Page 1 of Guardian Falling
Chapter One
CHARLIE
The night air feels like freedom after too many vodka cranberries. I’m sitting on the hood of Jake’s car, or Jason’s. Names start to blur after the third drink, and I checked out somewhere around round two.
“What was your name again?” I murmur against his mouth.
“It’s Jake,” he says against my neck, like this is important.
I hum thoughtfully. “You look like a Jake. Or a Jason. Maybe even a Chris.”
He laughs, tilting his head back to look at me. “Wow! Feeling special already.”
“Hey, I climbed onto the hood of your car voluntarily,” I say, tipping my head back to give him better access. “That’s at least a silver-medal level honor.”
He shifts closer, settling between my knees, and whatever comeback line he has dies in his throat as his mouth trails down my neck, stubble scraping just enough to make me shiver. His hands brace on either side of my thighs like I might disappear if he doesn’t hold me there.
The lookout sprawls above the city, all glittering lights and distant traffic dissolving into white noise below us. The perfect makeout spot, a classic hookup hideaway, and exactly the sort of place that makes me forget I have a shift at the coffee shop in six hours and student loans that make my stomach knot if I think about them too hard.
But right now?
Right now, I’m just Charlotte fucking Harris, twenty-three years old and living my best goddamn life.
His fingers slip under the hem of my skirt, palms warm against my skin, and I arch into the touch with a breathless laugh as he dips beneath my panties.
“Bold move,” I murmur. “You usually skip straight to this part, or am I getting the deluxe package?”
He grins against my mouth. “You seem like a deluxe package kind of girl.”
“Right!” I say, kissing him anyway. “You rehearsed that, didn’t you?”
“Maybe,” he admits. “It sounded better in my head,” he says as his finger slides against my clit.
A low moan breaks loose, my head tipping back, my throat bared to the night, reckless and untouchable up here, perched above the world with alcohol pulsing through my veins.
“You’re amazing,” he murmurs against my lips, his finger circling my clit, working me higher.
I pull back just enough to squint at him. “You say that now, but wait until I steal your fries when you take me to dinner after this.”
“Worth it,” he says immediately.
I laugh and kiss him harder, letting the moment carry me. There’s no point in correcting him, since we’ve known each other for exactly four hours. This isn’t anything more than the reckless high of being wanted without complications.
The metal beneath my hands is still warm from the engine. The breeze off the valley smells of fresh pine. His tongue traces the seam of my lips, and I open wider for him with a soft whimper that disappears into the dark.
Twenty-three should feel exactly like this, wild and reckless. Jake, Jason, or whatever his damn name is, mouth on mine, his touch bold and certain. I let myself sink into him, into the thrill of being wanted. My focus is purely on him, in the way he makesmy body respond, until the air grows heavy and something around us quietly shifts.
He stiffens between my legs, his mouth going still against mine, his breath hitching in a way that has nothing to do with desire. A heartbeat later, I hear it, the soft crunch of gravel, slow, deliberate, and far too damn close.
“What the…” he starts, pulling back, withdrawing his hand from my panties just when it was starting to get to the good part.
“Dammit, Jason!” I groan.
I’m still half joking, still not catching up, because my brain hasn’t processed the way he’s gone rigid between my thighs.
“Jake,” he corrects as I twist around, still smiling, still riding that pleasant vodka buzz, and my almost climax, expecting campus security or another couple looking for privacy. And I notice Jake staring at the woman standing beside the car.
She hadn’t been there a second ago. I’m sure of it. No footsteps, no approach, just… there. Close enough that the warmth of the hood suddenly feels inadequate, the night shifting off-balance around us.
