21. Annie
Annie
When I enter the hallway outside the apartment, I smell something burning. Then, I hear a grumbled string of cuss words from the man inside.
“Zayn?” I open the door and find him waving a towel over a burning casserole dish. He doesn’t turn around.
When I reach him, I place a hand on his shoulder.
He tenses at my touch before his eyes meet mine and his posture softens. He must not have been expecting me home yet. His cheeks are flushed red—from embarrassment, maybe? Or from the heat of the stove?
“Annie, I, uhh—” Zayn ping pongs his gaze between the stove and me. “I...” He lets out a loud sigh.
“Hey, it’s okay. We can order in.” I try to make it better, try to show that I wasn’t expecting anything.
“I wanted this to be perf—” Zayn pauses. He rakes his hand through his hair as he looks to the floor. “I wanted this to be perfect.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Zayn?” I tease.
He chuckles and playfully pushes at my shoulder. “Shut up. I should punish you for that comment.” His tongue swipes against his lower lip.
“If you think I deserve it.” My heart flutters at the possibility.
His eyes darken, pupils widening at my advance. “Annie.”
“Zayn.”
“Annie.”
“Zayn.”
“Stop,” he commands.
“Make me.”
Zayn’s eyebrows narrow. He releases a low grumble with each exhale.
“Do you need me to make the first move?” I twirl a stand of my hair between two fingers.
“I don’t need you to fucking do anything.”
“You’re extra grouchy tonight.”
Two steps later, I’m pushed against the island. Hard. Zayn’s hands block me in.
My neck instinctively tilts to the right as he slides his mouth up my throat.
“You want to know why I’m extra grouchy tonight?
” Zayn’s lips pepper kisses on my neck, slowly, passionately, deliberately.
I moan as he switches from the left to the right side.
“I wanted to do something nice. For you. I never want to do anything nice. I’m selfish.
Fuck. And you. You, Annie. You just… get under my skin. I can’t. Resist. You.”
My eyes roll to the back of my head. A soft sound, barely a moan, leaves my lips. “Don’t start what you can’t finish.”
“Is that a challenge?” Zayn’s stubble grazes my neck, my chin, and it’s too much. My legs tremble and I grasp at his shirt, trying to close the remaining gaps between us.
“I need you,” I whisper into his ear, nibbling on the bottom before I pull away.
“We need to eat dinner,” Zayn counters, still kissing me everywhere except the places I ache for him the most.
“Dinner can wait.” I’m about to get on my knees and beg, beg , him to keep going. After yesterday, he’s all I’ve been able to think about. I’m not going to tell him that though; that’s a secret for me.
“I had a special night planned, Annie.”
Zayn pulls back. His doe eyes stare at me with a secret message hidden in them that I can’t quite understand.
“This is important to you.” I take a guess.
He nods.
“Alright, Z. Your plans first, then mine.”
I expect him to say something, or maybe cancel tonight, realizing we are getting too close. But he doesn’t.
“It’s a date.”