Now his grin transformed into a smirk. “You mean the red lacy pair with the garter belt? Already seen ‘em.”

I froze, because I did have a red lace underwear set with a garter belt, but I never showed them to Trev. “What?”

His blue eyes sparkled in the dark. “What’s a boy to do when he’s waiting around for you to be done in the shower? I had to entertain myself somehow.”

“Oh my God! If I wasn’t currently stranded on top of a fence, I’d kill you right now.”

“I’m nosy, Reya. You shouldn’t leave your underwear drawer unlocked around nosy boys,” he tutted.

I stabbed my finger through the air at him. “You shouldn’t be looking in drawers that don’t belong to you, underwear or otherwise.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

I shot him a scowl and turned to jump down the other side. “I can’t even with you sometimes.” Bracing myself, I made a move but Trev’s voice halted me.

“Wait! I’ll help you.”

Quick as a flash he leapt up the railing and over to the other side. It was decidedly graceful compared to the disaster I was making of the job. Trev reached up and grabbed my hips. I trembled all over at the simple touch and glanced down at him. A moment passed between us and his gaze darkened.

“Jump. I’ll catch you,” he said, his voice unusually gruff.

I felt like making a comment on how if I was a virgin this fence would’ve already robbed me of my maidenhood, but I was too caught up in his stare. I pushed off the fence and just like he promised, Trev caught me. His strong arms gripped my waist and my chest pressed flush to his. My breathing quickened as my attention fell to his mouth. I watched as his tongue dipped out to wet his lips and a small sound escaped me. It was somewhere between a moan and a yelp, and it seemed to do something to Trev.

Before I knew it he had me backed up against the fence and our entire bodies were moulded together. I could smell him again, and this time it was intoxicating.

All I could hear were the faint sounds of the city and our heavy breathing. I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what he was doing, and my head was fuzzy from the cocktail of death I just drank. Finally, I bent my neck to look up at him and was astounded by what I saw.

Lust.

Pure, heavy, unadulterated lust.

Trevor Cross wanted me.

What alternate universe was this?

I opened my mouth to speak. “What are you…”

“We should fuck,” he said and I startled.

“E-excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Trev, were you drinking before you came to see me today? Because you’ve been acting strange since the moment you showed up and—”

“I just want to see what it’d be like,” he said on an exhale.

“Trevor,” I muttered, my voice shaky with warning.

“Come on, you have to admit you’ve thought about it.”

I didn’t say anything, and for once I was thankful for my caramel complexion, because right then I was blushing down to my toes.

“I know that look. You’re embarrassed, but you don’t need to be. Obviously, you’ve thought about it. I’m male, you’re female, we’re both single and we’re not blood related. I’ve thought about it a few times. Actually, more than a few.”

I knew if it were possible for a human being to turn into a strawberry, I’d be one. I was at once enthralled by the topic of conversation and extremely uncomfortable. Because although Trev might have thought about the act, I was certain he didn’t think about the emotion. But I did. I found him attractive, yes, but I also had feelings for him. Feelings I thought I’d managed to stifle, but tonight they were all floating right back up to the surface.

I levelled my hands on his chest in an effort to put some space between us, but he held firm. “You’re a bloke. Of course you’ve thought about it. Women are different. We’re far more emotional than physical.”

“That’s bullshit. I’ve known women who like sex just as much as I do.”

“Yes well, I’m not one of them. Sex for me has always involved feelings.”

His gaze flickered over my face and I grew self-conscious at how closely he was studying me. “So, what you’re saying is, you don’t have sex with men you don’t have feelings for.”

I nodded. “Yes, exactly.”

“So it’s perfect. You have feelings for me, therefore, we can have sex.”

“I do not—”

“You’re misunderstanding. If I died tomorrow, would you cry at my funeral?”

“Of course.”

“And I’d bawl my eyes out at yours, so you see, we have feelings for each other. We’re friends, of course we do.”

“Yes, the operative word being “friends”. If we had sex it would change things, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“You wouldn’t lose me. I promise.”

No, but you’d lose me. Because I knew without a doubt that if I slept with Trev, I’d fall in love with him irrevocably. No strings attached wouldn’t work, because there was an entire labyrinth of strings between us. Well, at least on my end there were.

I shook my head. “Why do you even want this? I’m sure there’ll be dozens of girls at this rave you could sleep with.”

Trev scratched his head, his expression thoughtful. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

“I won’t laugh, I promise.”

“Well, I’m been having trouble with women lately. Specifically, I’ve been having trouble with my sex drive in that I haven’t had one. Every time I try to shag a girl, I just don’t feel it. Instead I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”

I sucked in a breath, my heart beating double time. “About me?”

He brought his hand up to my shoulder, gave it a squeeze then slid his hand down my arm. “Yeah, like, the way you wear those long flowy dresses that cover everything up except a hint of cleavage. I imagine what you’d look like under them. Or when I watch you sing, I will you to open your eyes and look at me. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe with it.”

My skin heated at his words, because he had no idea that I used to think of him in exactly the same way. If we were sitting closely on the couch, I’d imagine him throwing me down and kissing me. Or if he touched my hand I’d wish for him to hold it, to prolong the contact in any small way. It was a pity he was having these feelings two years too late, because I’d gone through all that and come out the other end. I couldn’t go back there. For the sake of my sanity, I just couldn’t.