The Boy I Once Hated: Love & Hate Duet

Eighteen years old

“At this rate, I’ll never earn enough to move out,” Daisy grumbles as she counts the tips she earned at The Scarlet Letter Café tonight.

“Well, if you’re not happy working at the restaurant, you could always go to the community college with me in the fall,” I tell her.

“Shit. Dartmouth still hasn’t said anything?” she asks me, disgruntled, forgetting all about her shitty job. “You would assume the assholes would at least send you a rejection letter or something. Not keeping you waiting all this time.”

“Must have gotten lost in the mail. No worries,” I mumble, turning my back to her and opening the refrigerator so she doesn’t read my face.

I bite the inside of my cheek when I feel my sister walking toward me until she’s standing right behind me, placing her chin on my shoulder and hugging me from behind.

“I’m sorry, squirt. Those idiots don’t know what they lost. You can do it without them.”

I shrug again and plant a thin smile to my lips.

She pulls away and grabs an apple from the fruit plate on the counter, flipping it from one hand to the next. “Are you sure you can’t make it work with the other colleges that accepted you? I mean, that is what school loans are for.”

“Not a chance,” I reply, steadfast. “No way am I starting my life out with a ginormous amount of debt. I’ll just take some creative writing classes on the mainland. It’s fine, Daisy. It is what it is. No use crying about it.”

My sister’s brow furrows, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Wow. You’re really taking this well. I’d be a total head case if I were in your shoes.”

“Yeah, well, you always did like to be dramatic. I’m a little less neurotic.

“Ouch!” She laughs, placing her hands to where her heart is. “That one hurt.”

“I doubt it.” I laugh, thankful she’s off the college topic.

We’re both still giggling when Noah walks through the door, his hair all mussed up and gorgeous. My heart does cartwheels in my chest as he winks at me behind Daisy, making sure she doesn’t see the endearment.

“Since I’m not getting any love here, might as well go up to my room and get some shut eye. I’m beat,” Daisy utters, strolling past Noah and ruffling his hair.

He chuckles, slapping her hand away as she starts to leave. But then suddenly my sister stops in her tracks and turns toward me, a vulnerable hint to her eyes.

“I know this is going to sound selfish as shit, but I’m kind of glad those morons didn’t offer you a grant. I’d miss you like crazy if you had left for Dartmouth. I mean, I wanted you to go, but it would hurt like hell not seeing your face every day.”

“I’d miss you too, Daisy,” I reply with sadness in my voice.

She gives me a curt nod, not entirely comfortable with showing her underbelly, and leaves the kitchen. When Noah hears the familiar sound of a bedroom door closing, he quickly eats the distance between us, placing his hands on my hips.

“Dartmouth still hasn’t said anything, huh?” he asks, concerned.

I lower my gaze from his and shake my head.

Noah places a chaste kiss to my temple, pulling me closer, until my cheek is nestled against his chest.

“I’m sorry, little stalker. I know how important it was for you to get in,” he adds, running his hand up and down my back.

I don’t say anything, and just let him hug me, his warmth soothing all of my guilt away. I try and put on a brave face when he raises my chin with his knuckles so he can stare into my eyes.

“Daisy wouldn’t have been the only one who would have missed you, you know?”

“No?” I swallow dryly.

“No.” He smiles sadly. “I would have gone crazy without you.”

I curl my arms around his neck, my fingers lightly caressing its nape.

“Oh, yeah? How crazy?”

“Padded cell, straitjacket kind of crazy,” he teases, softly tapping the end of his nose with mine.

“Hmm. That sounds serious,” I reply, batting my eyelashes at him.

“It would have been,” he groans, leaning in to tug my lower lip with his teeth.

Desire instantly pools in my lower belly as Noah uses his tongue to lick his faint bite mark.

“I guess it’s a good thing I’m staying then. Wouldn’t want them to lock you up and throw away the key.”

“No.” He chuckles. “We wouldn’t want that.”

“No, we wouldn’t. It would be such a waste,” I mumble breathlessly when his hard length presses up against my sensitive core.

“You know what’s a waste? Us standing here when I could have you lying naked on my bed this very second.”

“Is that so?” I wiggle my brows.

Noah’s hands cup my ass, pressing me further against him until I hiss at the small friction he’s creating on my clit. Even fully clothed, Noah knows how to hit all my pleasure points, making sure I’m a volcano of need before he’s even truly touched me.

Noah’s face transforms into something lethal, making me squirm as he bends down to my ear, biting its lobe before he whispers raggedly into it.

“I’m going to count to ten. If you’re not naked in my room, thighs spread apart on my bed so I can taste that sweet pussy of yours, by the time I get there, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

“What are you going to do? Spank me?”

The glow in his blue eyes when I say it has my pussy flooding like Niagara Falls.

“Don’t go giving me more ideas, little stalker,” he threatens, making my pulse speed up. “The ones I have are deviant enough. Ten…”

With that warning hanging between us, I’m not sure if I should stay rooted to my spot or run like the wind upstairs to his room.

“Nine.”

Anticipation more than fear of the unknown is what gets me to move, running up the stairs, Noah right at my heels. I cover my mouth so that Daisy can’t hear me giggling like an excited lunatic as I dash toward Noah’s room and start stripping my clothes off. By the time Noah locks the door behind him, he’s already at three, eyeing me intently as I unstrap my bra and pull down my panties. I fling myself on top of his bed, raising my knees up high, my legs spread wide before him.

“One,” he announces with a growl, his gaze locked on my core. “Such a good little stalker,” he praises as his knee dips onto the bed. He crawls his way to me, looking like a predator ready to eat his prey alive.

But where before I would have run from him, now I offer myself as a willing sacrifice.

“Noah,” I whisper before his head gets lost in between my thighs. He raises his head just a smidge, enough for me to see all his beautiful features. “I love you.”

The way his hungry expression morphs into utter worship and adoration makes my knees weak. His hands grab my knees, keeping them still as he continues to stare into my eyes.

“All my forevers, Sky. All of them,” he whispers lovingly before dropping his mouth to my apex, ensuring that every thought and worry in my head vanishes, until all there is, is him.