No Control (Book 1)

9. Heart Attack

He shut the door and then appeared round the other side and slid in next to me.

"Paul, this is Jess," he introduced me to the driver. "Jess, Paul." I smiled at Paul and he nodded.

"Your shirt's hanging on the front seat, Harry," Paul said as I buckled my seat belt. Harry leaned forward across me and pulled the clothing bag and hanger into the back as Paul turned the inside light off and pulled away from the kerb. "Lagoon?" Paul asked.

"Please," Harry said, unbuttoning his shirt.

Oh Jesus. He was actually taking his shirt off in front of me. I tried hard not to stare... OK I'm lying, I didn't try hard at all but come on, it was Harry Styles taking his shirt off two feet away from me. I challenge any hot blooded female not to take a little peek. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye as he slid awkwardly out of his stained shirt, and caught sight of his tattoos on his chest. He was just so effortlessly sexy. I couldn't help but grin to myself, and when I caught his eye and realised he'd seen me grinning, it made me grin even more. He grinned back. "Like what you see?" he teased.

I blushed furiously, bit my lip to try and hide my giddiness and looked away out of the window.

"Oh come on, don't go all shy on me now," he chastised me.

"Stop trying to make me blush then!" I scolded him, with the stupid grin still residing on my face. He chuckled and slid his arms into a clean black shirt, buttoning it two-thirds of the way up but leaving his collarbone and chest visible. He tucked it under the seat belt and then winked at me as he adjusted himself in the seat.

"Better?" he asked.

"Hmm," I gave a so-so gesture with my hand, just to keep him on his toes. He smiled and looked away, shaking his head. "So where are we going?" I asked.

"A club called Lagoon. It's nice - initimate -" (I blushed again, this time at his use of the word intimate) "so you don't have to worry about being seen with me."

I laughed. "I was more worried about you being seen with me," I said. "You're the one who'll be splashed all over Twitter, Facebook, the Daily Mail showbiz, et cetera. I'm sure you don't need that."

He looked at me, his eyebrows creased. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you seem like a private person," I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable to be speculating about him to his face. "You don't give much away in interviews and you seem to keep your private life just that, private. Which is completely understandable," I added hastily, not wanting to sound like I thought it was a bad thing.

He nodded. "You're right."

"So I just thought, you must get crazy girls trying to use you to get themselves noticed all the time. And as soon as you're photographed within fifty feet of a female, it becomes the world's business to find out who she is. That must get annoying."

He nodded again. "Yeah, sometimes. Don't get me wrong though, I don't like complaining about it. Most of our fans are brilliant."

"Course we are," I said. "I'm a prime example." I flashed him a cheeky grin.

"You are indeed," he agreed. "And I'd really like to kiss you again, if that's ok?"

"Hmmm," I said, pretending to consider it carefully. "I suppose that would be fine."

He leaned across the space in between us and half-lowered his eyelids. "Only fine?" he murmured.

"For now," I said, closing my eyes as I felt his lips find mine.

The effect was immediate: my heart rate shot up, along with my body temperature, and that fire that had ignited the first time he kissed me surged through my veins and made my skin tingle. He reached his hand up and grazed his fingers along my jawline, leaving behind a trail of goosebumps. His hand curled around the back of my neck and pulled my face closer to his, and then he was kissing me harder. I moved my hand up to his shoulder and rubbed his collarbone with my palm, before gently running my fingers over his shirt. My heart was beating so hard and fast, I felt like I was having a heart attack. I felt his lips smile against mine and I pulled my face back to look into his eyes. They were intense and filled with desire. I closed my eyes again and pressed my lips against his, running my hand round the back of his neck and gently pulling at his hair with my fingers. He moaned softly into my lips and I felt a new flush sear through my body. If we hadn't been in the company of his driver, or in the backseat of his car, I would have jumped his bones there and then. Instead, I slowly pulled away from him and slid my hand slowly down his arm before breaking contact.

"That was more than fine," he said.

"Yeah OK, I'll give you that one," I conceded.

"You'll give me... which one?" he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not like that," I protested, gently pushing his chest where just moments ago I'd been trailing my fingers.

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but then you kiss me like you just did and I'm struggling to believe you," he said, gazing into my eyes.

"Kiss you like what?" I asked.

"Like you just did!" he laughed.

"I don't remember," I said, not breaking his gaze. "Maybe you could remind me?"

"That's unfortunate," he said, with mock concern. "Why are you suffering short term memory loss?"

"It's the effect you have on me," I breathed as he leaned in for another kiss. Even though I knew what to expect by now, it didn't affect me any less. By the time he pulled away the third time (after Paul interrupted the moment to say we were nearly at the club) my whole body was trembling and my lips were on fire. My heart was practically jumping out of my chest.

"Would you like me to drop you outside?" Paul asked. "There might be paps there."

"Yeah outside is fine," Harry replied, running a hand through his hair. "You ready for this?" he asked me. "The paps can be a bit overwhelming sometimes."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," I said, although I was secretly wondering how I was going to walk after those kisses, considering my legs felt like jelly.

The car pulled over and up to the pavement and Paul jumped out and scooted round to my side to open the door for me. I grabbed my bag and tried to exit the car as elegantly as I could, while Harry slid out my side behind me. I flicked my hair over my shoulder as Harry put his hand on my back and guided me to the door where there were about five bouncers. They recognised him straight away and nodded, and we scurried inside and up some steps into the club.