Free Save Me by Laura L. Cline Page B

like a sun. A bright, shining, burning sun.
    “ Why’d you let me kiss you like that?” he asks.
    "Because I wanted you to. I wanted to taste your lips."
    Jack is visibly affected by my words, but my own body responds to them almost violently.
    "Will you take me home with you, Jack?" I hold my breath.
    His eyes say yes, but I can tell he struggles to answer. I'm still holding his hand and I kiss his fingertips.
    "It wouldn't be right, Carly."
    "What would be wrong with it?"
    "You’d regret me in the morning." He's seriously trying to talk me out of wanting him.
    "How do you know?" I ask.
    "Because I know. Don't think you owe me anything for tonight. I just wanted to be with you and maybe steal a kiss here and there." Jack leans toward me and starts to plant a kiss on my cheek.
    Knock, knock. Allie is standing at the window holding Jack's coat with a big grin.
    I press the button and the window goes down, letting in Allie's excitement.
    "I didn't know which vehicle you were in," she says. "You should see Nick's face."
    "I don't want to," I say.
    "Please, let me apologize for that," Jack says. "It was uncalled for, even though he deserved it."
    "Don't you dare apologize," Allie says. "He was so mean to Carly when they were hooking up-"
    I shoot her a look to shut her mouth, but it's too late. She's already said it. What's more is that she knows she said it. Her face is all regret.
    "Thanks for getting my coat, Allie," Jack says. He reaches into my lap, picks it up and tosses it into the backseat.
    "You're welcome," Allie says. She looks at me apologetically. "Call me tomorrow?"
    "I will," I say. She backs away from the Escalade, that expression of apology still on her face, and I put the window up as she disappears back inside the club.
    "So, what were you two? Friends with benefits?"
    I stare out the window. "Sort of. Except we weren't really friends and there weren't a whole lot of benefits, at least for me."
    Jack nods his head and turns to look out his own window. He pulls the gear shift into drive and eases the Escalade onto the highway.
    We ride toward Captain's in silence. I wish we'd never gone to that fucking club. If we would've just stayed at Captain's or gone anywhere else, this night wouldn't have turned into the clusterfuck it is.
    "Did you love him?" Jack asks. I look across the vehicle at him, but he doesn't meet my eyes at first. When he does, I'm not prepared for their intensity.
    "No," I answer. "I didn't even like him."
    "Then why ?"
    "If I could answer that, Jack, I wouldn't have messed with him in the first place."
    "Don't you understand how beautiful you are? How worthy you are of someone better than that asshole? Maybe I'm not good enough, but I know he isn't."
    Jack's hands are tense on the steering wheel and I reach out and loosen the one closest to me. I twist my fingers with his.
    "I want to know how good you are," I say. I pull his hand to my lips, but Jack lets his fingers trail down and around my jaw line in a circle.
    "Do you still want to go to my place?" He looks at me again and this time there's an obvious hunger there.
    "Yes," I answer. Jack turns the Escalade around in a spot beside the highway and we follow the road to whatever happens next.

Chapter 5
    He exits off an unmarked road and then onto a one lane dirt road. Some of the best things in West Virginia happen on one lane dirt roads.
    Trees line the lane we drive on, black against darker black. There is nothing but darkness in the distance, not even the pin pricks of faraway porch lights. I like the look of his woods at night, dark and inviting and mysterious, just like his eyes.
    We turn a slight left and a large log house comes into view. It’s lit by several of the smallest solar lights, but I can tell even at this distance that it’s beautiful. The front of the dark wood house hosts two massive triangular windows that come to a peak next to a huge stone chimney. He pulls the Escalade around the back and puts it in park.
    “