WORTH IT (Forbidden Men #6)

3. Felicity-2

My lips parted. It was such a profound compliment; I didn’t know how to respond with as much flattery as he had delivered. So I mumbled, “Well, I really can’t...you know, look down on you. You’re way too tall for that.”

When he chuckled, my chest flooded with pleasure. I’d said the right thing.

“You’re funny.” Reaching out, he caught a piece of my hair and rubbed it between his fingers.

I think he liked my hair. That made me feel... warm...all over.

“Funny, pretty, and nice,” he murmured more to himself than to me. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

My mouth fell open. My head was so jumbled with crazy, crushy feelings I knew I shouldn’t be having, I had no idea how to reply.

“So, really,” he said, continuing on as if he hadn’t just flipped my world upside down. “What are we going to do to pass the time?” Strand by strand, he let my hair tumble from his fingertips before he gathered another lock and repeated the action.

When his gaze shifted to my mouth, I almost lost myself, sucked into his captivating charisma. But at the last second, I realized how crazy insane lifting up onto my toes and kissing him would be.

I had to stop this.

I was going to crack a comment about how obsessed he’d become with my hair to douse the moment, but then I realized I’d become just as obsessed with watching him play with it.

We were quite the entranced pair.

I licked my dry lips. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”

He shrugged, his attention slipping back to my hair as he began to wind it around his finger and force it to bob into a corkscrew as he pulled his finger free. “If you really need to shave your legs, don’t let me stop you.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sorry, but I’ve already shaved them today.”

Which was odd. I’d shaved them yesterday too, and the day before that, along with every freaking day since I’d run into him in the woods.

Seriously, what was it about a cute boy that suddenly made a girl want to shave her legs every single day? There had to be something very wrong with that. Damn cute boys.

“But feel free to shave yours.” I motioned my hand toward the bathtub, and he laughed again.

Ugh. What was it about damn cute boys who laughed at a girl’s corny jokes that made her heart beat harder?

“I’ll pass, thanks.”

I loved that I could hear the smile in his voice. My soul sang.

Blowing out a loud, dramatic sigh, I flipped my bangs out of my eyes, only to accidentally brush my hands against his where he was still fiddling with my hair.

Stomach beginning to cramp from all the sensual heat in there, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and rambled out nervous words.

“I guess we could do each other’s hair, paint our toenails and gossip about cute boys, like a regular ol’ slumber party.”

The humor in his eyes made them a darker chocolate brown. “I thought you girls only had pillow fights in your underwear at slumber parties.”

I huffed out a disgusted breath. “Not even close. That’s just what you guys assume we do. The fact of the matter is we pig out until we’re disgustingly bloated, and then we try to burp our bad garlic breath on each other.”

Knox gaped at me as if I’d kicked him in the shin. “You just shattered every dream I ever had about slumber parties,” he said in the most serious voice I’d ever heard him use.

I blinked before I realized he was joking. Then I cracked a grin and shoved at his shoulder. “Whatever.”

“No, seriously. Please tell me there’s some experimental kissing. Or boob touching to compare sizes. Trying on each other’s panties?”

“Eww.” I sent him a glare, but he only laughed.

“Oh, come on. You gotta give me something. There has to be at least one indecent thing that actually happens at slumber parties, or there’s no hope left in the world.”

I opened my mouth to call him a pig when a knock on my door made me yelp.

“Felicity?” It was Max this time. The good brother.

He sounded concerned.

Slicing a worried glance at Knox, I called back, “Y-yeah?”

“Sweetie, I don’t want to worry you, but someone broke into the house again. We’re not sure if he’s gone yet. So I’m going to stay in your room until you get out, just to be on the safe side. But Father’s already called the sheriff, who should be here soon, so don’t be scared, okay?”

I gulped and looked up at Knox, who’d gone pale. “Oh, s**t,” he mouthed.

“Umm...actually, I didn’t bring any clothes into the bathroom with me,” I told Max, biting my lip and praying he bought that.

“Do you want me to bring some to your door?” Max so considerately offered.

I slumped my shoulders and met Knox’s gaze. His brown eyes swirled with worry.

“No. No, just...can you wait outside my bedroom door? I’m not sure what I want to wear yet.”

He hesitated. I was positive he’d tell me no, but then he finally said, “All right, but hurry, okay? Father wants us all downstairs in the sitting room so we can be in one place.”

“Of course. I’ll be out in a second.”

I closed my eyes and held my breath until I heard his footsteps move across my room and then my bedroom door close.

Exhaling silently, I slipped out of the bathroom as quietly as possible, even though I had no idea why I was being quiet about that.

I tiptoed into my bedroom, and immediately I missed the close intimacy I’d shared with Knox.

Seeing that the coast was clear, I opened the door fully to set him free. He stepped into my bedroom, very pale.

“Now what?” he whispered, scowling. “He’s still right outside the door.”

Oh, right. Crap. Why hadn’t I thought that far ahead?

I winced. “Window?”

He glanced over, and his face turned a sick green. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“There’s a trellis,” I offered hopefully.

He turned back to me. “I hate heights.”

I gulped. “Oh.”

This could be bad.

But he didn’t seem to stress out about his acrophobia. He just drew in a breath and approached the window slowly, studying it like a determined man on a mission...about to face his doom. After he opened the window and stuck his head out to calculate the drop, he jerked back inside and began to breathe hard.

When he glanced back at me, his eyes were wild with panic. I brought my balled hands to my mouth, beyond worried. I so did not want to make him face his fear. “Maybe you can wait in my bathroom until late, and we’ll sneak you out after everyone’s gone to bed.”

He gave a vigorous shake to his head. “If the cops are coming, they’ll want to check every room before they leave. Don’t you think?”

I gave a weak shrug, not sure what would happen.

He shook his head again. “No, I can do this. The trellis looks sturdy.”

Looks? What a not-very-reassuring word.

I watched, biting my fingernail to the quick as he climbed out the window feet first. When the upper part of his body was still inside but his waist down was out of sight, he glanced at me. I sent him a tremulous thumbs-up, and he flashed me a brave smile before stepping down, and then disappearing from view.

I raced to the window and poked my head out, only to find him still right outside my window, clinging to the trellis and cursing under his breath as he squeezed his eyes closed.

“Hey,” I called. “What did the mute say to the midget?”

He looked up, blinking rapidly. “What?”

I smiled. “Oh, good. I have your attention. Now... just keep looking into my eyes, and then take one more step down.”

His head slashed back and forth. “I can’t do this.”

“Knox,” I said sternly. “One step. That’s all. Now do it.”

Agony filled his eyes, but he filled his cheeks with air and took one step down. Once he had his footing secured, he blew out the breath.

“You did it,” I cheered. My grin must’ve been contagious because his trembling lips curved up at the corners. “Yeah,” he admitted breathlessly. Then he broke out with a full-fledged grin. “Yeah, I did. I did it.”

Clapping him on, I called, “Now do it again. One more step.”

His smile died. “Shit.”

The sweat beading against his brow matted pieces of his hair together, but that only made him look better. Man, it had to take talent for a guy to look hot even when he was afraid enough to pee his pants.

“So, like I was saying... What did the mute say to the midget?”

He scowled at me as he took the next step down. “You really want to crack jokes when I could plunge to my death at any moment?”

“Of course.” I was pretty sure he didn’t appreciate the forced cheer I put in my voice, but I kept it there anyway. “Now, what did the mute say to the midget?”

He sighed in exasperation as he eased another step down, and then paused to ensure he was stable. “Hell, I don’t know what he said. You’re short?”

I sighed, disappointed. “No, genius. He didn’t say anything. Get it? He’s mute.”

Pausing his descent, he speared me with an incredulous glance. “Really? I could die, and all you came up with was a lame joke like that?”

“Hey, it’s the only thing I could think up at the spur of the moment.”

“Well, it sucked.”

“Well, excuse me. What would you like me to come up with to distract you while you face the biggest fear of your life?”

“I didn’t say this was the biggest fear of my—” He looked down and immediately blanched. “Oh God. I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

Still clinging, suspended from the side of a two-story building, he was only halfway to the ground. It’d take him just as long to climb back up as it would for him to go down. He looked gray, as if he might pass out.

Passing out was bad. If he fainted, he would surely fall...and die.

Panicking, I blurted, “I kissed a girl.”

His attention zapped upward. “What?”

“At a slumber party,” I continued. “We were playing truth or dare, and I had to admit I’d never kissed a boy before, and that sometimes I practiced on my pillow or the back of my hand, or...whatever. So this girl said I could practice...on her.”

His mouth fell open, and his brown eyes bugged intently. “And?” he pressed.

I almost snorted. Geesh, what was it about girl on girl action that made guys so excited?

“And...” Crap. Think, Felicity. “And her lips were really soft.”

Knox almost missed his next step down. My stomach dropped into my knees, and I had to swallow a scream, but he didn’t even seem to notice his brief stumble. “And?”

I cleared my throat. “And she, uh, she tasted like cherry lip gloss, smelled like rose petals.”

I was worried that sounded too cliché, but he murmured, “Holy s**t,” like he was really getting into the story. But then he had to go and add, “Really?”

I couldn’t keep lying, so I sighed. “No, not really.”

He blinked, confused. “Huh?”

“I’ve actually never kissed a girl. Or a boy. Or... anyone, really. Heck, I’ve never even been invited to a slumber party before.”

“But...” He shook his head. “Why would you be so cruel as to lie about that?”

“You said my joke was lame! I had to come up with something to sidetrack you.” When he opened his mouth, frowning, as if he was going to argue with me, I held up a hand. “And by the way, you only have one step left. You could probably jump to the ground from where you are.”

“What?” He looked down, and then cursed. A second later, he leapt off the wall and landed on both feet.

It took him a moment to straighten and look up again. But once he did, awe packed his expression.

“Congratulations!” I called. “You did it.”

He nodded solemnly before bursting out, “I can’t believe you lied about that.”

I laughed, and he scowled harder.

“You could’ve at least let me believe it was the truth. You didn’t have to go and crush my fantasy to pieces.”

“Oh my God. Why are all you guys such perverts?”

“Because all you girls—”

The sound of a car coming up the lane cut him short. We both nearly jumped out of our skins, knowing it was probably the sheriff. This side of the house didn’t face the driveway, but it still wasn’t a good idea for Knox Parker to loiter here, arguing with me. Plus, Max was still waiting outside my bedroom door. I’d kind of forgotten about him.

“You better go!” I hissed as loudly as possible.

Knox lurched into gear and started to race off, only to stumble to a stop a few seconds later and whirl back as he looked up at my window.

When our gazes met, I shook my head, confused.

What the heck was he doing? I waved him away, panicking, sure he’d be caught any second.

But he only sent me a short, respectful nod before mouthing the words, “Thank you.”

Then he was gone again, dashing toward the woods.

Blood sprinted through my veins with a fervor that made me want to grab a pillow off my bed, scream into it as loudly as possible, and jump in an overexcited circle around my room.

If my first encounter with Knox Parker hadn’t left me with the biggest crush ever, then this second one certainly had.