Read Beneath His Darkness (Healing Hearts #3) for Free Online

smiles at me again.  She really is pretty and for a split second, I wish we were in here because she likes me.
    “I saw Jessika hugging you,” she whispers back.  “A couple other people did, too.  I knew it would get back to Brad and he’s a really jealous guy.  He knows she’s a flirt, but he never blames her.  He always blames the guys for her behavior.  You seem like a nice guy.”
    She shrugs and looks to the floor.  I look at the floor, too.  Guilt consumes me.  She tarnished her reputation to save me.  How can I thank or repay her for that?
    “I’m sorry.”  It’s all I can think to say.
    I feel her hand come under my chin and I look up at her.
    “Why are you sorry, Grant?”
    “For the stories they’ll make up about you.  About us being in here.  You’ve worked so hard to be the person you are and they’ll tear that apart because of tonight.”
    I look down again, unable to keep her gaze.
    Her laughter brings my eyes back to her face.  She doesn’t look worried at all.
    “Don’t you care about what they’re saying out there?”
    She shakes her head no, still laughing lightly.  She wipes under her eyes and smiles at me.
    “If I cared what they thought, I wouldn’t have asked you to come in here.  I would have just said you were my date and left it at that.”
    “But, they’ll think…”
    “Let them think what they want.”  Her face changes and I think she’s finally starting to realize what they will be saying about her.  Her mouth forms into a small ‘O’.  “I’m sorry, Grant.  I never thought about whether you’d be upset by what they’ll be saying about you.”
    “Me?  Guys don’t get reputations.”
    I’m not trying to be an asshole, but it’s true.  I’ll walk out of this room to pats on the back while she’ll be looked at as the girl who screwed the freshman.
    “You really are a sweet guy, aren’t you?”
    I don’t know how to answer that.  I do think I’m a nice guy normally, but my actions tonight don’t make me feel like one.  If I really were a nice guy, I wouldn’t have let her come in here with me.  I would have kept her in the main room and her reputation would still be intact.  I feel like a louse.  All I can do is shrug.  I don’t have an answer for her and I can’t look at her out of fear she’ll see how I really feel about myself.
    “Then I guess I picked the right guy for this.”
    “For what?” I ask, finally looking up at her as she scoots closer to me.
    She places her hand on my thigh and looks me in the eye.  I can see how nervous she is, but she still manages to smile at me.  I smile back, unsure of what else I’m supposed to do.  I’ve never been in this situation before.
    Everything around us goes quiet.  I can no longer hear the noise of the party on the other side of the door or my rapidly beating heart.  I can’t hear our breathing, which I know has picked up the closer we inch toward one another.  I feel like I should hear her tongue as it swipes across her lips, but only silence greets me.
    I’m lost to her eyes that are drifting shut and her mouth that is so close, I only need to tilt my head forward to connect with her.  Sounds may be lost to me in this moment, but I can feel her hot breath fanning across my chin as she tips her head back.  Her lips part slightly and it’s now that I know there’s no going back.
    I close my eyes, lean my face forward, and gasp at the electricity shooting through my body as her lips touch mine.  I didn’t realize it would be this way.
    Her lips are soft, like the petals of a rose.  I shouldn’t know how soft rose petals are, but I’ve helped my mom with her garden so often that the feel of them has stuck with me.  It’s the only comparison that comes to my mind.
    Her fingers dig into my shirt.  I want to grab onto her, too, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my hands.  I clumsily run my fingers up her arms and bring them to the back of her