Where I Belong Page 13

I take a sip of my orange juice and walk over to the couch. “I told you. I don’t want any breakfast.” I begin flipping through the TV channels, trying to calm the hunger that is growing more and more persistent. I want that bacon.

And the man making it.

Shut up, vagina.

“Suit yourself,” he says. The stool scrapes along the floor before the sound of crunching fills my ears. And it’s crispy bacon. Son of a bitch. “Mmm. This is really good. Why don’t you stop being stubborn and get your sweet ass over here and join me.”

I snap my head around and glare at him. “And why don’t you stop being a creeper and eat breakfast at your own house. You can’t honestly tell me that you’re here just to raid your mom’s refrigerator.”

His lips curl up into a half smile. That cockiness pouring out of him that I wanted to not find attractive. “No, I can’t. But you can’t honestly tell me that you aren’t at least a little happy to see me. Especially since I cooked your favorite food.” He takes another bite of his bacon strip, smiling arrogantly. “Remember how mad you used to get when I’d steal pieces off your plate?”

I throw the remote down and stalk over toward the island, seeing him lean back in his chair at my irritated expression. He wants to talk memories? Let’s talk memories. “No, I don’t remember that. What I do remember is you calling me a cannibal, since I liked to eat my own kind.” His confidence quickly vanishes from his face and he seems regretful now. Although I’m not sure if he is regretting walking down memory lane or coming over here in the first place. “It was kind of hard to enjoy my favorite food when ass**les like you didn’t let me forget how heavy I was. I went a couple days without eating one time because of shit you said to me. Did you know that?”

He drops his gaze from my face to the floor. “No, I didn’t know that.” He looks up again, begging me with his eyes. For forgiveness? For a pass on everything he’s ever said to me? Fat chance. “I had no idea I got to you like that. I was a kid, Mia. I didn’t really care about hurting your feelings back then. But Christ, it’s been nine years. I’m not that guy anymore.” He reaches out to stroke my arm but I back away before he can touch me. I don’t want his hands on me. I know exactly how much I’ll like it. His eyes shift and that mischievous glare of his that I am becoming familiar with hits me. “You seemed to enjoy the guy I am now the other night. If I remember correctly, you enjoyed me five times.”

“Wow. You just totally proved my point.” I grab a handful of bacon and meet his confused gaze.

“What point is that?”

I glower at him before turning on my heel and walking back toward my bedroom. “That you’re still an ass**le,” I yell over my shoulder. Upon hearing the sound of the stool scraping again, I slam my door and lock it, backing away as the footsteps in the hallway grow louder. They stop right outside my room and the doorknob rattles.

“Mia, come on. Just sit and eat some breakfast with me.”

I sit on the edge of my bed and begin crunching on a piece of bacon. “Can you not take a hint? I’m not interested in eating or doing anything with you.” I take another bite and hear some movement on the other side of the door. He needs to leave. I really don’t want to spend the entire day cooped up in my bedroom. And there is no chance in hell that I am slipping into my bikini in front of him again. Not after the lustful way he looked at me in it yesterday. I can’t handle him looking at me like that again. Like he wanted to eat me alive. Like he knew exactly what was underneath that bikini and exactly what to do with it.

“I’m persistent.”

I look up at the door, imagining him standing on the other side. “What?”

The sound of a throat clearing comes before he speaks. “I’m a persistent guy. If you ask me to leave, I’ll leave, but that’s not going to stop me from trying to be around you.”

Neither of us speaks for what feels like hours. I don’t want to like the idea of being pursued by Ben. My brain wants to hit him with some sort of stalker charge while my vagina wants to put him on lock down for the summer.

“So do you want me to leave?” he asks, and I can hear the anxiety in his voice. As if he already knows the answer to his question but is praying to be way off by some miracle.

“Yes,” I quickly reply without any indecision. I know if I allow myself time to think it over, my desire for a Ben style orgasm will overpower any and all rational thought.

He doesn’t say anything else before the sound of his footsteps fade in the distance. After I hear the sliding glass door close, I fall back onto my bed. Tessa had assured me that I wouldn’t have to see much of her brother when I planned this trip, but that guarantee seems to be a distant memory now. I could be waking up every morning to the smell of Ben cooking breakfast if he decided to show me just how persistent he could be. I’m afraid to admit that a part of me doesn’t hate the possibility of that type of wake up call.

And it has nothing to do with the bacon.

Chapter Five

Ben

I’ve never jerked off this much in my life. If my dick doesn’t fall off soon due to the rough treatment it’s been getting, I’ll be shocked. I can’t get her out of my head. Her lips. Her ass. Her f**king br**sts. Every time I think I’m making progress, an image pops into my head or the memory of her noises fill my ears. Those f**king noises she made when I was inside her. When I licked her pu**y. When I pulled her hair. I need to hear them again and I need to hear them soon. But she wants nothing to do with me. She hates me, and I can’t say I blame her. I was a complete shit to her when we were younger. I made fun of her a lot. All the time, actually. But all guys are dickheads at that age. She has to know that. I’m not that same guy anymore, and she’s definitely not that same girl.