A PERFECT TEN (Forbidden Men #5)

3. Caroline-1

3

Caroline

I stuck around Forbidden a while longer and watched Oren from a safe distance. He glanced toward the hall opening to the bathrooms with a slight frown a few times, probably looking for Kelly and her sidekicks, but he didn’t seem all that perturbed that he never spotted her again. He just kept mingling through the crowd and talking with everyone who stopped him.

“You’re being really obvious tonight,” Zoey said from beside me.

I didn’t even glance at her. “Hmm?”

“With your Ten-watching,” she cautioned. “You’re not even bothering to hide it. Did he tick you off that much when he chased that guy away from you?”

“Oh, I’m over that,” I said, though I wasn’t. I still wanted to hurt him, not only for turning me down and then going to other women like Kelly, but for keeping me from the exact thing he would’ve done with her.

I finally glanced at Zoey. “I just heard a couple girls talking about him in the bathroom earlier. My ears are still ringing from the things I learned.”

Zoey shuddered. “I can only imagine. Actually...” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t even want to imagine. His idea of fun no doubt goes beyond what I could even fathom.”

The idea of that seemed to disgust her, but it turned me on. That probably meant I was a freak. Well, yeah, I had to be a freak. I wanted Oren Tenning. That could not be normal. But still, why did I crave such dirty things? With him?

I checked the time on my phone. Eleven thirty. If he truly meant to meet Kelly at midnight, he’d have to leave soon. But he was still here. Maybe this meant he wasn’t—

“Yo, Ham. I’m heading out.” He appeared out of nowhere beside me to tap the top of our table and get his roommate’s attention.

I yelped because I hadn’t even noticed him moving our way. With a low growl, I scowled at him for startling me...or maybe for leaving now, because that meant he was still planning on meeting Kelly. The ass.

He met my gaze and paused. Reading something—though I’m not sure what—from my expression, he leaned close to talk into my ear.

“What? You’re not still mad at me for chasing off that little boy, are you?”

I sniffed and lifted my chin. “You’re just as bad as Noel. I mean, you’re never going let me date anyone without any kind of interference, are you?”

He watched me a moment longer, his intent expression harboring all his thoughts. Then he leaned in again. “How about this? If you ever find anyone good enough for you, I will step back and let you at him without even a single f**k-off glare in his direction.” Then he leaned even closer. “Problem is, I don’t think anyone will ever be good enough for the likes of you.”

When he reached out slowly and caught a tendril of my hair, the achiest look entered his eyes. He studied the lock he was methodically winding around his finger, and the way he watched it was just...I knew that look and recognized it intimately. Every time I saw him, I felt it rising from my own core, wanting, yet helpless to take.

A shudder wracked me. Once upon a time, I’d told Zoey that if I knew for certain Oren really, truly liked me—liked me the way I liked him—I wouldn’t let Noel keep us apart. And I’d meant it.

I still meant it.

“Even you?” I asked him.

His eyes flashed at the question. “Especially me.” Dropping my hair, he stepped back and straightened before he cast a quick glance toward the bar, as if testing whether my brother could see us or not. When he seemed to realize Noel hadn’t spotted him touching me, he turned away and strolled off.

I stared after him, my lips parting. And that’s when I knew, or at least I convinced myself I knew. My theory wasn’t a theory at all; Oren honestly did want me, and he really was an ass to me sometimes because he was trying to keep me away so he wouldn’t fall into temptation and go against Noel’s wishes.

Well, screw that. My brother wouldn’t have befriended Oren if he thought he was such a bad guy. And Oren had done so many good things for him—which was another reason I’d grown obsessed with him. I swear, the only reason Noel didn’t want me to date his friend was because he didn’t trust me not to mess my life up royally, as I had the last time I’d gotten involved with someone.

But Oren was nothing like Sander. And I wanted him. I wanted him so bad. Even suspecting that he wanted me back made my heart ache.

It made Blaze’s words echo through my head.

“Live a little, Caroline. Find yourself a man. A hot one-night stand.”

A one-night stand, huh? On the heels of her echoing comment, I heard Kelly’s, “He only does it in the dark… I’m supposed to meet him at his place at midnight.”

“He always leaves his apartment door unlocked, and you’re supposed to just walk right in and down a dark hall to his dark bedroom.”

As everything I’d heard tonight crowded into my head, an idea formed. It was crazy. Insane. The worst idea I’d ever had. But I couldn’t push it from my mind.

I shouldn’t even consider it.

Then I did, anyway.

Seriously, though...if I arrived at Oren’s place tonight at twelve o’clock and entered his dark bedroom, and he really honestly always did it with the lights off, he’d never know it was me. He’d think I was Kelly. Right?

My heart pounded. Yeah, that was a crazy idea. Too crazy. I was going to stop thinking it now.

Then again, what would the harm really be? He’d get his s*x. I’d get what I’d been craving from him for months. Blaze would be happy my v****a wasn’t going to dry out and shrivel up, not that I was sure why she was even worried about my v****a. But honestly, everyone would go away happy. Wouldn’t they? Not even Noel could freak out over what happened because he would never be the wiser. Oren could still have me, and he wouldn’t have to worry about keeping it from my brother.

The sweetest part of the whole idea was that I could have exactly what I wanted, and the immature chauvinist pig who pissed me off as much as he turned me on would go away absolutely clueless. I didn’t want him to know how fixated on him I was. This could be the perfect solution, which really tempted me into wondering—

Oh, hell. The entire notion was crazy. I would never in a million years actually go through with such a thing.

Half an hour later, thousands of voices in my head shrieked. “For the love of God, Caroline. What’re you doing?”

“Shh,” I hissed at the annoying shits. “I’m doing this.”

I slipped inside the front door to Quinn, Oren, and Zoey’s apartment and then closed it behind me with trembling fingers. To be discreet, I’d parked my sister-in-law’s car that I’d borrowed tonight a block down the street. And if anyone caught me inside, I already had an excuse handy. I was here to see Zoey. To talk important girl stuff. Yeah. That sounded good. And I really would talk to her if I was caught...about the fact that I’d lost my everloving mind!

Pausing at the beginning of the hall, I took a moment to bolster my nerve. Oren’s bedroom was the first door on the right. Only ten feet away. Drawing in a deep breath, I started to step forward when an idea hit me. Scrambling, I reached under my skirt I’d raced home to change into for my panties, and I peeled them down my legs.

I know, I know. They were the nicest underwear I owned. Why was I taking them off before he could even see the goods? Well, probably because, if we stayed in the dark like we were supposed to, he’d never see them anyway. And tonight, I just wanted to be bold and promiscuous. If I was really going to do this, I was going to do it right.

Pantyless, I stopped in front of his door and lifted my palm, but instead of knocking, I set my fingers against the wood. He was on the other side of this door, waiting for me.

Okay, fine, waiting for some other girl. But if I knocked and went inside, it’d be me he took.

A thrill raced up my spine, and butterflies danced in my stomach.

I knocked.

Oh my God. I’d just knocked on Oren’s bedroom door. What the hell was I doing?

Without waiting for an answer, I reached for the doorknob and turned it. It was also unlocked. The hallway was dark, so he wouldn’t be able to see me as I entered. And just as the girls in the bathroom had gossiped, his bedroom was unlit too.

They’d been spot-on about the spooky yet thrilling aspect of it all. I was half scared out of my mind and yet completely turned on all in the same breath. Tense with anticipation and fear, I waited for him to accost me.

Gah, this was going to kill me.

No, no, it was going to be like walking a tightrope, I told myself, with a nice safety net under it. Yeah, because if I changed my mind, I could just tell him who I was, and he’d stop. Instantly. There was no doubt in my mind he’d stop. His best friend was my big brother. If he didn’t want to be murdered, he’d definitely stop.

But I was sure I didn’t want him to stop, so I’d have to be very careful not to let him figure out who I was. Still, that security of knowing I could halt this at any time was a nice benefit in case I did chicken out at the last moment.

“Hello?” I kept my tone low and husky, hoping he wouldn’t recognize my voice.

“You’re early.”

I jumped like a startled mare before silently cursing myself. Damn, I hadn’t expected him to be so close already.

Thank God it was pitch black. He couldn’t see how flighty I was.

Accusation laced through his words and made me start to say, “sorry,” but I stopped myself at the last second, not wanting to sound like a complete pushover. Only the s sound leaked out, making an adept impersonation of a deflating tire.

“What was that?” he asked, his voice even closer now. It moved through me and made my n*****s bead.

I cleared my throat as silently as possible, and pulled forth all the courage I could muster. Then I lifted my chin. “I think you’re the only one here we have to worry about coming too early.”

He chuckled in my ear, making my nerves wrench once again because I hadn’t sensed him getting quite that close. I could actually feel his breath in my hair.

“So you’re going to be a smart-ass tonight, huh?” His voice held approval. “You know what I do to smart-asses, little girl?”

I didn’t move but to turn my face his way. His breath shifted to my cheek, and his unique minty yet musky scent wafted up my nostrils. My belly fluttered with excitement as the cloth of his shirt brushed my bare arm. Oh...God. Maybe we did have to worry about me coming too early. Was it possible for girls to prematurely ejaculate?

Shivering, I nodded to myself, bolstering my nerve. Trying to lower the pitch of my voice to disguise it and maybe make it more sensual, I said, “Why don’t you just show me what you do to them?”

It took him a second to respond. Damn, my fake voice had sounded terrible and way too much like my own. Positive he’d figured me out, I froze and waited, bracing for him to flip on the light and expose me, ruining the entire charade. My heartbeat pounded through my ears.

But then he murmured, “You got it, honey.” Warm fingers, strong and confident, grasped my elbow. “This way.” He nudged me to walk in front of him, not deeper into the room toward the bed, but off to the side toward... who-knew-what.

When I bumped into something, I huffed out a startled breath and stuck out my hands, blindly checking things out until I realized what we’d encountered.

“Table,” I cautioned, thinking he’d direct me around it.

But, no. He bent me over it. “Good. Brace your hands and spread your legs.”

A lightning bolt of heat spread through me, and something deep in my womb clenched tight, aching to feel him there.

“So, it’s true then?” I gasped, gripping the table for dear life as I widened my stance. I didn’t have to do anything to alter my voice that time. It went high all on its own, because oh my God, I was opening my legs for Oren. “You really do like it in the dark and from behind.”