The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols Read Free Book Online Page B

attention, this was serious
, just as when he’d touched my bare hip in the school hall last Friday. However dark and dangerous I’d considered Nick before, he was about to get a lot worse.
    Or better. “The smooth white stone that statues are carved from,” he clarified, brushing his warm fingertips across my skin. “Marble.”
    I did my best to keep my tummy absolutely still so he wouldn’t feel how fast I was breathing. This required me to take very small breaths of heavy hot sauna air through my nose. No wonder what I said next sounded strained: “Marble? With black veins? Sounds attractive.”
    He smiled a little. “Statues don’t talk.”
    “Yeah, I wasn’t buying this sexy rock metaphor anyway.”
    His eyebrows went up and his face opened into that
who, me?
innocent expression of his, even as his pointer finger dippedinside my belly button. “I’m trying to be nice to you.”
    “I can tell.” Something needed to be done about this belly button issue. I didn’t push his hand away because … well … I wanted it there. But I couldn’t just leave it there without acknowledging it, either. That would show weakness, telling Nick he could do whatever he wanted with me and I would just sit there and take it. That would be every girl he’d ever dated. Instead, I put my hand on top of his and pressed gently, like I approved.
    Which I did.
    I think I surprised him. Oooh, I
loved
this! His nostrils flared a little, and his big hand under my hand spread all the way across my tummy, stroking there slowly. Something was definitely going to happen, and I was going to let it.
    But while he was off balance, I needed information from him. Now that I’d gotten over the surprise of seeing him at Chloe’s hotel, it occurred to me just how out of place he was. “What are you doing here?”
    “Chloe invited me.”
    “She
did
?” I squeaked. I hoped he didn’tassume I’d put her up to it. I
knew
I couldn’t trust Chloe and Liz to quit the Cupid business!
    For once, being a very bad actress served me well. Nick could see I was floored by this info. He explained, “Chloe asked Gavin to invite me to your victory party. Didn’t they tell you?”
    “I didn’t see Gavin,” I said slowly, still puzzling this out. “I only talked to Chloe for a minute. I don’t think they know you’re here.”
    “Maybe they don’t,” he admitted. “I came in and saw Davis and Liz making out in the hot tub, and I heard these groans coming from the pantry. What are Gavin and Chloe doing in there anyway?” he asked in his
I’m so innocent
voice.
    I laughed. “Chloe said they were taking inventory.”
    Nick chuckled. “Gavin wishes. Last I heard, he had no idea how many boxes of cereal were in that pantry.”
    “Oh!” I gave him a little shove that would have been playful if we’d been in the school hall. But here, alone in the sauna, it was my hand on his hard bare chest. I swallowed and tried to pretend I shovedhalf-naked boys in the sauna every day of the week. “You guys have big mouths.”
    “Like Chloe didn’t tell you every move Gavin tried to make on her while they watched basketball on TV at his house last night. Or
didn’t
watch basketball.”
    He had me there.
    “So, Gavin and Chloe are otherwise occupied,” Nick mused. “Davis and Liz are in the hot tub. You and I are alone. We might as well make the best of it.”
    As if I weren’t hot enough already, I felt the heat rising through me, burning every inch of my skin. I blushed so hard that my face burned at the thought that my fantasies for four years, and specifically my dreams since last Friday in the hall, were about to come true.
    A small space had opened between us when I’d shoved him. Now he closed that space again. His long, muscular leg touched my leg inch for inch—stuck to it, in fact, in the shadowy wet room. His long fingers found my bare tummy again and splayed wide across it, with his hot palm centered on my belly button.
    “I love