"Aren't you gonna open your fortune? Take the one facing you. That's the one meant for you. I'll go first," Nina said. She cracked one open and discarded the cookie. "When one door closes, another opens."

She seemed to be pondering what that meant. My thinking was...it's a d.a.m.n cookie. Don't take it seriously.

Until...

"Your turn," she said.

I grabbed my cookie and split it open. Without even reading it, I joked, "Big-b.u.t.t girl make man smile."

Nina giggled. "No sir!"

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

"What does it really say?"

The smile on my face disappeared pretty quickly as the words on the slip of paper registered.

Now is the time to make a move.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought this cookie was busting my b.a.l.l.s. There was no doubt that under the circ.u.mstances, that message seemed made for me. I just didn't know what to do with it.

Nina kept innocently looking at me waiting for a reply.

I coughed. "Now is the time to make a move."

She nodded slowly for the longest time before saying, "Interesting."

"It is...very interesting."

Her eyes were fixated on my mouth as I sc.r.a.ped my tongue ring against my teeth, something I did a lot when I became anxious. We were both definitely feeling quite happy after polishing off the scorpion bowl. I couldn't take my eyes off her and was probably making my attraction way more obvious than normal because of my inebriated state.

The weather outside was ten times colder than it had been earlier in the evening. Nina was only wearing a light jacket. There were no cabs in sight, so we decided to walk until we came across one.

I could see my breath. "So, did you have fun?"

"More than I have in a long time." Her teeth chattered as she spoke.

"Good. I'm glad you took my little performance for what it was, and I hope you know I meant everything I said tonight."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I was so broken up over my brother earlier, and once again, you managed to turn a miserable moment for me into something crazy good."

The look of trust in her eyes cut through me.

I'm going to end up devastating you.

The alcohol had loosened my inhibitions, so when she started to shiver, I didn't think twice about rubbing my hands vigorously along the tops of her arms to warm her as we walked. While we weren't totally sloshed, we were both definitely under the influence, and that made me wary about what might happen when we got home. As much as I'd vowed not to let anything transpire between us, I never fully trusted myself with her. Not to mention, we'd never been almost-wasted together.

Even though it was a cold night, the stars were shining brightly in the sky. She looked up as we were walking. "Look how clear the sky is, how pretty the stars are tonight. It makes you want to just reach up and touch them," she said.

I don't know what possessed me to say, "Some of the most beautiful things are those we can only enjoy from afar. The unattainability makes the attraction more intense."

Yes, I'm talking about you.

"So, if the stars were something we could easily touch, they wouldn't be so fascinating?" she asked.

"I'm not sure about that. What I do know is there are some magnificent things that are beautiful but that also can hurt you if you get too close. The sun is an example. It can burn."

Nothing like talking in code while drunk.

"Like fire..." she said.

Fire.

Me.

She knew what I was getting at.

I barely noticed that we'd stopped walking. I looked straight into her eyes and whispered, "Like fire."

The city moved around us as we stood still facing each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Sometimes, if you're willing to withstand a little pain in life, you might discover a pleasure that you never would have otherwise known existed. Remember that saying, Jake? You taught me that," she said as she slowly moved in closer to me, our breath mingling together in the frigid air. "Some things might be worth getting burned for."

She definitely wasn't referring to sun or fire, either. She was trying to send me a message, too, and I heard it loud and clear. She knew I was hiding something but was willing to take a chance. Unfortunately, Nina had no clue how bad the truth really was, and I wasn't quite ready to divulge it and risk losing her altogether just yet.

A cab finally approached us. If I thought getting into that car was going to make things less tense, I couldn't have been more wrong.

We slipped into the backseat, and her leg pressed up against mine. When the cab made a sudden turn, she fell right into me. My entire body froze up because she stayed there, her head on my chest. My tormented heart pounded furiously. Staring blankly out of the window, I tried my best to ignore all of the sensations building inside of me. With her scent and the warmth of her body, it was impossible to fight my arousal. My d.i.c.k was rock hard, and if she moved at all, she'd feel it. I wished I could have pulled her onto my lap to show her exactly how much I wanted her. At one point, she placed her hand on my chest right over my heart that was beating a mile a minute.

Now, Nina knew what she was doing to me. If she didn't, she'd figure it out in my bedroom later that night.

CHAPTER 10.

Past I couldn't sleep. My mind wouldn't stop rehashing what happened in that cab with Nina.

Get...your s.h.i.t...together.

As if no woman's ever touched you before like that? The truth was, no woman had ever made me feel the way she just did in that taxi.

Keeping it in the friend zone was starting to wear on me. Tonight proved that these feelings were beyond my control. It took every ounce of strength I had to hold back, and if the ride were any longer, I would have lost it.

Her mouth had been just inches from mine. Her soft fingertips were caressing my chest, and I could feel her breathing on me...sweet, soft, little breaths. My heart had been beating faster than a rabbit in heat, and she felt that. I wondered if she felt my d.i.c.k throbbing, too.

I could only imagine what she must have been thinking as I sat there frozen like a f.u.c.king mummy while she leaned against me. If I'd let my body relax and do what it wanted to, there would have been no going back. And I couldn't do that to her. Not until she knew what she'd really be getting herself into with me. She deserved better.

Earlier, when we exited the cab, I had asked her to walk ahead of me, trying to buy some time to talk my d.i.c.k down. It was practically saluting her when I wished her good night and walked back to my room.

I just needed to get some sleep and move past this. But as I tossed and turned, all I could think about was saying "f.u.c.k it all" and busting through her bedroom door.

I wondered what she was wearing.

Go to sleep.

I really had to use the bathroom but had been putting it off because I couldn't even trust myself to go straight there without taking a detour to her room.

When I finally couldn't hold it anymore, I walked out to the hall and noticed that there was no light coming from under her door. A sense of relief came over me because if there had been light, I might have been tempted to knock.

Knock her boots.

Get your mind out the gutter!

After I took a long p.i.s.s, I was leaving the bathroom when her soft b.r.e.a.s.t.s knocked right into my chest.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" I asked, rubbing my thumb over the skin of her forehead.

I made the mistake of looking down and noticed she was wearing a lace tank top so small, it looked like one of those things my grandmother had on her coffee table under the candlesticks. A doily? I had to pry my eyes upward.

"Yeah...I'm fine. Sorry, I didn't think to check if you were in here. The light in your room was on, so I a.s.sumed you were in there," she said.

I leaned against the sink and crossed my arms. "What are you still doing up?"

"I can't sleep, so I came in here to pee."

She flashed me the cutest smile. I loved her smile. G.o.d, she was beautiful. I wanted to kiss her.

Wait...she needed to pee. That was your cue to leave. Move, drunk a.s.s.

"Oh...well, I should probably let you do that," I said, backing away from the sink.

She laughed. "Yeah, probably."

"Right..." I said before walking out and closing the door.

I took my hand to my head, shooting an imaginary pistol at my brain as I walked back to my room.

I intentionally left my door open. It was a bad idea, but a part of me just wanted her to come into my room. Maybe we could try that spooning thing again.

Who the f.u.c.k was I kidding?

I grabbed my laptop, so that it would look like I was doing something other than waiting impatiently to get another look at her beautiful t.i.ts in that top. Why I wanted to torture myself when I couldn't really have her was beyond me.

When she appeared at the doorway, I closed my laptop. My heart pounded faster with each step Nina took toward me. I breathed a sigh of relief when she stopped and sat at the far end of my bed.

Good. Stay far away from me, Nina.

I sat up straighter. "How was your pee?"

"Fantastic."

I couldn't even recall what I said...something like, "good to hear" as my eyes betrayed my brain's better judgment and wandered down to her chest. I could have sworn her nipples were hardening by the second and now, so was my d.i.c.k. My mouth was watering. All she had to do was look down and she'd see how much I wanted her.

"What were you looking at?" she asked.

s.h.i.t.

Busted.

Speak!

I shook my head. "Huh?"

"On your laptop."

Phew.

"Oh...on my laptop. Right. Just useless surfing."

She grinned. "I see."

Our eyes were locked on each other as we just sat there, and this time, I was transfixed by what lie above her neck. Looking into her blue eyes was like gazing at a calm ocean. My stare didn't break until the bed next door starting squeaking.

Friggin' Ryan and Tarah having s.e.x.

Well, that was awkward. Say something to break the ice, Jake. While you're at it, break a piece off and rub it over your d.i.c.k to cool it down.

I cleared my throat and asked sarcastically, "You think they're having s.e.x?"

Nina's cheeks were rosy as she looked down. She was so stinking adorable. "Should we just pretend it's not happening?"

"Yeah. You wanna do a math lesson?"

"Sure."

"Let's see...we can talk about the probability of sixty-nine," I joked.

She blushed even more. "I would say based on that noise, it's very high."

We both started to laugh, but all I could focus on was the fact that she actually knew what sixty-nine meant. Sweet, innocent girl...with a dirty mind. And I thought I couldn't want her more than I already did.