ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE) (6 page)

It was small and easily overlooked, but from
that small flicker in my heart, I could build the foundation of something much
bigger.

I knew my soul could burn for her if I let it.

That’s why, when class was over, I followed
her outside and redirected her towards the nearby overhang. It was a covered
seating area; other students mostly filled the available tables, so I leaned
against a pillar instead.

“Yeah? What did you want?” She asked
impatiently. I could see that she was slightly on edge, nervously looking
around and absent-mindedly sliding her hair behind her ear… something that only
encouraged me further.

“You and I need to talk,” I told her.

“I, uh, we don’t need to talk.”

“We definitely do,” I smiled softly.

“No.” She was trying to put her foot down
here, but her hesitance gave her away. Sure, she knew what I was going to say…
but she
wanted
me to say it.

“I’m just going to go out and say it,” I
sighed, choosing my words very carefully. “Clara, you’ve had my attention since
the moment that we first met, and I want to see where that goes.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll remind you that when
we first met, you were publicly humiliating me in front of your Marine friends,
and making horrible sexual passes at me.”

“So I came off the wrong way,” I shrugged. “I
know that I fucked up. You were only going to be a harmless little bit of
amusement, but then I ran into you immediately afterwards, and you seemed so…”

“So
what?
”
She asked with feigned apathy, poorly disguising how she was clutching onto my
every word.

“So… wildly attractive,” I conceded. “Seeing
you there by yourself, outside of your banquet serving attire, as just a girl
trying to buy a drink… it compounded inside me. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of
you. I
had
to get to know you.”

Clara scoffed. “So, you see me in my street
clothes, and suddenly everything changes? Real smooth, bucko.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I insisted. “Once
we were alone and back in our elements, we clicked. Sure, you pushed me away a
little, but I deserved that. And once we got to talking, I felt a spark grow.”

“A
spark
?
You’re a real walking cliché, you know that?” She muttered, shaking her head.
Her hair falling forward didn’t hide the smile that I saw developing across
that beautiful little face of hers.

Testing the waters, I reached down and lifted
her chin. Instead of flinching or recoiling, her eyes went wild with fear,
gazing deeply into mine like a frightened animal… but Clara didn’t dare move
away.

“I
know
you feel something between us,” I whispered, stroking her cheek with the
backs of my knuckles. “I know it’s happening fast, and it doesn’t make sense to
either of us… but I know you do, because I can feel it too.”

Clara sucked in a small gasp of air, clearly
filled with conflict. “But it’s wrong,” she huskily replied. “And we only just
met. We
can’t
. You
know
we can’t…”

“We
can
,”
I pushed her, staring deep into her eyes with every ounce of conviction I had.
I just have to break down this barrier
between us.
“We’re not related… our parents are only dating… time is on our
side. I just don’t want to kill this thing we feel before it starts.”

Clara’s face was growing flush; her chest was
visibly rising and falling with mounting intensity. “Maybe that’s for the
best,” she tried to concede, although I could see her grasp slipping.

“I don’t think so,” I nudged caringly, “and I
know you don’t really believe that, either.”

Her eyes slid open, half-rimmed by her heavy
eyelids. When she spoke, her silky voice was like honey to my ears. “Then, what
do you suggest?”

“You
know
what I suggest,” I replied calmly, tracing the shape of her cheek with my
thumb. “We take the plunge. We see where this goes. If it doesn’t work, then it
doesn’t work… but I can’t let it end without trying.”

When she nodded involuntarily, drawn into the
rising sexual tension between us, I knew that I had my moment.

I pulled Clara Campbell close.

My hungry lips met hers.

And for that heated, magical moment, all was right
with the world.

Chapter 6

Life grew far more complicated the second
that Dalton kissed me. It was so hard to look back on that instant as a
fleeting moment of weakness when it just felt
so right.

While my senses heightened with pleasure, it
was as if a garden of butterflies released into my stomach. I felt blood rush
to my face while a tiny jolt of pleasure slipped down to my toes, filling my
body with warmth.

Is this what a kiss is really
supposed to feel like?
I wondered to myself.
This
isn’t like any kiss I’ve ever had before, not even with my ex-boyfriend…

The Marine pulled back slightly, his warm
lips still so achingly near. As his eyes briefly searched mine, I grasped onto
his shoulders and pulled him back into another passionate kiss.

This feels good,
I thought to myself.
This feels appropriate… it feels right.

The voice of reason inside my head was
struggling to be heard, shouting about impropriety, my parents, the age
difference between us, anything at all that could dissuade me from continuing
this. But that voice couldn’t be heard through the thick fog of pleasure that
dulled my mind now, killing any interjecting thoughts.

All that mattered was the taste of him.

But we both had follow-up classes, so Dalton
and I separated with a smile and headed towards our prospective directions. All
the while I walked that way, I had a beaming smile on my face.

I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t think
that I really needed to. It wasn’t exactly quantifiable. The feeling was something
mysterious to me, a sensation that kissing him, and being near him, brought me
a happiness I hadn’t experienced in a long time… maybe never.

Natalie is going to want to hear
all about this.

After Psychology 1001, I was scheduled Math
1001, Sociology 1028, Physical Science 1001, a late lunch period, and
Mathematics 1001. It was a pretty rough workload, but luckily none of the
succeeding professors assigned any homework or expected us to have our
textbooks already.

Unfortunately, Dalton wasn’t in any of my
other classes, although that might have been too much of a distraction for me.

This could have easily been a more stressful
day. Everywhere I turned, I could see fledgling Freshmen stopping upperclassmen
and asking for directions, looking like lost little lambs. Most of them didn’t
really know where anything was, and I stopped and helped a few when time
permitted.

Luckily, I’d come prepared.

One of my last days of high school was a
meet-and-greet day with the university, where I’d been introduced to my
advisor, chose my classes early, and got to know the general layout of the
campus. Although the classes hadn’t been specifically assigned rooms at the
time, I knew the halls now, and I easily navigated around and found everything
I needed.

When I finished up my last class, I checked
my text messages. It was only when I noticed one from Dalton that I remembered
again that we had each other’s numbers.

> Hey, just wrapped up. Are
you done yet?

It was marked an hour ago, so I knew now that
he left earlier than I did.

> Just getting out my last
class now. Did you schedule a lunch break, or do you have five back-to-back
classes?

I started walking towards the car, eager to
get home and make some headway into my first batch of psychology homework...
luckily, it involved online reading, and not the actual textbook. As I was
twisting the key into the door lock, his response came through:

> Nah, I’m rocking five
classes. Don’t really need the lunch break. Would rather save that hour for
later.

Well, that was
one
way to do it, although I didn’t think I had the mental stamina
to punish myself with five straight blocks of classes like that.

Forty minutes later, I was letting myself
into Natalie’s apartment. She wasn’t in, so I dropped my bookbag off at the
foot of my bed and made myself a sandwich to eat for a quick snack.

While I turned on the television and watched
some mindless program, it was hard for me to keep my mind off of Dalton.

He’d come out of literally
nowhere
, and getting into anything with
him came with strings… strings that involved our parents. It wasn’t precisely
ideal.

But, even though I’d been horrified to see
him at our little family luncheon… honestly, it was only because I already
sorta liked the guy. More than I was willing to admit to myself.

Sure, he’d pissed me off at the banquet.

Yet, even when he was pushing my buttons, the
antagonization had pleased me in small ways. That was still fresh on my mind
when I saw him at the bar, and although I wasn’t open to his company at first…
he’d endeared himself somehow.

Truth of it was, I
wanted
to see where this could go, just like he did. As for the
details, well… maybe those could sort themselves out. After all, it’s not
unheard of
for people to break up, even
at our parents’ age.

With that understanding in place, he and I
began to see each other. It certainly gave me something to look forward to
every morning, as no matter how exhausted or disinterested I might be in my
earliest class… I would always see Dalton there, brightening up my day.

I occupied myself with homework at night,
evening shifts with the banquet staff, and hanging out with Natalie when she
was available. Although she wasn’t in school and didn’t really need a job, she
was pretty preoccupied socializing with friends, making connections, and
currying further favor with her parents.

Honestly, I preferred the life that I had
over the one she led. While she had her simpleton boyfriend (although he
apparently came with quite the cock on him), she was bound by formality when
she wasn’t home.

There was always someone important to her
family to see, or another social event that demanded her attention and
presence, or another crazy demand from her parents. They gave her this
apartment and plenty of spending money, and Natalie had never worked a real day
in her life, but she was definitely kept on a tight leash.

And she made sure to remind me sometimes.

“Whatcha doing, Claire-Bear?” Natalie asked
one afternoon, dropping her keys off on the counter as she strolled in and
spotted me at the dining room table.

“Buried under homework, unfortunately,” I
mirthlessly explained as I sipped more coffee. “What about you?”

“Oh, another stupid little gala,” she
muttered. “It’s like,
come on, people.
How
many fucking galas do you folks need? I swear, they’re just goddamn
bored
. All the freaking time. They do
this just to piss me off.”

“That’s right, Nat,” I smiled and shook my
head. “They have little council meetings where they decide to spend vast sums
of money and time in the
exclusive
pursuit
of interfering with your life.”

Natalie shot me a dirty smirk. “It’s a
conspiracy, I tell ya, a damned filthy conspiracy. They’re out to get me.”

“How do you think they dress when they’re
plotting your imminent demise? Long, purple robes, like wicked monastery
monks?”

“You’re right on the money,” Nat chuckled as
she poured herself a glass of orange juice and leaned against the counter.
“Probably a dozen of them around some ancient stone table, consulting a dark
and mysterious prophecy. It probably rhymes. All the good prophecies rhyme.”

Before I could respond, the bathroom door
popped open, and Dalton wandered over to take back his seat at the table.

“Hiya, Natalie,” he grinned chirpily.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite British bar
dude,” she crossed her arms with a grin. “Goes without saying now, but welcome
to
mi casa
.”

She flashed me a sarcastically aggravated
look, and I returned it with a cheeky grin.

“Were you saying something about the rigors
of the wealthy life?” He asked, taking his seat beside me and rubbing his palm
across my upper back. “Must be exhausting.”

“Yeah, yeah. You might joke about it, but it
comes with strings,” Natalie shrugged. “I have to jump through a lot of hoops
to keep this gig going strong, and that means keeping up to date on the latest
fashions, the latest beefs between my family and others, cordial appearances,
galas… it can be exhausting.”

“Oh, no, I wasn’t being condescending,”
Dalton looked serious for a moment. “There are, uh, rich people in the family.
I heard a lot of stories about that kind of thing while I was growing up. I can
only imagine how stressful that must be for you.”

I turned my head. “You’ve got wealthy
relatives? And I’m just hearing about this
now?
”

“Yeah, well, they’re a little on the distant
side,” Dalton laughed, but I noticed the edge to his voice. “I haven’t seen
them in something like eight years, at least…”

“Weren’t you in the Marines?” Natalie tilted
her head. “For, what was it, two terms? Then that would line up pretty well… I
mean, hell, you can say you haven’t seen
anyone
in something like eight years…”

“Yeah, well, they were never really a big
part of my life,” Dalton responded with measurably less warmth than usual. “I
don’t particularly care to dwell on them all that much.”

I wanted to push him a little more on the
topic, but he was clearly trying to deflect it, and I didn’t want to corner him
while we had company.

Natalie caught my eye. With the kind of
understanding that only close, old friends have, she switched gears and laughed
off the tone.

 
“Well, I know what that’s like. I have
relatives like that too. I’d rather break a heel than deal with them,
any
night, so you’ve definitely got my
sympathies there, Dalton.”

She stepped away from the counter and reached
for her keys. “Anyway, I’m afraid I can’t stay long, I’m supposed to be meeting
that dull boyfriend of mine for dinner or something. If I leave now, I might be
able to squeeze in a little shopping first…”

Dalton looked visibly relieved that the topic
had shifted away, and I rose up to give her a quick hug. “Say hi to Jared for
me,” I told her.

“Like I’m reminding him that other girls are
out there in the world, are you
insane?
Can you fathom the leash I have to keep this boy on?” She chuckled on her way
out the door.

We resumed the homework, but I couldn’t keep
my mind off of the previous topic. It was clear that he was uneasy about it,
but what was more telling was that he was clearly hiding some of the details.

There was something he wasn’t telling me.

We made it through the rest of the hour
before I finally couldn’t take it anymore. He apparently sensed this coming,
because he was growing more and more agitated.

“I’ve gotta ask,” I started to say. “You
have–”