Free The One Awakened: Book 1 in The One Trilogy by Alexandra North

majority of the hit and is now happily dry.  
    “I think I prefer you wet.”  
    My eyes fly up at that comment. His dark eyes twinkle with mirth, and I swallow deeply to control the effect he is unknowingly having on me - his words sending signals of desire directly between my thighs.  
    Accepting the second chilled champagne flute, he carefully hands over, I immediately take a large gulp to calm my nerves; the raspberry liquid fizzes in my mouth and the crisp vanilla tang of my favourite champagne slides coolly down my throat. It is delicious and I lick my lips to savour every last drop. I can feel the warm glow begin to emanate in my tummy.  
    I lurve champagne; it is one of the few alcoholic beverages that didn’t make me feel ghastly the next day, providing I wasn’t too silly with my quantities. I look at Sebastian and he is watching me intently, with particular focus on my mouth.  
    “Cheers.”  
    He clinks his glass to mine and our fingers brush gently. It’s as though we are in one of those Rosé bubbles, enclosed, away from everyone else. Whoa, this is heavy stuff! I can’t believe how I am seeing my friend. I can hear Gino telling a dirty joke to the group in the background and lots of laughing and bawdiness but in our intimate party of two, we are secluded. Sebastian plonks himself down on the stool next to me. He looks so hot, wearing dark fitted Replay jeans, which fit his muscled thighs snugly (thank you Replay designers) and a grey silk-knit v-neck jumper. His shoes are expensive brown dealer boots, manufactured to look worn. The combination is so simple; he just looks … devastating; effortless - like an advert for GQ. I can smell his signature scent and I know it is by Dolce & Gabbana, as I had bought some for him for Christmas one year, after his mum had given me his wish list. I remember it being called The One and I laugh now at the irony of it all.
    His face is stern, almost angry looking; his jaw strong, and arrogant. He’d cut his hair recently, probably for ease at work and now wore it shorter, not quite entirely shaved but cut short on the sides, and kept slightly longer on top, soldier style. It only adds to his raw sexuality. He has a fuck off nose, I’d always teased - it is slightly too long and angular but perfectly straight, despite having broken it on several occasions. It makes you want to run your finger along the edge of it, slowly, right to the tip. His colouring is so dark; he permanently has a shadow of stubble, which threatens to erupt at any moment and an olive tone to his fantastic skin. But it was his eyes that are now captivating me. They are slightly turned down in the outer corners and huge, almost black in shade, with sherry brown and hazel flecks if you caught them in a certain light, and eyelashes that any woman would die for, that fringed his bedroom gaze with full, sooty bluntness. The overall effect was one of power, arrogance, success and confidence, but ultimately, he commanded attention and women did not let him down. He was a great combination of Jason Statham, Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum, all mixed into one delicious package - he quite literally oozed sex appeal and right at this moment I could eat him up with a cherry on top. How have I not seen how hot he is until now? You did - you’d just forgotten, my inner voice reminds me annoyingly.
    “Your brother’s here. I haven’t seen him since that party for your Nan’s 70 th at your Mum and Dad’s last year.” Finally, I stop drooling and find my tongue.“Yeah, he got back from travelling in Oz recently and is now going to join me on site,” he nods his head towards Nathan’s direction. “It’s really good to have him home - soft lad that he is.” I can hear the affection in his voice.I’m not really listening to him, as I can’t stop ogling. I’ve spent years on and off with this man, hours sitting next to him in lecture theatres and cramming for exams. Why did I never see him in this