Free Keep Me in the Dark by Karina Ashe Page A

They still look into mine as if I’m the only thing in the world. And they still want me to look back at him.
    He leans in.
    “I can’t do this,” I tell him.
    “Why?”
    “I…I…”
    He smiles slightly. “You should answer quickly, Laura.”
    “I love him.” He stops when our lips are almost touching. If he slipped, less than an inch, they would be touching.
    “So?” he asks.
    “How can you want to be with me when I’m thinking of someone else.”
    “Easy. I won’t let you think of him anymore.” His eyelids grow heavy. “It’s my fault this happened, you know. I can’t blame you for not psychically knowing what I never told you. That would be extreme arrogance and selfishness on my part.”
    “I…”
    “And stupidity,” he cuts me off. “I should have told you the moment I knew. I shouldn’t have given you any reason to ever look in any direction but mine. I knew the moment you walked into class five minutes late. Your cello case knocked against the door and you cringed as the teacher glared at you. Your cheeks flushed as you murmured sorry. Then you just stood there until the teacher told you to take your seat.
    “I don’t think I took a breath that entire time. I thought I was hallucinating when you started to walk towards me. Then I realized that my friend was sick and that the nearest empty seat was next to me. I know it’s a horrible thing to say, but I was so happy he was sick that day. I don’t even think you looked at me when you asked if you could sit there. You were too embarrassed to look at anyone. But I saw no one but you.
    “It took me another two weeks to work up the nerve to really talk to you. And when I had, I wondered what had taken me so long, because you are so sweet, so kind, so beautiful, so perfect.”
    “David,” I whisper.
    He shuts his eyes as I say his name. “I know you don’t feel the same. I know you’re…still attached to him. But please, Laura, let me try.”
    I don’t know what to do. This should feel wrong, but something about this also feels right. My heart belongs to someone else, yet for some reason he’s still here.
    I don’t want to love a phantom anymore. All he gave me was an obsession that breeds in the silence and the dark. I’m just as captivated by my anonymous lover’s absence as I was with his touch. I’m being consumed by my obsession, and I don’t want to be. I want someone kind. Someone who is always honest. Someone like David.
    He squeezes my hands again. He’s asking, silently. His eyes are so dark and filled with passion that I can’t help but be swallowed by it. I part my legs and nod, just barely, and that minuscule amount of space between us disappears.
    His lips are full and lush and warm. He doesn’t do anything at first but press them into mine. Slowly, I open my mouth and flick my tongue against his lips. They taste of wine. He groans and his grip moves from my hands to my back as he pushes me over the table, dragging his knees over my thighs as he climbs on top of me.
    My heart hammers in my chest. David doesn’t act impulsively—at least not the David I know. My hands fist his shirt, pulling it up, and I feel his flat, muscular stomach. I know what it looks like. I’ve seen it many times before. But this is the first time I’ve felt his smooth, sculpted skin, so different from that other man’s tortured, scarred body.
    Make me forget , I think as I run my hands up his back and over his shoulder blades.
    He groans at my touch. He kisses me greedily, but it’s not possessive. I feel safe here. A feeling rushes through my body that has nothing to do with obsession or darkness. I’ve never been consumed by something so warm and beautiful—pure, simple, incandescent pleasure.
    His hand moves in between my thighs. I feel his fingers on my panties.
    He’s moving so fast. I whimper, startled, and he takes it as a sign of pleasure, and it is, but greater than that pleasure is the sudden awareness that we’re still