Love Me for Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

The fact that he didn't was more seductive than if he had. I soon forgot about trying to imitate the way the others danced, and moved the way he led me to. I was painfully aware of the thin ribbon of space between us, of the fact that one deep breath would bring my breasts against the solid muscles of his chest.
    Not sure what to do with my free hand, I moved it into that sliver of room between us, splaying my fingers over his chest. He tensed beneath my fingers, and I looked up to find his eyes heavily lidded, his lips slightly parted.
    The look told me that he wanted to kiss me. It told me that he wanted to do more. For the first time in years, I wanted the same thing, wanted it for the right reasons.
    I worried my lower lip with my teeth, and his eyes followed the movement. Swallowing hard, I tilted my chin up and angled my head, leaving myself open for a kiss that I found I desperately wanted.
    It didn't come. Warily, I looked through my lashes. His expression matched how I felt, tight with inexplicable need. But though he released my fingers to splay his hand over my spine, and my free hand landed on his hard, wide shoulder, he didn't make a move to press his lips to mine.
    The hand on my back began to move, slowly, lazily, tracing the angel wings of my shoulder blades, the curve of my spine. Everywhere his fingers trailed, I blazed with heat. Something hot and needy was coiling deep in my belly, something I'd never felt before and that I didn't know what to do with.
    As the last notes of the song played, his pelvis grazed mine, and I shuddered when I felt the evidence that his body was feeling exactly the same way that I was.
    "Do you have your cell on you?" I was still waiting for his hands to move to the familiar places, to touch me in the way that boys did when they wanted that one, specific thing. Because I was waiting, it took a moment for me to comprehend his words. He chuckled as I scrambled in the tight pocket of my jeans for my phone, then handed it to him, my head tipped questioningly.
    My breath caught in my throat when he handed it back to me and I saw that he'd programmed his name and number into it.
    "Thanks for the dance, Serena." His lips grazed my cheek, and then he gently tucked the stray strands of my hair behind my ears. My legs actually trembled as he smiled at me, that heart stopping, panty dropping smile that could have had any girl in the room doing exactly that. "Next time we dance, we're going to be alone."
    And then he left, disappearing into the crowd, leaving me gaping after him. Wide eyed, I pressed my fingers to the place where his lips had brushed over my cheek, then turned to search the crowd for Kaylee. She was draped over Joel, her ex-boyfriend, but she mouthed holy fuck , fanning her face.
    Holy fuck, indeed.
    ***
    I studied the entry in my cell for almost an hour before I went to bed that night, giddiness warring with reservation. I was relieved when Kaylee texted to tell me that she wouldn't be home until morning, because I knew that she would want details that I wasn't ready to give.
    My sleep was fitful, haunted with images of red cups, seductive heat, and the suffocating scent of lavender. I woke with a headache, no doubt from the half cup of vodka syrup masquerading as punch that I'd drunk before Alex had warned me off of it.
    I looked at my phone again as soon as I woke, to make sure that it was real. The entry was still there, the number displayed under the name Alex Blackthorn.
    He'd given me his number. That meant he wanted me to call.
    I was only twenty, but I felt far older than that. I definitely felt too old to play games.
    Before I could chicken out, I called.
    "Hello?" A jolt of adrenaline shot through me. I hadn't thought he would actually answer.
    I cleared my throat, but my voice still sounded rusty.
    "Um. This is... this is Serena. King. Serena King. From the... from American Lit." I almost said from the party, but somehow the night before didn't seem quite real,