Dangerous Desires

CHAPTER TWELVE

LILY

It's been two weeks since I last saw Luca, but who is counting?

I want him, I know he wants me, isn't that enough? But Luca always has a thousand and one reasons why we can't get involved, and well most of them may be correct.

The fact that I'm too young for him. He is too bad for me. He only does one night stands. I want a relationship. He's dark. I'm a hopeless romantic.

I have been so preoccupied with thoughts of Luca to the extent that characters in my favorite books remind me of him, my favorite song makes me remember how our kiss felt, and the books I read somehow, always manage to mention his name.

This man has ruined me.

But today I'm pushing all thoughts of Luca to the shelf and focusing on I and Tiffany's to-do-list, I've been just a horrible friend putting on hold for way too long. Today, we're ticking off summer to do list number one - adrenaline pumping activity.

The activity we agreed on is very dangerous, that is why we picked today. It's still early in the morning. My dad is at his law firm. My mum is at the hospital where she works as a nurse. Isabella is at daycare. There's no housekeeper coming around by this time. So they is practically nobody to lecture us on the danger of base jumping. Not that we need it though, we already know how dangerous it is. We're looking forward to breaking a few limbs.

I'm awaiting Tiffany's arrival while setting up a portion of our yard with 15 feet long poles, heavy equipment to support the weight of the poles, water bottles. And there's no base or trampoline to fall on, once you climb the pole to it's peak, you have to jump down and land on your feet.

"Don't. It's too dangerous."

My hand hangs in the air as I carefully turn around in the direction of the voice. My mouth falls open at the sight of my nextdoor neighbor looking hot as ever in a grey singlet and black sweat pants. I quickly close my mouth shut. "Why are you watching me?"

He sighs. "Lily can you just listen for once and stop trying to be stubborn." He looks at the stuffs I'm setting up with disdain and clear disapproval. "It's just too dangerous. Don't do it." He stares approvingly at my exposed skin causing goosebumps to spread.

"Why do you care? I taught you don't care about anything but yourself."

Something dark crosses his features... like hurt? But it disappears too quickly. I can't be too sure.

"Yes. You're right. I don't care about. Do whatever you want. Even if I saw a duck trying to do what you are about to do now, I would have stopped it. So, don't flatter yourself." With that, he turns around and strolls back to his house. His shoulder tensed. Is he mad?

He is so insufferable.

How did we get here? From friends to enemies. If this was a novel, there would be one part left to happen - lovers. From friends-enemies-lovers.

Dream on.

I'm setting up the last item when Tiffany car pulls into our driveway. Thanks to a certain sexy distraction, I would have been done long ago. I look her over, we're wearing matching outfits - compression shorts and sports bra - with our arms, thighs and stomach exposed. "Are you ready to break a limb?"

"Never been more ready."

The activity is nothing short of excitement and everything short of dangerous. We're jumping, sweating and laughing so loud I can already imagine Luca screaming and cursing us for disturbing his peace. "Again. Again." Tiffany squeals in excitement.

I'm standing at the peak of the pole. I jump high into the sky, spin around and swerve downwards but instead of landing on my feet, I land on my knee twitching it in the wrong direction and hitting against an iron rod, I hear a loud whack. My entire weight rest on the knee before my body stumble over with my legs going over my head and spraining my ankle in the process. I groan in pain.

"Are you hurt?" Tiffany is beside me in a millisecond trying to push off the equipment that is pressed on my right leg, but her frail strength is no match for the heavy equipment. "Oh Lily." She cries out. I hear shuffled footsteps around the yard.

The equipment is digging deep into my flesh. I don't know how much pain I can endure before Tiffany calls for help. I see my future life unfolds before me - funny, because when people want to die, they see their past - possible amputation, my parents scolding me. Oh no, if something happens to my leg, I will never be able to dance agai...

The object rise from my leg and lands with a heavy thud beside me. Fresh air assault my torn flesh causing a burning sensation. "Are you okay?" Luca face comes in view just few inches above mine. It takes me a full one minute to understand what just happened.

Luca lifted the object from my leg. He saved me.

He holds out his hands which I take. He lifts me to a standing position with him. I leap on my left foot wincing in pain as my right foot touch the ground, my ankle and knee protesting in pain.

"Easy." Luca puts his big arms around my bare waist helping me to lean against the nearest wall. "Are you hurt?" His hands are all around my body inspecting for signs of any injuries. He sees the fresh wound on my right leg. "Damn. Lily." He draws his attention away from me for a moment and shouts in Tiffany's direction. "Check the second drawer in Kate's kitchen cabinet. There's a first-aid box in there. Bring it." Tiffany runs into my house.

I'm waiting for Luca to start scolding me and saying he told me so. He knows better. But he does non of that. Instead of arrogance, there's a strange look on his face. A personal feeling I can't quite pinpoint. Worry? Concern? "I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. Damn it." He yells at me causing me to flinch in fear. He sense his mistake and lower his voice, rubbing his palm over his face in a confused manner. He places his hands on my arms and press them into the wall. He locks his eyes on mine. "I didn't mean to scare you."

I nod slowly, afraid to break eye contact or tell him that his hold on me hurts. "Are you mad at me?"

"No. I'm mad at myself." He looks away from me with a heavy grimace on his face. "I'm mad for not destroying everything the moment I saw you setting up a death trap." He redraws his hands from my arms and straighten himself but he remains standing close to me. He roughly chuck my chin upward. "Mad for not grabbing your ass, throwing you over my shoulder and chaining you in my room until your parents return home."

His expression is unreadable, but I can tell he just made a heartfelt confession. He cares. Too much. Too much than he'd like to admit. It is moments like these that resurrect the butterflies in my stomach. Moments like these when his guard is down. When we're just Luca and Lily... like old times. I smile sadly.

His words resound in my ears.

Chain you in my room.

His words are totally innocent but for some reason I mind has to imply erotic meanings and conjure up images of me chained in his bedroom and doing the most unholy things. I think he can tell what I'm thinking about because of the way his breathing alters just a tiny little bit but I still notice. I notice everything this man does.

And Tiffany choose this time to return, breaking the moment into pieces. Thank you best friend.

He place his left hand on my bare thigh holding me in place while his right hand neatly clean the injured spot before plastering it and discarding the used cotton wool into a disposable bag.

He is done but his both hands are still on my bare thigh almost as if he is trying to push them apart. He is still squatting infront me, his mouth is directly infront my lower waist. He's too close. He's not looking at my face but directly at the parcel before him. My insides is melting and the liquid threatening to roll down my thigh. I clamp my thigh imprisoning the tip of a finger between my thighs, it brushes against something soft and delicate. I bit hard into my lower lips. So hard. Just one more push and his finger will be inside my hole.