Play With Me

familiar,
though.
    “Hunter?”
    “You’re still
here?” Ryan moaned. My presence didn’t stop him from unbuttoning his shirt and tossing
it in a corner of the room along with his sneakers.
    My brain roared
like mad. I rubbed my brow. “Where is here exactly? And why are you
undressing?”
    The moonlight
cast a silvery look to his features as he studied me. “This is my room. And that
thing you’re lying on is my bed. Since I don’t usually sleep in clothes, I
figured I’d just take them off.” He spoke slowly and in a slightly slurred way.
I rubbed my temples, having trouble following this conversation.
    The blurry events
of the previous evening crept up in my memory. “Is the party over?”
    “Someone puked
on the floor. Yeah. Party’s over.” His deep breath was audible in the silent
room. “I swear, next time Claudia brings her strawberry soda, I’m going to debut-ish kick a girl’s butt. Harmless, my ass.”
    I glanced at my
wrist watch. The clock face should be glowing in the dark, but as soon as I
tried to focus, dizziness made me groan. “What time is it?”
    “Three.”
    “A.M.?” I cried.
    “It’s dark
outside. Of course it’s A.M.”
    Slamming back
the covers, I jumped out of bed. But gravity was a bitch, and I stumbled to the
floor. I patted around for my shoes. I should have been home hours ago. My mom
was going to kill me.
    I tried to stand
again. “Where are my shoes?”
    “What are you
doing?”
    Panicking! Because I felt trapped in a strange house. “Going home!”
    God, the pain in
my head snarled at me to take it easy. And speaking fast was impossible.
    “Oh-woe.” Ryan
pushed down on my shoulders until I sat on the bed again. “So not a good idea. Since
we already agreed that it’s the dead of the night…and you’re sixteen…and drunk—”
    “Drunk? No .”
I never drank alcohol. And soda sure wouldn’t make my brain so spongy. But I
had to admit something was seriously wrong with either me or the room, since
everything started spinning in a very uncomfortable way.
    Hunter waved a
dismissive hand at me. “Whatever. I can’t let you do that.”
    “Do what?”
    “Walk alone.”
    I frowned. “You
want to come with me?” Strange. Shouldn’t Tony be around to drive me home?
    “It’s a mile and
a half to your house. That’s three for me to walk. I’m positive I won’t make
that tonight.” The mattress sank under his weight as he lowered next to me. “So
if you really want to go home, I’ll have to drive you. But right now, I’d
rather not.”
    Even sitting, Hunter
swayed in front of me. But since the room did that too, I wasn’t sure if he
really did or if I was having some kind of weird hallucinations. “So what do I
do now?”
    “I’d say lay
back. Sleep. And worry about everything tomorrow.”
    “What about
you?”
    He looked around
the room, rubbing his neck. “The floor is hard. And I’m beat. There’s room for
two in that bed.” He made his last statement sound like a question.
    I was getting
sick—and not because of his request to sleep in the same bed with me. My
stomach rolled. I felt the sour taste of soda traveling up my gullet. There was
only one way to avoid puking all over this strange bed and floor. I had to get
horizontal.
    Dropping to my
side, I buried my cheek in the pillow. I groaned, keeping one eye open, and
focused on the top of the lamp on the nightstand. If only I could grab my brain
and stop it from spinning.
    “Good choice,
Matthews,” Ryan rumbled and lay down beside me. He probably took my silence as
an invitation.
    Should I care? I
wasn’t sure.
    His head tilted
to my side, he grinned—dangerously. “I swear you’re safe with me for the next
three to six hours. I can’t make promises for any time after that, though.”

 
     
     
    CHAPTER
    5
     
     
    THE SUN BREAKING
through the windows woke me the next morning. I felt as if I was drifting out
to a restless sea on an unsound airbed. It took a few seconds for the eerie
swaying to stop so that I could focus.
    My cheek rested
on a pillow smelling of pine trees and warmth. I inhaled deeply, wanting to
keep that scent, and opened my eyes to stare at the sensual lips of Ryan Hunter.
My hand on his naked chest rose and fell with his slow, even breaths.
    Holy cow, what
the hell happened? I was in bed with the captain of the soccer team. Heck, I
should have never gone to that party.
    Now, my only
thought was run . But shock kept me pinned to the bed as I became