Marked (3 page)

A warm breeze blew. I stretched my legs out in front
of me and let it caress my exposed skin while I rested my weight
against the palms of my hands. “Sam wasn’t always this way, no.” I
hung my head back as another warm gust of wind blew.

“
What changed?”

I shrugged my shoulder. “Me, I guess.”

“
Why do you say that?”

“
I just know I’m not ready to
settle down right after high school and I think he is. I know I
care for him,” I paused, feeling odd to be talking about something
so personal with Jace, but continued on anyway. “I just don’t think
I want to
marry
him or anything. Besides, there are things I
want to do, places I want to see other than this tiny town, and so
much more I want to experience. I’m not sure he’s on the same page
as me when it comes to all that.”

“
So dump him.”

I shifted my gaze to Jace and scoffed at his
boldness. It only made a cute grin form on his face.

“
Easier said than done.” I drew my
knees into my chest and locked my arms around them. “As horrible as
I’m sure this is going to sound, I haven’t broken up with him
because I know he won’t handle it very well. So, I keep putting it
off.”

“
You’re right, that is horrible—a
horrible excuse for staying miserable. Who handles any break up
well
?”

I pressed my lips to the warm skin of my knees and
shifted my gaze out into the field. The truth was, Sam had become
like a bad habit, and those are always the hardest to break.

“
What’s that above your knee—a
birthmark?” Jace asked in an odd tone.

“
Yeah, I’m surprised you can even
see it.” I pulled back and struggled to make out its outline in the
dim light.

“
Birthmark
,” Jace repeated
as a dumbfounded expression settled onto his face.

Was he disgusted by birthmarks or something? I
didn’t see what the big deal was. “I happen to like it. If I turn
this way, it looks like a tiny paw print.”

“
I can clearly see what you
mean.”

Suddenly feeling insecure from Jace’s odd behavior,
I moved to sit Indian style, wishing I’d worn jeans and a T-shirt
instead of shorts and a sweater.

Jace blinked a few times beside me, removing himself
from the trance-like daze he’d been locked in. “So, tell me about
yourself.”

I hesitated, thrown off guard by his sudden request.
“What do you want to know?” I asked, adding
do I have anymore
birthmarks
in my mind.

He shrugged, looking indifferent. “How about we
start with your family?”

“
Well, I live with my mom and dad.
I’m an only child.” I stopped; Jace’s eyes were on me and growing
more intense by the second as he fixated his attention on my words
as though they held within them the answers to the world. “And,
that’s pretty much it.”

“
What are your parents
like?”

“
Normal parents, I guess.” I
shrugged, unsure of what answer he was looking for.

“
Normal, right. I’m sure they are.”
Jace chuckled. “What do they do for a living?”

“
My mom owns a florist shop and my
dad works in construction.
Why
?” I asked with way more fire
than I’d intended.

Jace threw his hands up. “Is it a crime to want to
know where a girl like you came from? Geez, you always so tense
when people ask you questions?” He smirked.

I relaxed at the sight of his grin. “Only when the
one asking seems to suddenly be interrogating me.”

He ripped up another blade of grass and began
running it through his fingers again. His grin shifted into a
shy-looking smile. “Sorry, I didn’t intend to come off that way. I
just find you... intriguing.”

Intriguing
, definitely not something I’d been
called before.

“
What about you—what’s your family
like?” I asked, shifting the attention off myself, thankful for the
darkness that hid my blushing cheeks.

“
Turning the tables, huh?” His
shyness evaporated, becoming replaced with cockiness, and I
wondered how much of it was an act. “I lived with my mom and dad
before coming here. I’m an only child, too, but I come from a large
family with many aunts, uncles, and cousins.” His eyebrows
scrunched together. “It’s a different sort of family
really.”

“
Why did you leave?”

Jace looked up at the sky. “Because of all the
pressure they’re always putting on me. It’s like they’re constantly
watching me, making sure I don’t screw up and disgrace the family
name.”

“
What do your parents do? Are they
in politics or something?”

“
Something like that,” he muttered,
before shifting his gaze back to me. “It’s getting kinda late. What
time are you supposed to be home by?”

“
Eleven.”

“
Ah, you still have a little while
longer. Anymore questions you’d like to ask?”

“
Yeah.” I smiled. “How old are
you?”

“
Twenty-one. How old are you?” he
countered, leaning back and resting his body weight against the
palms of his hands.

“
Seventeen.” I straightened my
back. “But I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks.”

I hoped our slight age difference didn’t matter to
him, and then realized it should matter to me because I was the one
already in a relationship.

“
Really? When’s your
birthday?”

“
October twenty-sixth,” I answered.
I noticed the gears turning behind his amber-colored eyes as the
same intensity from earlier found its way into his features again.
“What? Why do you keep giving me that strange look?”

He blinked. “Do I? Sorry.” His face relaxed, but his
eyes remained questioning. “Are you ready to head back inside? I
think you still have time for dessert.”

Dessert was a tart key-lime pie, cool and silky
smooth against my tongue. A tiny little slice of heaven eaten
beside a god.

“
Did you make this?” I asked,
sliding another delicious bite into my mouth.

Jace smiled. “Why, you like it?”

“
Of course, it’s
heaven.”

“
I hate to say it, but no, I didn’t
make it. The bakery at Bi-lo did. Sorry to disappoint
you.”

“
That you could never do,” I
blurted.

“
Good to know.” He grinned. My
cheeks caught fire and the sensation traveled to my neck. “You’re
beautiful when you do that.”

“
Do what?”

“
Blush,” he answered.

Hardly giving me enough time to swallow my bite of
pie, Jace kissed me. His lips brushed across mine, warm and soft. I
was shocked but found myself responding eagerly, hungrily even, in
no time. Jace’s body heat came off him in waves, seeping into my
flesh and warming me from the inside out. My heart pounded and I
could hear the roar of my blood rushing through my veins. His
tongue snaked its way between my parted lips, and I interlaced my
fingers within his hair, forcing him closer to me. My back arched,
melding my body against his while my mind buzzed with the high that
came from kissing him.

“
Wait,” Jace said, breaking away
suddenly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to... I just needed to know,”
he fumbled the words.

“
Needed to know what?” I asked,
breathless, as needles of rejection stabbed away at my
insides.

His cheeks tinged pink. “What it felt like to kiss
you,” he whispered. My heart skipped a few beats, pausing as though
it were just as surprised by his words as I was, before shifting
into high gear and slamming against my ribcage.

“
Oh,” I said, straightening my
sweater. “And now you know.” Embarrassment colored my face again. I
could feel it. What was I supposed to say to something like
that?

Jace smiled and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Yeah, and now I know.”

I shifted on my stool and stretched the sleeves of
my sweater over my hands in an effort to keep myself from pulling
him into me for round two. My eyes traveled around the kitchen
looking at nothing in particular, until spotting the moon through a
window.

“
The moon’s almost full,” I said,
not caring how random the words sounded because at least they’d
filled the unbearable awkward silence that had been building
between us.

“
I know. It will be in three more
nights.”

“
You know a lot about the moon?” I
asked, unable to remove my eyes from its glowing beauty.

“
You could say that,” Jace
mumbled.

“
I’ve always thought it was
beautiful. Even when it’s not full, there’s still something
enchanting about it.”

“
It does have an alluring effect on
some.”

“
But not on you?” I questioned
stupidly. Of course not on him; he didn’t seem like the type who
spent their nights gawking at the moon.

“
Maybe, but nothing compared to the
alluring effect you have on me.” He flashed me his most charming
grin yet, and I bit my bottom lip to suppress the wide smile it
brought to my face. “So, is there anything else you adore I should
know about?”

You
, the first answer that sprang into my
mind. “Wind,” I blurted.

I couldn’t have said music or books. No, instead I’d
said
wind
, which wasn’t entirely a lie, if we were
continuing with the topic of things that occurred in nature.

“
Wind, huh?” He raised an eyebrow
at me.

“
Uh-uh. I’ve always found it
fascinating. There’s just something about it that feels so...
freeing.” I dropped my gaze, waiting for him to laugh, but he
didn’t.

“
Let me get this straight, you like
the wind and the moon? Isn’t there anything you like that I can
actually give you?”

I could feel his steady gaze on me and allowed my
eyes to flicker to his. A cocky smile played at the corners of his
lips, but an odd seriousness burned within his honey-colored
eyes.

“
Um, chocolate... yellow roses...,”
I trailed off, my eyes falling to his lips.
Kissing you
, I
added in my mind.

Jace leaned closer toward me. “And?”

“
Chocolate,” I repeated
absentmindedly, my eyes fixated on his perfect lips.

“
You already said that,” he
whispered, erasing the inches between us slowly.

My eyes rose to find his and I caught a glimpse of
the sparks flaring within them. I leaned forward and crushed his
lips with my own. Jace’s lips were more blissful than all the
chocolate in the world, the only thing my mind and body could agree
on at the moment.

His warmth seeped into me, passing from his lips to
mine, and heated the blood flowing through my veins, warming me
from the outside in to a near dizzying state of fuzzy
drunkenness.

Jace broke away, taking with him all of my newly
gained warmth and leaving me feeling cold instantly. “You should
go; it’s getting late.”

Needles of rejection stabbed away at my insides.
“Okay,” I muttered and then reminded myself for yet another time
that I was already in a relationship with someone else and there
was a word for what I’d been doing each time our lips
met—
Cheating
.

“
I wouldn’t want you getting
grounded for being out past curfew.”

“
And why is that?” I asked sounding
snappier than I’d intended. “It wouldn’t affect you.”

He flashed me a crooked grin. “Of course it would,
then I wouldn’t be able to go out with you again tomorrow
night.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’d say
yes?”

“
Your pounding heart and the
teasing tone to your voice,” he said without even a hint of
sarcasm.

My cheeks reddened. There was no way he could hear
my thunderous heartbeat, but the flirty tone that had leaked into
my words may have been a dead giveaway.

“
Oh really?” I crossed my arms and
he nodded in response. “Well, maybe if you asked
nicely.”

What was I saying? I couldn’t go out with him again,
could I? There was a four-letter word used to describe girls who
behaved the way that I was—a word I had never been called because
of my own actions—and I didn’t like the feeling the thought of that
word caused to bubble within me.

“
Tessa.” Jace’s eyes grew soft and
every trace of cockiness evaporated from his features, replaced
with gentleness. “Can I see you again tomorrow night, please?” he
asked in the same sultry and hypnotic tone he’d used the first
night I’d met him.

I chewed my bottom lip and then smiled. “Fine.”

“
Fine, that’s all I get?” he asked
in a flat tone. “No definitely or hell yes... just
fine
?
Gee, it’s not like I’m twisting your arm or anything.”

I laughed and shoved him playfully. “Definitely—hell
yes!” I said over zealously. “Better?”

“
Much.” He grinned, before snaking
his arm around my waist and pulling me in for one more blissful
kiss.

This time it was me and my swelling guilty
conscience that cut our kiss short. “I should really get
going.”

“
Right. So, meet me here at the
same time tomorrow night?” he asked, taking a step back and running
his fingers through his hair. “I would say I’d pick you up, but I
wouldn’t want your parents to freak when they see you leave on the
back of my bike.”