Shame (Ruin #3)(48)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Every nerve jumped to high alert as I cleared my throat. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” She typed something into her phone. “He wants to meet tomorrow morning again about the project.”

“Just out of curiosity.” I worded the question carefully. “How often have you guys been meeting?”

“Just twice.” She put her phone back in her purse. “I think we have the basis for our project outlined and ready to go… at least I hope so. I hear this professor’s a tight-ass.”

“How nice of you to notice.” I winked.

At her blush, I grabbed the dishes and started cleaning up, needing the distraction that cleaning would give me so I didn’t do something regrettable, like throw caution to the wind and jump over the table and attack her with my mouth.

Lisa started helping me with putting things away.

The kitchen was cleaned up way too fast.

I had half a mind to spill stuff out of the fridge, just so she’d stay longer in order to help me clean it up.

“So.” Lisa folded her arms across her chest. “What now?”

“I can take you back…” I really hated saying that out loud. “…or you could stay the night.”

“Like a totally harmless sleepover?”

“If by harmless you mean we sleep separate and I only think about taking advantage of you, then yeah, totally harmless.”

“So honest.”

“At least I have that going for me, right?”

“I’d say you have a lot more going for you.” Lisa wrapped her arms around my neck and grazed my lips with hers, a whisper of a touch that left me craving something deeper, longer, more passionate. “A lot more going for you.”

“Tacos never tasted so inviting.” I licked the side of her mouth and pressed another hungry kiss against her lips. Moaning, I lifted her up onto the clean countertop, pulled her legs around my hips, and kissed her from a different angle.

Every angle had a taste.

Every kiss was different.

And every time I touched her, I wanted more.

“Harmless sleepover, huh?” She panted against my mouth.

I took a step back and cursed. “Right, so I’ll just lock my door.”

“Again.” She grinned.

I rolled my eyes and helped her off the counter. “Yeah again.” I gripped her hand and led her down the hall into the theatre room. “So what movie?”

“Anything.” Lisa yawned and sat down in one of the chairs. “Actually, anything but one of those psychological thrillers.”

I winced. “Alright, Dumbo, it is.”

“Saddest Disney movie ever.”

“I think you’re confused with Up.”

Shaking her head, Lisa ignored me. “Those animals were bastards to him!”

“There wasn’t even any dialogue, just the old man and woman holding hands.”

“And they made fun of him all the time for being different!”

“He never took that trip… never had the chance. Damn mailbox.”

“His poor mom!” Lisa punched the chair. “At least he ended up flying.”

“And then the little boy ended up saving him.”

We shared a look. Lisa burst out laughing and covered her face with her hands. “Okay fine. Up it is.”

“Now I’m kind of in the mood for Dumbo.”

Her eyes heated. “Sad, I thought you were going to say something else.”

My body hummed to life as I hovered over her chair. “Oh yeah, what’s that?”

She leaned up and kissed my chin. I stifled a groan. “Butter… smothered over popcorn.”

“Say smother again.”

“Smother.”

“Done.” I pressed a kiss to her mouth. “You load the DVD of your choice…” I tossed her both movies. “…and I’ll go smother your popcorn.”

“Talk dirty.”

Laughing, I made my way out of the room thinking to myself how normal it was… not just normal, but how wonderful it was.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Erica. Again.

I hit ignore.

If she wasn’t getting the hint now… she never would. As I waited for the popcorn to finish, I had a sudden feeling of home. What if I stayed? What if I ran the company from the Seattle office? What if I stayed… for her? What if I stayed?

I wanted to.

For as long as she wanted me, I would stay.

Dread tried to make me doubt that choice because there would always be him in between us. But I wasn’t going to let it ruin what could be something so beautiful.

He’d ruined her before, and I’d be damned if he ruined her again.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

I didn’t watch the news for fear I’d be on it. The crazy thing? Nobody called me. The cops didn’t contact me; nobody did. It was as if that past didn’t exist. When I got to Seattle, I had my parents’ lawyers work on taking the website down. In the end, it was nearly impossible to get all the videos down. I was surprised the website was even still up, but later we found out it had changed domains to outside the US. I remember shivering, thinking, wow, Taylor really did have it all planned, didn’t he? His memory lived on through Shame; it lived on every day through me, and I hated him for it —Mel

Lisa

COLORS AND CHARACTERS flashed across the screen as the movie played. My eyes were so heavy it was impossible to keep them open long enough to actually watch what was going on. I startled myself out of a doze probably four times before I finally gave in and snuggled against Tristan’s firm chest. The steady beat of his heart was my lullaby. His hand dipped into my hair, twisting and tugging, making me relax even further. Before I knew what was happening, I was asleep.

He woke me up around two in the morning; the only reason I knew was because of the clock on the wall.

“I don’t want to move,” I grumbled.

Tristan shifted next to me and then pulled me tighter into his lap. “Then stay.”

“Ask me again.”

“Stay, Lisa…” He kissed my forehead. “…with me.”

I sighed happily against him and murmured, “I really like you.”

“Yeah, well… I really like you too.”

“Should we make necklaces or something? I can wear your tight-ass professor jacket to school… prove to everyone we’re going steady”

Tristan’s warm chuckle had me smiling. I kept my eyes closed. “It would only make sense.”

“Does that mean you’re going to label us?”