Chapter 17 #4
She took a step back and my heart hurt. I shook my head, softening a little. I didn’t want her to feel like she was doing anything wrong. I mean, she was, but only because I was finding it harder to say no, not because I didn’t feel safe around her.
“No, Vera, of course not. Nothing you do makes me uncomfortable, at least not in that way. It’s having the opposite effect.”
“Ah, so you’re mad because you enjoyed it, and don’t want to. That makes sense.” She made a face like it didn’t make sense. “I did feel your leg twitch when I was rubbing it, and I heard that intake of breath when I kissed your cheek.”
“It wasn’t a cheek kiss! And I’m not mad, I just… ugh! I’m finding all of this very confusing and complicated.”
“You are very sexy when you get flustered, did you know that?” She took a step closer, and I took a step back.
“Vera,” I whispered.
“Si, princesa? What is it that you want? Because I can tell you what I want, but it might not come out as respectful as you deserve.”
I groaned, taking a step back. She took another step closer, chasing my steps back until I was against the wall with nowhere to go. “What do you want?” I asked. I couldn’t tell her what I wanted. I couldn’t tell her anything in that moment.
Her smile was purely feral as she lifted my chin so our eyes met. “You, Cara. I want you. I want to wrap your legs around my shoulders as I hold you up against this wall and devour that deliciously perfect pussy I know is dripping for me right now.”
I let out a little whimper, unable to hide it. That was quite the image, and she was right, I was very turned on.
“Vera. I can’t—”
“You may say you don’t want this, but your body and your reactions are telling me something else.” I followed her gaze to my body, which apparently had a mind of its own. I had moved my hips slightly closer to hers, and I hadn’t even realized.
She put her hand on my waist and cupped my jaw with the other, rubbing her thumb across my bottom lip. “I’m going to kiss you, Cara. Not for your friends. For real. If you don’t want it, tell me.”
I tried to shake my head, tried to get the word out, but all I did was stand there, staring at her. She was going to kiss me, and I was going to let her. I was going to break my own rule and I couldn’t even find it in myself to care.
She leaned in closer, guiding my mouth to hers with one finger. I closed my eyes, ready for her kiss to carry me away like it had that first night.
A loud cheer from outside stopped her and I jumped, my eyes shooting open.
She took her hands off me and took a step back, the air between us putting out the fire that was rapidly building inside me.
I was both relieved and disappointed to be interrupted.
A second longer, and I would’ve leaned closer to cut the space between our lips.
“Vera.” I looked at her, searching for, well, I wasn’t sure, exactly. “We almost…” I trailed off, unable to bring myself to admit what I wanted to happen.
She nodded. “The universe knows what we need sometimes. I’m sorry. I almost broke a rule. I got caught up in the moment.”
I looked at her. “I almost let you. I don’t, I can’t—”
“Should we get back to the party? Your friends are probably wondering where you went.”
“Vera, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m the one who should be sorry. I keep pushing myself on you, and you’ve been more than clear with your intentions. I’m acting like a predatory dude, and that’s not cool. I’ll back off. Let’s get back out there, yeah?”
“You’re not acting like a dude. I’m just.” I sighed. I was going about all of this so wrong. I didn’t know what to say. “I want you but I don’t want to want you because our lives are so different and I’ve never dated anyone like you?” Yeah, definitely not saying any of that.
“Yeah, maybe we should get back to the party. Thanks for checking up on me.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t her typical heart-stopping smile. “Of course, princesa. After you.” She stepped to the side and let me lead the way outside and back to the party. At least she was still calling me “princesa,” so I knew I hadn’t upset her too much.
“You guys were gone a long time. Is everything okay?” Vera probably thought Drea was just being concerned, but I could sense the sarcasm in her tone. I’d been around Drea long enough to know that, while she actually did care, there would always be something smart-ass said around it.
I put on a smile and put my hands on Vera’s shoulder. She put her arms around me and pulled me closer. “Yup. Everything’s fine. I just needed a few stolen minutes with my girl.”
My girl? No, brain! We do not like the sound of that. It’s just her accent, that’s all. It confuses us and makes us feel things we shouldn’t! It’s an illusion, it’s not real!
We fell back into easy conversation, all of us coupled up and it was nice. Mackenzie kept trying to talk to Vera and she was… polite enough, but other than that, no issues. I was thankful we all seemed to get along pretty well.
Vera kept her touches respectable and the flirting was light.
I was glad everything was okay with us after the almost kiss.
I felt like we were finally getting to a good place in our…
friendship? I didn’t know if we were friends, but we got along well enough.
Hopefully, things would continue that way.