Page 24 of Secret Obsession
Her eyes go wide. “Looks like Admin is in the background, so I’d guess… this one.”
I grit my teeth. “Be right back.”
“Be careful,” she says.
Careful, my ass. I tell the dining attendant that I’ll be back in a minute and take the stairs to the third floor, where they abruptly end with no roof access. I go down the hall, to another set of stairs. Up and up, until I’m shoving open the roof door.
Miles sits on the ledge, my bag beside him.
He smiles when he sees me, then flashes his phone. There’s a countdown, the seconds running out. Less than a minute left. “Just in time.”
“What is that? You were timing how fast I got here?”
He rises. “I want you to learn how I operate. That I have certain expectations that must be met. And yes, Willow, one of them is timeliness.”
Wow. “That’s ridiculous.” I stomp toward my bag—and him. “I don’t want to play your games, Miles. In fact, I’m quite done with Whiteshaws altogether. Thought I made that clear.”
But the closer I get, the wider his smirk. Until I’m close enough to reach him, and he snatches my bag and holds it out over the ledge again.
I skid to a halt. “Why are you doing this?”
He lifts one shoulder. “Because you had your chance to choose, and you’ve proven to make stupid decisions. So now… that option doesn’t exist anymore.”
My stomach flips, and I look at him in a new light. I should’ve already seen him this way, but for the first time I’m noticing how his hair curls down over his forehead, how his light-blue eyes seem to dig right through my chest and into my soul. He’s taller than me by a good bit. Not more so than Knox, who I can’t help but compare him to, but I think he just carries himself differently.
“Done staring, baby?”
I snap out of it and glower at him. “You like calling me the same pet name your brother did? He called mebabeandbabyall the time, but especially when I was riding his—”
He drops my bag, luckily just to the floor, and moves toward me with speed I don’t anticipate. But suddenly he’s got one hand around my throat and the other sliding through the short hair at the nape of my neck. He drags me against him, tipping my head back until we’re nose-to-nose.
“If you ever mention my brother’s cock again,” he says, his breath fanning against my lips, “I’ll bring you back up here and dangleyouoff this rooftop.”
“Don’t call me baby and I won’t bring it up.” It comes out a little more hoarse than I’d like, but my glare makes up for it.
His eyebrows raise. And then a smirk takes over, some part of him enjoying my fight. I’m all tapped out on fighting spirit, though—this is just me standing up for myself.
“Why does the school suddenly think I broke up with him anyway?”
I swallow, and I know he feels it. Because his fingers flex against my throat, his palm absorbing the motion. Damn if it doesn’t do something to me. I inhale slightly, my nostrils flaring. Being this close to him in general is a little rush. I have the insane urge to run my fingers through his hair, to push it off his forehead. Like he does before he puts on his helmet for games, throwing his head back to get it out of his face.
I shouldn’t know he does that.
I shouldn’t like the way he’s pulling me in.
My body is just… I’m just…
He releases me and steps back, so suddenly that my knees almost give out.
“This is just the first day,” he says. “And I’m just getting started.”
He grabs my bag and throws it at me. It hits my chest, and I barely manage to catch it before it drops. Too late, he’s strolling past me and out the door. His footsteps echo back to me before the door has a chance to slam shut.
I sink to my knees and scour through my backpack. If he didn’t take anything, it would be a miracle.
And low and behold…
My keys are missing.
