Page 122 of Secrets and Lies
“But…”
“But?” he prompts when I don’t continue.
“But that deserves an apology,” I say, my brain still playing catch-up and trying to make sense of our conversation.
“Why?” he asks, and instead of looking exasperated or pissed, he looks amused.
“Because it’s not cool to creep on your frat brother?” I say stupidly.
“What if your frat brother was creeping on you too?” he asks with one of his signature smirk-smiles, and I just blink at him like a dumbass.
“You were?” I finally ask, still completely dumbfounded.
He nods, and he’s still looking at me like he finds me adorable instead of aggravating. “You didn’t notice?”
“You mean the jokes and comments and all that were real?” I ask. “Like, that wasn’t just you fucking with me?”
“I mean, I was definitely fucking with you,” he says with a grin. “But I wasn’tjustfucking with you.”
I stare at him for a few beats. This can’t be real, can it? There’s no way Anthony is actually into me.
“Are you being serious?” I ask softly.
He nods and takes a half step closer, and it’s like I forget how to breathe when he gently grips my chin with his thumb and forefinger and tilts my face up so I’m looking right at him.
That move is familiar, and something in my mind clicks, like a veil has been lifted, as I stare into his beautiful eyes.
I didn’t see it because I didn’t want to see it, but there’s no way I can deny it anymore.
Anthony and Mr. X are the same person.
21
ANTHONY
West’s expressionshifts from confused to shocked, then back to confused before settling on stunned.
“You see it now, don’t you?” I murmur, using my sex voice to really drive the point home. “You know exactly who I am.”
Color rises in his cheeks, but instead of averting his eyes or pulling away, he nods.
I run the backs of my fingers over his jawline, and the catch of his stubble against my skin sends a shockwave of desire through me that must register on my face, because West’s stunned expression shifts into one that’s just as heated as the one I’m definitely giving him.
I wondered how long it would take him to figure out that I’m the one he’s been texting with. That I told him about McKenna and took the video of her.
ThatI’mthe one who snuck into his room and gave him something no one else can.
West’s gaze flicks between my mouth and my eyes, and that’s all the invitation I need to lean in and brush my lips against his in a soft and fleeting kiss.
That simple touch sends a flurry of desire and need through me, and I lean in to kiss him again.
West’s soft sigh when our lips touch rocks something deep inside me, and adrenaline and lust pour into my system when he immediately parts his lips and opens for me.
I deepen the kiss, already rock hard and half desperate for him, and our kisses quickly go from soft and sweet to hard and hot.
He’s just as desperate as I am, and he tangles his hands in my hair as he kisses me with so much passion and force it scrambles my brain a bit.
Greedily, I run my hands over his hard body, touching every part of him I can reach as we kiss like the world is ending and these are our last moments on Earth.
