On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss
Chapter 27
Jenna
Damn, girl.
I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror and smile. Looking good, as usual, but...
Something’s missing.
I tilt my head, studying myself a little harder. Perfect smokey eyes. Soft red matte lips. Strawberry hair styled and perfectly curled, gently twisting just past my collarbone. Nothing out of place there...
I continue downward along the deep neckline of the red cocktail dress I keep stashed in the back of my wardrobe for an occasion just like this. Flesh-colored stockings. Strappy black heels...
Oh!
I bend over to search the bathroom cabinet for the box of condoms in their usual place. I rip off two, pausing for a second before tearing off one more.
Eh, better make it four.
I shove the stack into the pocket of my dress.
Three knocks hit the door from outside, soft but urgent.
“Jenna?”
I sneer with annoyance; an instinctual reaction to his voice that quickly subsides after a single heartbeat. “What?” I ask.
“Can you, like… hurry it up in there? Please?”
And the sneer returns.
As much fun as it would be to argue with Seth right now, I’m really not in the mood for it. I swipe my thigh-length black jacket off the doorknob and put it on, tying it off at the waist and giving myself one more long, lingering check in the mirror before—
“Jenna.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
I throw open the door, my mouth wide open and ready to lay into him the moment we make eye contact.
Oh.
Seth stands in the hall all right wearing a perfectly fitted dress shirt and black pants. Shiny shoes. Golden eyes lingering beneath a head of clean, brushed brown hair.
Oh, my...
I close my mouth, swallowing hard as I banish the pleasant thought before it can surface.
Focus on the negative!
A wrinkle on the shirt.
No tie.
No cuff links.
Okay, I feel better.
“Finally,”he says, pushing off the doorframe with his right hand. “You fall in or something?”
“No,” I spit, my annoyance instantly spiking. “I was getting ready to go out. That shit takes time.”
Seth looks me up and down, purposefully taking as long as humanly possible. Finally, he smirks as his tongue playfully glides along his bottom lip; a surefire tell that means he’s about to say something stupid.
“You sure you don’t need another few minutes?” he quips.
Oh, good. It’s nice to know whatever moment we had last night has passed and we’re back to snapping at each other. At least I don’t have to draw first blood.
I roll my eyes. “Move.”
“Maybe ten? Or twenty?”
“Move, please.”
“You know, maybe you should just start from scratch.”
I push forward and Seth hops backward with a laugh.
“Chill, Jenna,” he says. “I’m just joking around. You look nice.”
Don’t.
Don’t engage.
Just keep walking.
I spin around, placing my hands on my hips. “Nice?” I repeat.
Oh, you stupid girl.
Seth nods. “Yeah. Nice.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It... means you look nice.”
I furrow my brow in suspicion as I back slowly away. I reach my room and beeline for my desk, eager to gather my clutch and phone and bail out of this place as soon as possible.
“By the way…”
I startle as Seth’s thick shoulders block my path into the hall. “What now?” I ask.
“Just thought I’d let you know that they’re completing work on the apartment tonight.”
I pause, intrigued. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “I can move back in tomorrow. So, this is my last night here.”
Something clenches deep inside. Something.
“Awesome,”I say.
“But I can stay if you want me to,” he offers. “Until Heidi and Drew get back.”
“Why would I want you to stay?”
He tilts his chin on one side, obviously not thrilled with my response. “Okay, fine,” he says. “I’ll leave.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Where are you going?”
I exhale hard through the nose. “Out,” I answer.
He smirks. “You got a hot date?”
“If you must know, yes.”
“Me, too.”
“Great!” I say, so not caring about the knot twisting my gut. “Is he cute?”
He reacts to the jab as expected, curling his smirk even higher toward his cheekbones. “A woman I met at work, actually. And yes, she’s very cute. Super cute, even.”
“Well, she must be something if the best she could do was the bellhop.”
His eye twitches at that one. Got him!
“Well, at least she’s got style. You know,” he hisses at my outfit, “now that I get a closer look at it, that jacket is a little cheap.”
“Is that right?”
“You can take the girl off the hayride, I guess.”
I roll my eyes. “We’re from the same town, you moron.”
“And yet, here I am not dressed like a background dancer in a Billy Ray Cyrus video.”
“No, you just look like the first guy voted off a reality show about a bunch of dorks locked in a basement beneath their moms while they host nightly key parties with neighborhood dads.”
“You joke, but I would totally watch that.”
“Me, too.”
We go quiet, our brows furrowed and tempers simmering just beneath the surface. The heat blazes in my cheeks, firing warm temptation down my body until it’s throbbing deep in my… the same place as last night. I lock my eyes, forcing them not to drift too far from his. Wouldn’t want to accidentally send a signal that I actually like this.
Because I don’t.
I don’t.
“I’m going out,” I say, hurrying away.
“Have fun,” he spits, not really meaning it.
Oh, I will.
I’m very much going to have some fun tonight.
Fun without Seth Newbury.
Seth who?
That’s right.
I march toward the door, making one final check before I leave.
Phone? Check!
Keys with pepper spray? Check!
Wallet? Check!
Condoms? Double double fucking check.