First Position by Melody Grace Read Free Book Online Page B

away.
    “Wait—” I reach for her, but she shakes her head.
    “I have to go,” she insists. “What time is it?”
    Time? The only time that matters to me is how long it takes to melt
that tension from her expression, put my hands and mouth back on her
body where they belong. But I see her panic, and it’s like a
cold shower on my fevered lust.
    I check my watch. “Around midnight,” I tell her.
    “No!” She gulps, looking around. “I really have to
go!”
    She takes off, back to the party. I follow quickly, trying to catch
up as she ducks through the crowd. By the time I reach her, she’s
at the main gate.
    “Please, slow down.” I catch her hand and press it to my
chest. “When will I see you again?”
    “I don’t know.” She gives me a helpless shrug. “I
have rehearsals, I don’t know when I can get away ...”
    “Thursday, we’ll be back in Piazza Navona ,”
I tell her. “Come find me.”
    I see a cab approaching on the street, so I lift my fingers to my
lips and sound a piercing whistle. It stops. Annalise hurries over
and dives inside, before I can even kiss her goodbye.
    “Goodnight, Annalise,” I call after her. The driver
pulls away. Her face is framed in the window, pale and beautiful, an
angel sent to tempt me.
    To torment me.
    “Sweet dreams.”

Ten.
    Annalise
     
    Even though I expect the entire dorm to be awake and waiting for me
when I get back, the building is dark and still. I sneak back up to
my room without any sign of danger, but as I slide into bed, sleep is
the last thing on my mind.
    Raphael ...
    My heart races, even here in the dark. If I close my eyes again, I
can almost pretend I’m back at the party, dancing with Raphael.
Feeling his body, the movement rolling through me.
    The heat of his wet mouth caressing my tender breast, his tongue
driving me crazy with desire…
    I roll over and let out a silent scream of frustration into my
pillow.
    What is this? The fierce excitement burning in my veins. I feel
consumed, as if my body has been taken over by some foreign force,
sending all other thoughts scattered from my brain and leaving me
with only pure need.
    Fire raging in my bloodstream. A damp ache between my thighs.
    Is this what people feel all the time? How am I supposed to function,
to focus, now that I know that he is out there in the city somewhere?
That he might be thinking about me, feeling this raw craving.
    “ Let me teach you… I’ll show you a pleasure
like you’ve never known…”
    His tempting words echo in my mind, until finally, the first light of
dawn creeps through the windows, and exhaustion claims me at last.
    His lessons have already begun.
     
    I’ve barely slept a couple of hours when the alarm cruelly
blasts through the room, jolting me awake. I stretch, groggy, as the
wisps of sleep fade from my mind. For a moment it feels like the
party was just a dream—flashes of movement and light, Raphael’s
face, his eyes burning with passion—and then I see my crumpled,
wine-stained blouse on the floor and it all comes flooding back.
    The party was no dream. It was real, I was there.
    He kissed me. And so much more…
    I bolt upright in bed. The shower is already running, and both my
roommates’ beds are empty.
    “Hello, Cinderella.” The door opens and Rosalie enters,
dressed in workout gear from her morning run. “What time did
you get in?”
    “Too late.” I grimace, feeling the ache of tiredness
still heavy in my limbs. “Was everything OK? Did anyone come to
check on us?”
    “No, all clear.” Rosalie gives me a careful look. “You
were lucky though, anything could have happened.”
    I cringe. It wasn’t just my own neck I was risking last night:
it was Karla and Rosalie’s too. They would have been in just as
much trouble if anyone discovered I was gone. “I’m
sorry,” I tell her, “I really didn’t mean to put
you guys on the line.”
    “Never mind that!” The bathroom door opens, and Karla
comes out, wrapped in a towel.