Less Than Nothing

Brandon and I spend a majority of the night together. We danced. We talked. We drank. Hes a twenty six year old lawyer from California who works for the firm that does contracts for Adrienne. There were a lot of other things he told me about his life, which I mostly tuned out because I was distracted.

By him.

I couldn not pay attention to Ryan and his date…sorry…his plus one Sophia. Their behavior wasn really flirty, but occasionally he would pull her close and whisper things in her ear. Things that would make her blush. It drove me crazy. The closer they got, the more interesting Brandon became.

Before the night was over, he made sure we exchanged numbers. I obliged. Its only fair…I flirted with him the whole night. Will I answer the phone when he calls? Probably not.

I got slightly distracted, but the fact still stands that I do not have any room for a man in my life right now. Especially not with all the drama, and needs they come with.

The only person who will receive large amounts of my attention is Adrienne because shes paying big bucks for it.

Speaking of Adrienne, the launch party was a success. Her website crashed due to the massive influx of pre-orders for her collection. Now that the party is out of the way, I imagine things will be a lot smoother at work.

”Finally, ” I kick my heels off once I shuffle through my front door. Im finally home. Its about two oclock in the morning. The party is still very much alive, but the moment my social battery drained, I was out of there. Adrienne didn mind. She was too drunk, and mesmerized by her wealth to care.

”Oh how Ive fantasized about this moment… ” I confess out loud, as I undress and put on an oversized t-shirt. If theres one thing living alone has taught me, its that nothing beats walking around freely in a big t-shirt.

Just a big t-shirt.

Ive never had this kind of privacy in my life, but best believe that Ive taken advantage of every second of it.

I head to the bathroom and remove my makeup. After I finish washing my face and moisturizing, I hear a knock at the door. The sound pierces through the quiet nighttime atmosphere, and makes me jump.

What the **?

Im frozen in shock. Unsure of what to do, I grab the baseball bat that I keep near my coat rack, and slowly trudge towards the door. I don open it. Instead, I look through the peephole.

”You scared the shit out of me, ” I blow out a shallow breath and open the door once I see that its Ryan. When I left the party he was still cozied up to Sophia, so what hes doing here is beyond me.

”My bad. ” He doesn ask to come in, he just does.

”Its almost three in the morning. Is there something you need? ” I fold my arms over my chest. I do this because one, Im ticked off, and two, to hide my body. Im fully naked under this t-shirt.

”Is he in here? ” He ignores my question, looking around. ”Blondie? ”

Brandon and I left the party together. It kinda seemed like we went home together, but we didn . Once outside of the club he went to his car, and I went to mine.

”No. ”

He lets out a relieved sigh.

”Not sure why you care, though. ”

”You know why I care. ” The tone of his words are low, but the volume of his gaze shakes the apartment. I want to look down, but I can . Im physically stuck.

”I don . ” I say, honestly. He nears even closer to me, and I hear the crescendo of my heartbeat.

”I can stop thinking about you, Alex. ” He swallows. ”Not since the day I met you. ”

Those words make me freeze in my tracks. Flattered. Confused. Angry. His confession makes me feel all of those things. Youd think that if he really felt this way, he wouldve at least tried to reach out. He wouldn have waited to see me at some event, while simultaneously bringing another girl as his date.

His words flatter me, but I don have the capacity to tolerate any of this right now.

”Okay. ” I finally speak up. ”Is that all? Because Im really tired. ”

I turn around, and make a b line towards my bedroom door, but he grabs me gently by the waist, and turns me around.

”No. Thats not all… ” His hands stay on my body, and I feel like I might just melt. ”I know you feel the same. ”

”I don . ”

”You do. ”

”I don . ”

”Liar. ”

”Really? ” I push his hands off of me. ”Because last time I checked, I can stand you. ”

”Can stand me, huh? ” He grins, amused.

”I don believe you. ”

I don even believe me. As much as Ive tried to deny it, I haven been able to stop thinking about him either. We spent one day together. One. And thats all it took for him to have a permanent place in my thoughts. Clearly I don hide it as well as I thought I did.

”Thats not my problem. ” I stand my ground. ”Now if you don mind.. ” I gesture towards the door.

”Do you really want me to go? ”

No.

I don .

I didn want him to leave that night he dropped me home, and I don want him to now.

”Tell me to leave, and I will. ” We
e now facing each other, so close that our noses almost touch.

”Tell me to stay out of your way, and I will, ” he says again, this time placing his finger under my chin.

”Tell me you don want me to kiss you right now, and I won . ”

I open my mouth, but no words come out. Im speechless. All that descends upon me is the overwhelming desire for his lips on mine. And before I know it, I place my hand on the back of his neck and smash our lips together.

When our mouths collide, every thought in my head disappears. Every ounce of anger, every ounce of good judgment…gone. His body is hesitant for a second. A very short second, because before I know it, he grips the back of my head, further pushing his lips onto mine.

We kiss feverishly…like the world around us is crashing and burning, and our lips intertwined is our only shot at surviving. Or better yet, like the world is crashing and burning but we don even care because mankind is a small price to pay for the satisfaction of this moment.

My skin burns, as my lips part, allowing his tongue to dip into my mouth. We stumble backwards, a passionate, impatient mess. His hands travel my body, and the thin material of my t-shirt doesn do the best job at concealing my skin from his touch.

I have never been more grateful for a t-shirt.

My back hits the wall, our mouths still moving in sync.

”Alex. ” Ryan pulls away breathlessly, resting his forehead on mine. Oxygen is the only thing precious enough to stop our kiss. As I fill my lungs with the one thing my body desires more than him, my brain finally catches up.

Holy shit.

Throughout my entire twenty two years of living, I have never had a kiss that good. I mean granted, I haven kissed too many guys, but Ive kissed enough…and none of them have ever been like that.

”Alex… ” he says again, hoarsely. ”You don know how badly Ive wanted to do that. ”

My heart starts to run laps in my chest.

This is a bad idea. The worst idea. Hes my bosss nephew. We hardly know each other. Ive never acted so recklessly before.

I should stop.

I should pull away from him.

I should lie, and tell him that I want him gone.

In the heated battle between what I want, versus whats right, my desires win by a landslide. I don give Ryan the opportunity to say anything else, because words ruin things.

Instead, I grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him back into me.

This kiss is different from the last…slower, but still urgent. His teeth sink into my bottom lip unapologetically, and I nearly cry out as pain and pleasure collide like fire and ice. I feel my body loosen with arousal, as his hands slide down my shirt, towards my thigh. He pulls away, and looks at me tentatively. Slow breaths are drawn from the both of us, as we reel in the sensation of that kiss. Theres a crisp moment of much needed silence to recover.

”It was really good seeing you tonight. ” He leans in, and kisses my lips gently one more time.

”Goodnight, Alex. ”