Glass Ceilings by A. M. Madden Read Free Book Online Page A

were glued to mine completely hypnotized me. I couldn’t tell how many minutes of my fifteen had passed, and the last thing I wanted was to look away to find out. Looking away would break the spell we had over each other. It would send us falling face-first back into reality, and I liked where we were at that moment.
    Even if the last few minutes were a fantasy fueled by a silly tradition, I wanted to stay put for a bit. It was easy, and an escape from life. Kissing her was a taste of heaven that I’d never experienced before. It could have been the build, since I’d been thinking of kissing those lips for days. But I couldn’t help thinking it was something else, something between us that I couldn’t explain, something that made that the best fucking kiss.
    I needed to do that again.
    Just as I was about to pick up where I left off, Eve broke the spell. “That was so hot. I knew it! I fucking knew it! You two have a thing for each other!”
    Angela quickly backed away from what we just shared. Her expression morphed from heated passion to cold confusion in a blink of an eye. The lips I had just indulged in were nervously pressed together, almost as if she was protecting them from me. Her eyes darted between Eve and me like she was trying to find a way to escape.
    I needed validation that she also felt the current that coursed between us when my tongue caressed hers, when our eyes locked. I needed to understand why, for the first time in my life, I felt an unexplainable connection that was so fierce it rendered me stupid.
    I also needed more of her, much more.
    “Angela.” I reached for her and she stepped further away.
    “I need…I’ll be back.” She turned and quickly walked toward the ladies room. Eve went to follow, but I stopped her.
    “I’ll go.” My guess was I only had a few minutes left before Mugs would come yelling, and I needed to tell her it was the best money I’d ever spent.
    I found Angela waiting in line for the ladies room. Without an explanation, I took her hand and dragged her toward the stockroom. Some of the women in line catcalled and whistled as we walked by.
    “Lucky girl,” one called out. “I’ve been trying to nail him for weeks.”
    Another hollered, “I’m next!”
    “What are you doing?” she whispered harshly, as I pulled her into the room, slammed the door, and locked it.
    “We need to talk about what just happened.”
    “It was a kiss, Nick. Nothing happened.”
    “It was amazing, Angela. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel the same. And…” I gripped the back of my neck in frustration. Damn it, should I admit what I wanted? Should I finally come clean and tell her she was all I’d been thinking about and it’d be impossible to stop the thoughts of being with her, especially now after that kiss?
    She turned to face me, the lost look still in her eyes. “And?”
    “And, I want to do that again. And, I want to do much more.”
    She let out a sarcastic huff. “Of course you do. You want that one-night stand.”
    “Why does it have to be labeled? Doesn’t every relationship start with one night? Look, for some reason I’m drawn to you and I know you feel it, too.”
    “ANGELA!”
    “Angela is getting a good fucking,” a catty response filtered through the closed door followed by laughter.
    “Shut up, bitch!” Eve said and knocked hard over and over. “Ang, open up.” Angela looked up at me hesitantly, before walking over to the door to let her cousin in.
    “What the hell?” Eve looked past her to me. She raised a brow and asked, “He freaked you out, didn’t he?”
    Is that what this is? She’s freaking out?
    “Eve.”
    “What? He’s not Ronnie, Ang. It’s time you moved on.”
    “Stop it. You promised.”
    I didn’t need to see Angela’s face to know how angry she was. Her fists clenched at her sides at the mere mention of this Ronnie prick.
    Eve glared back, but nodded without argument. “Fine. I’m going to Jase’s place. Don’t wait