Losing It Part 5

"All right?"

My face buried against his shoulder, I managed to squeak out, "Yeah."

"Sorry, love, I'm just a wee bit ticklish is all."

"Oh." I loosened the fingers that were practically gouging into his sides. Thank G.o.d he couldn't see my face right now. Red was not a good look on me.

He took my hands, and pulled so that my forearms were across his middle, and my arms were wrapped completely around him.

"That's better. Let's give it another go."

This time when he took off, I didn't scream. He gained speed slowly, and I kept my cheek flat against his back with my eyes closed.

Shakespeare was stuck in my head from our earlier conversation, so I recited everything I knew to keep my mind busy. I started with Hamlet's soliloquy. Then moved on to the St. Crispin's Day Speech from Henry V. I was finishing up Macbeth's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow monologue when Garrick interrupted.

"You really do love the Bard."

Mortification was becoming my default emotion. Guess I wasn't reciting those in my head like I thought I was.

"Oh, I, um, just memorize really easily."

My cheek still against his back, I tried to calm my sprinting heart. Now that the motorcycle wasn't moving, my brain was free to fear that other thing that I had been actively not thinking about.

s.e.x.

I was going to have s.e.x.

With a boy.

A hot boy.

A hot BRITISH boy.

Or maybe I was going to throw up.

What if I threw up on the hot British boy?

What if I threw up on the hot British boy DURING s.e.x?

"Bliss?"

I jerked back, horrified and wondering if I accidentally spoke aloud again.

"Yes?"

"We can get off the bike anytime."

"Oh." I pulled my arms back so quickly that I nearly lost my balance and fell off the bike. Luckily, with only a minor squeak, I managed to stabilize myself, and slowly slide off the bike.

Then my calf grazed a pipe on the side of the bike, and I was screaming again.

It was hot. So FREAKING hot. And now my skin was stinging.

"Bliss?"

I had limped several feet away from the bike by the time Garrick caught up to me. Despite my clenched fists, and the way I was biting down on my lip to hold in the pain, my eyes were tearing up.

His hands cupped my face first, and then he glanced down at my leg where a red welt was shining about an inch below the bottom of my capris.

"Oh b.u.g.g.e.r."

I kept my lips clamped shut, uncertain if I could open my mouth without crying. Garrick slipped an arm around my waist, and I threw one over his shoulder.

"Come on, love. Let's hope that locksmith has already arrived."

For the first time, I looked around and realized where we were.

We were in my apartment complex.

We lived in the same apartment complex!

I warred over whether I should say something as he steered me toward his apartment. I almost mentioned it when we walked past my own car, but then I reminded myself that this was supposed to be a one-night thing. He was one building over from me. Thank G.o.d. What if he had lived right beside me, and I had to see him every day after the no doubt terrible s.e.x I was about to try to have with him?

We got to his door.

No locksmith.

The skin on my calf felt hot, like I was standing right next to an open flame.

He shot me a worried look, and then pulled out his phone.

He hit the call b.u.t.ton twice, redialing the last number he called.

He stepped away from me to talk, and I leaned heavily against the wall beside his door. Clearly, I was not meant to have s.e.x. This was G.o.d telling me that I was meant to be a nun. Get thee to a nunnery, and all that c.r.a.p.

I was so delirious I was confusing G.o.d and Shakespeare.

Garrick came back, and even his frown was gorgeous.

"Bad news. The locksmith got held up, and won't be here for another hour."

I tried not to cringe. I failed.

He knelt, and his fingers ran up my shin, stopping a few inches to the right of my burn. Thank G.o.d I'd shaved. He took a deep breath, and released it slowly through his nose. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded.

"Right. Well, in that case, we should maybe take you to the Emergency Room."

"What? No!"