The Impact of You

Jase

I need get my control back before I do something stupid and try to kiss her. If I do that, I won’t be able to stop. Turning away, I adjust myself in the suit pants. “I got you something today.”

“You did?” I hear the smile in her voice, and I’m at least grateful that things aren’t weird between us now. She follows me across the room to my dresser. I pull open the top drawer, then point to the bed. “Sit.”

She does.

“And close your eyes.”

Her lips curl into a smile and her eyes drop closed. She makes a grabby motion with her hands. “Gimme.”

I chuckle and place the small object in her palm and with her eyes still closed, her fingers explore. “A whistle.”

She smiles up at me and the urge to kiss her is so strong, I take a step back. “If you need anything, you just blow that, and I’ll come find you.”

Her expression gets soft and she grips the whistle in her hand. “Where were you when I was in high school?” she asks, her voice just above a whisper. She looks down at the silver whistle in her hands and I can tell her thoughts are far away.

What happened to turn her into this sad, broken girl? Not kissing her was the right move. “Trust me, you wouldn’t have liked me then.”

The air hangs heavily around us, the music faintly audible from the party below, and Avery remains sitting in the center of my bed. But since I know I can’t kiss her, I need to get my thoughts back on track.

I loop the red string over her head so the whistle rests between her breasts. “Should we go back downstairs?”

She gives me a tight nod.

Avery

once I

It makes no sense, even to me, and I know it would make even less sense to someone else. It’s

with Stacia. Ugh. She’s in a figure-hugging red cocktail dress and they’re in what appears to be in an intense conversation. Their faces are just

the damn whistle and call interference so bad my entire body is shaking. I want to see if Jase will really come running to me. But I do no such thing. I just stand there, numb, watching their way too comfortable interaction. Her body angles toward his,

her features. When Jase notices what caught her attention – me gaping at them – he quickly pulls her

Whoa.

punch something?

I drag Madison into the kitchen. “I need something to drink.”

if it’s this stupid outfit that soo isn’t me, or the

not like he’s mine. Who he goes off with should

me and Madison wait at the counter while one of his frat brothers pours us each a shot. I lift the glass to my lips and drop my head back, letting the liquor burn a path down my throat.

I tell the guy.

to feel the same confusion and helplessness I just felt watching him with Stacia. I down the second shot and slam the glass down on the counter. My eyes tear up and I’m not sure if it’s from the liquor or

me, his fingers clutching the exposed skin of my

around, making a show of it. “Where’s Stacia?”

eyebrows pull together. “She

alone sending chills of awareness through my body. I wave

off him in waves.

him any farther than she could throw him. His good deed of

challenges to get outside my comfort zone. What’s the problem?” I tap the shot glass against the counter, waiting for

unleashed. If I was him, I wouldn’t pour me one either. “Fuck, Avery.” He grips

stumble along behind him through the crowded dining room, the two shots already hitting me. Jase pulls open the sliding door and the cool night

any pretenses, Jase stalks forward. He cups the nape of my neck and angles my mouth to his, before leaning in to kiss me. His mouth is soft at first, but when I kiss him back, he groans low in his throat and coaxes my lips apart to deepen the kiss.

Jase

way her tongue flirts with mine makes me instantly hard again. Her tongue glides along mine and she balls my shirt in her fists. Her ass fits perfectly in my

against my chest and breaks the kiss. “Jase.” Her eyes are alight with passion, her voice breathless…but her tone is all wrong. “We have to

and meet her eyes. They’re blazing green and swimming with emotion. Shit. I don’t know what I did wrong – and whether to apologize or hush her fears with more kisses. This is