Beauty in Pain(On Hold)

Truth and Dare

Lauren couldn't remember the last time she'd felt the searing heat of a man's palm against her bare thigh. It had been too long.

Her lashes fluttered as she relished in Andrew's warm embrace, enjoying how his fingers caressed over her skin. His hungry gaze fell to her lips and she knew in that moment that she was a goner. She would give him just about anything to close that distance between their lips, to feel his teeth graze the shell of her ear. . .

My phone buzzed, distracting me from my cheesy romance novel.

Cody: Is the music too loud?

I could hear his music, but it wasn't bothering me. I was pretty sure that I was growing used to it with each passing night. The first week we’d moved in, it had caused some restlessness, but now I almost found the noise soothing and hardly noticed it.

Harley: No. I'm in too much pain to sleep anyway.

Cody: On my way.

Huh? Did he mean to send that to someone else?

A knock on my window answered my question.

I sat up slowly, and placed a bookmark to save my place in my book, debating whether it was worth it or not to get out of bed for him. After a split second of warring with my tired muscles, I ambled over and drew up the blinds to reveal Cody standing on the other side of the glass, wearing only black pajama pants and a slight smirk. I glanced quickly at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it said 12:30 a.m. Why was he here?

He knocked again lightly against the glass, drawing my attention back to him. I pursed my lips and checked behind me at my closed door, debating my next move. If my mom happened to come home and hear us, then I'd get in so much trouble. But then again, I doubted she would even be coherent enough to notice that she had an extra person under her roof.

When I turned my attention back to Cody, he leaned forward and blew against the glass before drawing a question mark in the fog.

I only hesitated a second longer before sliding the window open for him.

He climbed in swiftly, landing lightly on my carpet with a slight bounce. I quickly closed the window and blinds after him, shutting out the possibility of anyone seeing that I had a boy in my room.

I turned around to find Cody lying down on my rumpled bed, appearing completely relaxed with his hands tucked behind his head. My eyes drifted to his bare chest, involuntarily. His chest and stomach muscles were well defined and he had a trail of dark hair leading down to where his pants rested low on his hips.

A cough interrupted my perusal of his body and my eyes lifted to meet his. The smirk that he always seemed to wear appeared amused, but his rich, brown eyes were darker than usual, appearing almost as black as his hair. If he thought I would be embarrassed when he was the one who came in my room half naked, then he was going to be sorely disappointed.

"Your throat okay?" I asked innocently, padding over to my door to lock it just in case my mom came home. I knew she wouldn't be okay with me having a guy in my bedroom, even if I was almost an adult. She also seemed to have a weird crush on Cody, which disturbed me on several levels.

"Are your eyes okay? They seemed a little stuck to my chest," he teased as I came to sit next to him on the bed.

I shrugged unapologetically. "What? It's not everyday I have a half naked guy in my bedroom." He choked, his eyes widening slightly. Before he could respond, I pushed him lightly on the shoulder. "Scoot over."

He grinned and ignored me as he wiggled himself more comfortably on my bed. "How are you feeling? Still sore?" he asked.

I glared at him for a moment before joining him on the covers, too tired to fight him. If he really wanted to lie down on the bed, he could. I tried my best to avoid touching him, but he was so big and took up a lot of space.