing, but for tonight, we'll have a lesson on kissing. From what I saw with you and the guy on the dance floor, you need to learn a little patience. I'd like to see your technique from start to finish, so we'll figure out someone for you to approach, and I'll watch you from start to finish."

Her jaw dropped. "You want to
watch
me kiss someone else? Gross Zack. Is that what does it for you? What are you? Some kind of porn star?"

I laughed. "It doesn't
do
anything for me at all, I promise you that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll hate seeing you kiss someone else since you're the hottest girl in here tonight."

"If I'm so hot, and you'll hate to see me kissing someone else, then why don't you just teach me yourself?"

I'd already asked myself the same thing and the reason I wanted to see her with another guy was because I felt like I needed to prove it to myself that I didn't care what, or better yet who, Meredith Blake did.

"I wanted to be able to observe your skills," I lied. "Plus, your brother has us on a short leash."

Meredith advanced on me until we were standing toe to toe. She tugged me down as she reached up to whisper in my ear. "
My brother can go screw himself, and as far as the kiss, my skills are more easily observed first hand."

I looked
at her with a confused expression, and then offered her my ear as if I hadn't been able to hear her the first time. That was another lie. I heard her say her skills were better first hand, but I pretended not to hear her. I did it because the feel of her breath on my ear seemed essential for survival at that point.

"I
said
I'd rather be shown by you than someone else, and I thought I already made that clear," she said. She spoke more loudly that time, but I still pointed at my ear like I couldn't make out what she said. Again, I turned so she could tell me again. The next thing I felt was the gentle, hot puffs of air that meant there was an open mouth near my ear. Only instead of speaking words, like I expected the mouth to do, it licked my earlobe. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the tip of her tongue touching the sensitive skin on my ear.

"I think you could hear me the first time, Zack Larson," she whispered. "
You just didn't get enough and wanted to feel my breath on you ear again."

I pulled back and regarded her as if it were the
silliest thing she'd ever said then I bent to whisper in her ear. "The limo's still out front. If we leave now, we'll have a few minutes alone before everyone else starts going out there."

"I'm not riding home in the limo. I'm
too mad at my brother, and I already told everyone I was finding another ride home."

"Are you doing that just because Collin didn't want me kissing you?"

She looked a little shy, but nodded.

"Collin's harmless," I continued. "Just ride home in the limo. The whole point was for it to be a birthday thing. Where's the fun if the birthday girl ditches us?"

She
thought about that for a second then smiled at me. "You're right," she said. "And besides, I'm not scared of Collin."

"
I'm
a little scared of him," I said. "But what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"
That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you," she said. "But let's get back to the news that if I go out to the limo right now, I'm going to get an uninterrupted kiss from Mr. Olympics."

"That's kind of
nasty since your brother is mister Olympics," I said.

Meredith regarded me through narrowed eyes as if she were saying she was onto me.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't try to act like you don't know you're the hot one. My brother might have more sponsors, but you're totally the hot one."

"Oh yeah," I said sarcastically. "Because your brother and Ethan are so ugly." Her expression shifted from thoughtful to quizzical.

"You really don't know, do you?"

I seriously didn't know what she was talking about. I'd never heard anything that led me to believe the media had anything to say about the level of hotness of the Olympic team. I thought we were all pretty clean, actually. No one ever told me I was the hot one, but I'll take it, for sure."

"You
are
the hot one. And it's not just me who says it. Seems like I saw someone Tweet about it during the Olympics."

I didn't want to burst her bubble by telling her that two girls' opinions don't rea
lly count as general consensus, so I just smiled and took the compliment. "Someone Tweeted that
I
was the hot one?" I asked.

She pushed at me. "You know you are. Quit playing."

I bent and tapped on the table to get everyone's attention. Bailey and Caleb were the closest to the edge, and they both looked up at me. "We're going to the limo. We'll see you guys out there." Caleb looked from me to Meredith with a knowing smirk on his face. He checked his watch. "It's almost time to meet out there anyway, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Meredith said, "that's why we're going out there. We just wanted to let you know so you guys wouldn't be looking for us."

Caleb smirked. "You want me to try to stall them?"

"No," I said, "It's not like that. We're just going to hang out
in the limo for a few before we take off."

"All right, if you say so." Caleb looked up at Meredith. He had a peculiar
expression on his face, as if he was really noticing her for the first time. Obviously, she was more desirable now that someone else was taking her to the limo. I knew his type, and yes, maybe it was because I was just like him.

"Hey bro, j
ust let everyone know we're in the limo when they start looking for us," I said.

Caleb and Bailey both nodded. The music was so loud that we decided not to say anymore. We just nodded and smile
d as I took Meredith's hand and made our way outside.

The limo driver had managed to get a good spot. He was parked on the street near the front door when we came out
. There were quite a few people with us, so it wouldn't have surprised me if a couple of them had already had the same idea.

"You think someone else is in there already?" she asked, reading my mind.

"We'll see in three, two—" I opened the door and peered around to look inside. I was relieved and surprised to find it was empty.

"Nobody," I said. I shrugged and turned to focus on Meredith. She gave me a smile that made me wonder for a split second why in the world I would have ever said we needed to wait three months. She scooted past me and climbed up into the enormous
limo. I climbed in behind her. She had on dark grey pants that were a perfect contrast to the ivory, leather seats. Her shirt and hair were both close to black, and even though I knew her eyes were dark blue, they appeared to be black in the dim light. She looked dangerous in more ways than one.

I left a little space between us when I sat down.

"Did you have a good birthday?" she asked.

I smiled and held up my arm
to show my watch. "Definitely. And I scored some good gifts too."

"You like it?"

I glanced down
at it. It was a style I'd have chosen myself.

"I love it," I said.

We'd been in there for forty-five seconds when the limo door opened, and I saw Rachel's dark head of hair peek around the threshold and look into the cabin. She smiled when she caught sight of us. "Collin's right behind me," she said. She looked at us as if she expected us to part like the Red Sea. We didn't. Meredith actually scooted a few inches closer, although we still weren't sitting close enough to touch.