feel the warmth of his exhalations against her cheek.
“It meant everything to me, Lauren.”
She had to shift in her seat, her entire body going on alert at the tone in his voice. He was so sure, so certain, so unmistakable about his desire for her.
“I’d had sex before, you knew that.”
Yes, she’d known. And she honestly had wondered why he was being patient, waiting for her, the innocent virgin.
“But it was like I was starting over again with you. Getting the chance to do it the right way, for the right reasons, with the right person.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I ended up with the wrong person because I was so angry at you.”
He swiped a frustrated hand through his thick hair. “One more thing to add to my list of crimes.”
She reached out and grabbed his other hand, not wanting him to take on that burden of guilt, as well. “It’s okay. Women survive bad sex.”
“So do guys.”
“Had your fair share, huh?”
He nodded. “I never got past the wondering. I compared every woman I got involved with to the possibility of what it would have been like with you.”
She understood. Because she’d done the same thing for ten long years.
Suddenly she realized those years didn’t matter. What had happened in the past didn’t matter. What would happen tomorrow didn’t matter.
There was only tonight. They had it. They deserved it.
And she wanted it.
“I think it’s time we found out, don’t you?” she asked, hearing the invitation in her own lowered, sultry voice. “What are you—”
She cut him off, knowing what she wanted and not wanting to dance around it anymore. “I’m saying, Seth, that I want the night we never had. Now.”
He didn’t respond, didn’t accept her invitation—or, probably more accurately, her challenge. Because whether she’d meant it that way or not, her tone had dared him to take her up on her offer.
She held her breath, waiting to see if he would. Then, without saying anything, he pushed his chair back, threw a wad of cash on the table and took her arm.
Guess that’s a yes.
“I would say your room or mine, but frankly, I’m not sure I’m even going to make it past the elevator,” he admitted.
Her legs shook and every feminine part of her softened with need at the sound of desperation in his voice. Because it was matched by her own. “The first private spot will be fine.”
As luck would have it, however, there was no private spot between them and the elevator. In fact, to Lauren’s extreme consternation, as soon as they left the lounge, they ran into several people from their class, who had left the dinner and were now heading out to sample the various entertainments Celebrations had to offer.
Everyone begged her and Seth to join them, but Lauren had a much different celebration in mind. The reunion she was looking forward to would happen in a bed—his or hers, it didn’t matter which—and would involve sultry pleasure and a long night filled with passion.
Or so she hoped.
God, what if it’s no good? What if he’s no good?
Scratch that. He’d be good. She had no doubt of it.
But what if he thought she was no good?
Suddenly feeling doubts, she let her feet drag as their former class president, Roseanne something, who had also been one of Seth’s old flames, stepped right into their path. The woman hadn’t changed much—still rich, still beautiful, apparently still a raging bitch.
“Oh, come on, Seth, you have to come with us. You owe me a dance. After all, we never got to finish dancing at the spring formal in our junior year, remember?” She cast Lauren a catty look. “We left early.”
“I remember you leaving early,” Lauren said, meowing back as good as she got. “Weren’t you the one who got so drunk, you passed out and didn’t even realize a freshman drove you home?”
Beside her, Seth chuckled and whispered, “That was Sixteen Candles.”
“Shut up,” she hissed back, enjoying watching Roseanne sputter.
“That’s not funny!”
“Sure it is,” Lauren replied. “Come on, Roseanne, you were totally wasted. And Seth wasn’t even your date that year. He went with, hmm, who was it?”
“Sharon Stillwater,” he said, unabashed, obviously enjoying himself.
“You were such a dog,” Lauren couldn’t help replying.
“Only until you finally gave me the time of day.”
His smile tender, he slipped an arm around her waist, visibly saying to everyone else what hadn’t yet been put into words: the prom king had finally claimed his queen. At least for tonight.
Even Roseanne shut her mouth as Seth led Lauren toward their tower, heading for the elevators. Lauren imagined there would be a lot of gossip flying around this place tonight. Tomorrow’s carnival and formal dance would probably turn into interrogation sessions, and her friend Maggie would probably be lead inquisitor.
But she’d worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, she didn’t have a care in the world. She was going to live, to take what she had wanted for such a long time, and enjoy the hell out of it.
As they waited for the elevators, Seth murmured, “I really was a bit of a player, wasn’t I?”
“Not really. Just a typical high school superstar.”
“Why’d you ever agree to go out with me?” he asked, looking truly curious. “I must have asked you a dozen times before you finally said yes in our senior year.”
She didn’t have to think about it. The memory was emblazoned in her mind. “I saw you with Em, comforting her.”
He raised a curious brow.
“It was about a week after 9/11, when classes started again.”
He swallowed visibly, the way everyone probably did when thinking about those awful days.
“I was walking to the bus stop, and passed you sitting on a bench, holding her hands. She looked like she’d been crying, and you were reassuring her that she would be all right, that you wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
He nodded. “She had bad dreams for weeks. My parents were in New York when it happened. It took them two days to think about their children, to call and tell us they weren’t dead.”
She remembered
