Passionate Exchange

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Archer's lips move in unison with mine as his hands find my waist, pushing me against him. I groan into the kiss and instinctively wrap my arms around his neck. I feel the need to close the space between us but there's no space left to close. We're both intoxicated, trying to get as close to each other as possible. Even when there's no space at all it still feels too far away.

Electricity pulses around every inch of my body that he touches. I can't think, all I know at this moment is that I want him. He bites my lip, and my hormones go crazy. Is it possible for a person to feel this many butterflies at once?

The towel that was wrapped around me falls to the floor. I feel everything but cold. He doesn't seem to mind either as his hold on my waist tightens. I melt into him, tugging at the strands of his hair until we both have to pull away to catch our breath.

He rests his forehead on mine as our chests rise and fall in unison. Our eyes find each other as if they've been doing it all our lives and I bite my lip involuntarily. The corners of his turn up into a smile.

"Was that so scary?" I ask breathlessly and he chuckles.

*

It's the next day which means another seven hours of torture. Fun. I'm staring at the blank piece of paper on my desk cluelessly. How does anyone understand this? My eyes bounce around the room and, of course, everyone else is writing away, even Brody.

I huff and cross my legs. I've never been the smartest in my class, but I usually understand what the teacher's telling me. Now, his words go in one ear and out the other. What happened with Archer in the garden last night keeps replaying in my mind. I've been trying to distract myself by thinking of anything else since the lesson started. As you can tell, it's not working.

I feel my phone vibrate against my leg and dig my hand into my pocket. Once I see that the teacher is fixated on the computer screen and pressing keys furiously on the keyboard, I allow myself to look at it.

There's a message from Penny. It isn't like her usual messages. Usually, she sends me paragraphs of gossip about what happened in her lesson or who she saw smacking lips in the corridors. Instead, this one simply says meet me in the toilets after this period. The message is short, too short.

"Miss Roberts, are we boring you?" My heart drops.

I look up even though it's the last thing I want to do and see a grumpy Mr Farmer staring at me accusingly as if I'd just robbed a bank. I cautiously shake my head. One wrong move could push him over the edge. Who knows what he would do?

"Would you care to enlighten me why you're on your phone then?"

I bite my lip anxiously. An image of me biting my lip after I'd just kissed Archer flashes in front of me and I do my best to wipe it away. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." I apologise.

"It better not or you'll find yourself on the road to detention." He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose before returning to his desk. I let out a breath in relief. I'm off the hook.

When the lesson finishes and I've written five sentences I jump out of my seat, bursting out of the door. I weave through the crowd of people and ignore their snide comments until I'm in the safety of the girl's bathroom.

The scent of bleach fills my nose and I cringe. At least I know they're clean. Penny's pacing in front of the sinks, her nerve-filled eyes darting around the room.

"Are you okay?" My voice breaks her out of her train of thought as she notices me standing there.

I search her face for some sort of clue as to why we're in here but all I see are nerves. I want to ask her why she's so nervous, but I let her speak. "I had to talk to you alone because I'm not sure I'm ready to tell Brody," she starts.