Love and Relativity Read Online Free PDF Page B

turning to press me into the wall as we slowed to a stop.
    “Jackson!”
    “Relax.” He pinned my hips with his hands and peered down at me through those dark lashes, eyes immediately finding my lips.
    “People are waiting for this elevator,” I breathed, my back stiffening against the cool metal. My palms fell flat against it as I worked to keep the space between us.
    “Emma Pierce, you’re the biggest pain in my ass, but you’re sexy as hell.”
    I wanted to say ‘screw you, Jackson,’ and push him away, but the way he was staring down at my lips rooted me to the wall and I had no control underneath such intense scrutiny. My God, he was too damn beautiful, and he devoured my mouth with his gaze like a starved man.
    My hands found his chest and drifted down to his lower stomach. His reaction was lightning, slipping one hand around the curve of my back to arch my body forward into his. The space closed in around us, the air pulsing with explosive electricity.
    “Just say the word, Emma,” he whispered, lifting a hand from my hip to trace my jaw with his thumb. “Remember how good my lips felt on yours that night? On my couch?”
    I inhaled his heady beach-boy scent and brought myself back down to planet Earth, knowing I’d be an idiot to succumb to him. “You’re here with Kayla, Jackson.” I nudged his hand away and wiggled out of his grasp, stretching my neck and shoulders.
    “I’m not with her. I’m not with anyone.”
    “You only play this game with me because you see something you want and you can’t have it. I won’t be another one of your conquests.”
    “What makes you so sure that’s what you’d be to me?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you have a different girl on your arm every week?”
    He pushed off the elevator wall and shoved his hands back into his pockets. “Yeah, well, the girl I’ve wanted on my arm has made it real clear for the past few years that she’s not interested. What am I supposed to do, become a monk and wait around for another few and see if she decides to change her mind? You know, one of these days, maybe you should spend less time telling me what I want, and more time thinking about what you want.” He jammed the release button and the elevator jolted back into motion.
    I froze. What I didn’t and couldn’t say, was that I was interested. But that didn’t change things between us. “Well, that’s quite the loaded statement. What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “Look, forget it. I just wanted to know...how you’re doing.”
    I picked at the hem of my shirt and looked down as we reached the seventh floor, taken aback by his change in direction. “I’m okay...I mean, I guess as okay as a girl can be on the anniversary of her sister’s death.” The doors slid open and an erratic chuckle escaped my throat. “That sounds so weird, just saying it out loud.”
    Jackson stepped out into the hall and I followed. “There was another reason I tried holding you hostage,” he said. “You might hate me for it, but that’s nothing new, so I guess I have nothing to lose, right?” He pulled me aside, reaching into his pocket to search for something.
    “What is it?”
    “I know you never read it...that it was hard for you. But it was meant to honor her memory, and I thought...”
    “You thought what?” My heart clenched when he handed me a photocopied newspaper clipping.
    “Just that...you know, maybe it would help give you some peace today, or some shit like that, I don’t know.”
    A ruckus sounded from the end of the hall and he cleared his throat. Our friends emerged from their rooms, spotting and heading toward us.
    “There you guys are,” Whitney said, her eyes narrowing into suspicious slits. Jackson ran his fingers through his hair and I stepped back to put a few more inches between us. “We’re headed to the pool, wanna come?”
    “Yeah, sounds good,” I said. “We’ll be right down.”
    “Baby, come on,” Kayla